June 8th 2021- In the garden - 'Feel Better in Five'

I went against all my principles and bought, actually paid for, and even read, a self-help book last year; 'Feel Better in Five' by Dr Rangan Chatterjee.

It's a glossy book, full of pictures of Dr C; here he is, balancing in an elegant yoga pose, there is he in the kitchen, drinking some thick, healthy, green smoothie, now he is just standing in a garden looking  like someone who has followed all the advice in his book.

 I chose it because you pick and choose three activities from a selection, none of which last for longer than five minutes, and he promises if you do these three activities every day for five days in the week, for a decent number of weeks, you will feel better. 

I chose my activities carefully so that I could continue to be rather lazy and non-energetic, and still feel as though I was doing 'well-being' and 'mindfulness' and all 'improving your health and fitness' sort of stuff without exerting myself to any great degree,

The one activity I have managed to stick to is 'spend five minutes every day in the garden'. He advises that going out in bare feet is best; now that it is June I am perfectly happy to comply with his recommendation.. I wander around, ignoring weeds and other distractions, looking to see what is happening out there. Once you get your eye in, there is plenty to see.

Today it is all about the colour red;

Another three poppies have mysteriously appeared where yesterday there was but one, and there are a few tiny bright red flowers on the salvia 'hot-lips'. 

One of the strawberries is beginning to turn red...   

  

and there are just a couple of flowers on a salvia 'hot-lips', a startling burst of colour against the mainly green leaves in the border.