Open-hearted joys 開開心心 57
I am so heart-warmed by your comments and messages under my ‘Open-hearted joys’ posts. They’re clearly some of your favourite ones to read (and reply to) and they’re some of mine too! If you love them but don’t write a blog of your own, I really recommend grabbing a spare notebook and making it a regular practice to note down the small joys from your life. I’ve done this ever since I began the blog series in 2016 and it has completely transformed my outlook on life.
There’s a lot to be said for appreciating the smaller, not necessarily finer, details of the everyday mundane. Here’s to another list of petite, open-hearted joys, the moments that’ve brought and woven poetry to my days, this fortnight:


一. A spectacularly productive Bank Holiday Monday. Typically, I get really anxious about the last August Bank Holiday, because I’m usually left out of group plans and feel the social pressure of Doing Something™ with the extra day off. This year, I used it to have an extra-long time-no-constraint workout at the gym, followed by a bumper day of returning library books, picking up a weekly shop, washing my car inside and out and refilling the washer fluid, unpacking some book boxes then re-alphabetising my bookcases, listing more items on Vinted and Vestiare Collective. A dream.
二. The Vegan Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato and Sausage Gnocchi I batch-cooked for my in-office lunches last week.
三. Emerging from nine long hours in the office to happily blue skies.
四. Dinner and cocktails with Lily, who was back in town for a week or so!
五. Heading out to a local village for the August super blue moon with my telescope. I managed to snag some incredible shots of the moon and I even saw Saturn with her rings! Such a pinch-me moment for this novice astronomer.
六. End-of-month reflections.
七. Listening to old voice notes from my cousin’s little girl. She is the sweetest; I’m lucky to be her auntie!
八. Date day on National Cinema Day. We went to our favourite Thai restaurant for lunch and then to see Oppenheimer at last for just £3! We both loved the film, even though it was extraordinarily long.
九. The euphoria of booking trips and making plans; with my boyfriend, with my friends.
十. The feeling of starting a new week with my plans and tasks perfectly mapped out in my ring agenda.
What are some of the little joys from your life lately?