Britta's Letters from her life divided between city-life in German's capital Berlin and life in a Bavarian village
Showing posts with label M.J.Ryan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label M.J.Ryan. Show all posts

Friday 24 March 2023

Snippet: "Serve Yourself Well"

 


In the book "365 Health And Happiness Boosters" by M.J.Ryan she asks: 

"Have you ever had truly gracious service from a waiter? (...) What if you treated yourself just as well right now? What if you gently required if there was anything you needed and then quickly went off to get whatever was required?"

Well, I had this service for three splendid days in the Park Hotel in Bremen


Such a lovely stay - they even served 3 days full of sunshine, which is VERY unusual for my dear northern home city Bremen. 

I felt pampered and really happy. 

And when coming back into pastorale Bavaria having a lot of digital trouble with the Bundesbahn (German railway) and I went so nuts that for a moment I couldn't remember my password for my email-account (I use it every day!), I suddenly thought of Mrs Ryans' question and asked myself what would help me in this (mini) crisis at once? 

Instantly I got the answer: "A nice cuppa tea - and please: not the usual elegant Darjeeling but a strong brick-red English tea with lumps of sugar and milk in it - as served in the novels of Barbara Pym for women under shock!" 

My normal tea is Darjeeling without milk and sugar, because I read in a health report that it is far more healthier to drink it that way - milk seems to disturb valuable health qualities. But now I thought: "Who cares! I need something very strong and very uplifting now!
And it did work. 

What do you think of this self-serving rule? Do you treat yourself well - as well as you would treat a friend? Do you? 




Sunday 20 December 2020

Gratitude

 

 photo Britta Hügel 

I wish all of you a Happy 4th Advent! 

This year was very, very different - for all of us -  from what we had expected. 

And I feel for all people who have lost a loved one, or lost their job or have fear to lose it. 

But I get a bit bugged by those ones around me who bath in lamentation, wallow in bad news while sitting on a sofa, whining about to have to wear a face mask or not to be able to visit a cinema. 

"As we get older, we (...) learn to focus on what's not right, what is lacking, missing, inadequate, and painful." writes M.J.Ryan 

This year maybe we had to learn to be less critical, to appreciate unexpected kindness, smiles under a mask and friends who thought of us. Not to rush around like mad - we had no chance to jet just for a weekend to Venice - for 14 Euro! - and jam the streets and canals there, and disturb the inhabitants with the rattatatatt of trolley bags. 

Don't get me wrong: I love to travel. I love to walk through my city, 

But if it is necessary - and in Berlin we have a strict lockdown, though not as heavy as now in London - I nevertheless can find something beautiful in my day - and be thankful for it. (Look: the geraniums on my balcony are still flowering - in the midst of December! A red squirrel runs over my balcony lattice, here, on the second floor!) 

As a topping I douse this with a little sweet sauce of Ralph Waldo Emerson: 

"The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common."