100 Reasons to Be Glad

100 REASONS TO BE GLAD Copyright © Isabel Losada 2006 All rights reserved. The right of Isabel Losada to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Condition of Sale This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher. Summersdale Publishers Ltd 46 West Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1RP UK www.summersdale.com Printed and bound in Great Britain ISBN: 1-84024-548-4 ISBN: 978-1-84024-548-6

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PHOTO CREDITS Baby swimming: Delilah © ‘Waterbabies’, Bristol Barbara Hepworth sculpture © Collections Big Ben peace activists © Greenpeace/Cobb Chocolate ‘Divine’ © Michael Fountoulakis Colour © Ian Cumming/Axiom Edinburgh © Ian Cumming/Axiom Gandhi DVD cover courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. Gandhi is now available on DVD HH Dalai Lama © Clive Arrowsmith John Nash building © Collections Judi Dench © Carolyn Djanogly Juliet Stevenson © Markham & Froggatt Ltd Lamy fountain pens © Lamy Long walks © Ian Cumming/Axiom Morecambe and Wise © Fremantlemedia Musical instrument © Collections New pillows © 2006 DeWoolfson Down Int’l., Inc. Used with permission. Pencil crayons © Caran d’Ache Roberts radio © Roberts Radio Limited Sea horse © John Nightingale Shark © John Nightingale/Shark Trust Sister Helen © O.H.P. St Hilda’s Priory, Whitby Unexpected new friends © Ian Cumming/Axiom VSO © Richard Crease/Bournemouth Daily Echo All other images courtesy of Shutterstock

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Babies can swim when their mums take them to proper baby swimming classes.

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Spiders build amazing webs and sometimes drops of rain get caught and the sun lights up the picture.

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The Dalai Lama teaches kindness and we can practise practising it.

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That sometimes a bus comes along just as you walk up to the bus stop. That Bill Watterson created Calvin and Hobbs. And if you’ve never seen these books you get to read them for the first time.

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Cats choose to live with human beings. It’s really easy to make pancakes. The chance to smile at strangers everyday.

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The sea.

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Wild poppies.

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That Rodin sculpture.

decided

to study

That if you wake up really early you can hear the birds celebrating the arrival of the day. A chance to dance.

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Mandela. His life choices. And the fact he wrote Long Walk to Freedom so we can read about them. The smell of freshly

cut grass.

It only takes 30 days to

form a

new habit.

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Unexpected new friends.

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That Morecambe met each other.

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and Wise

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That Richard Attenborough chose to make a film about Gandhi and kept going for ten years till it was made.

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That sometimes people

and forget.

forgive

Old friends who say ‘I admire you’ or anyone who says lovely things that they don’t need to. The right to education. (Mandela had to wait five years in prison for the right to read a book.)

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That J. K. Rowling didn’t listen when she was told ‘You’ll never make any money writing children’s books.’

Pushbikes.

The best invention ever. Good free transport and fun too. Especially at night with lights.

Tantric sex.

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Voluntary Service Overseas. www.vso.org.uk

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Giraffes.

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Going for long

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walks is free.

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That we live after the invention of

washing machines. That trees springtime.

have blossoms in

That dentists can give you injections before they drill your teeth. That the moon looks the same as it did the first time we saw it.

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Rumi’s passionate poetry. It feels so lovely when someone says

‘Sorry.’

Thich Nhat Hanh and his writings on the practices of Buddhism. Labrador dogs

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chasing balls.

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That some people enjoy cooking and making food taste fantastic.

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There are monks and nuns all around the world who pray for us every day and believe that ‘in some sort of mystical way it makes a difference’. (Sister Helen OHP)

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That Juliet Stevenson became an actress and Anthony Minghella wrote Truly Madly Deeply for her.

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Chocolate.

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The books of Mark Salzman. Especially True Notebooks, in which he teaches creative writing to juvenile offenders in a youth detention centre.

Currant buns. That Robin Williams is in so many films.

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Friends who phone when they are sad and lost and ask you to

support them.

That

advertising smoking illegal and for all those who lobbied to make this happen.

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they

made

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That Barbara Hepworth became a sculptor.

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Big Ben and the two peace protestors who climbed up to ask for peace because they cared enough.

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That John Nash succeeded as an architect.

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Listening to the radio is cheap.

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The still small voice

of calm.

That we have a National Health

Service and every day doctors save lives. School friends who you want to stay in touch with. Old-fashioned that hum.

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spinning tops

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That Bach wrote some cello suites. That Gene Kelly was cast in Singin’ in the Rain. That we have equal rights for the disabled and more and more ramps for wheelchairs. (A long way to go but it’s coming.)

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Lambs. (And the fact that some people don’t eat them.)

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Snowfall.

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That someone found out that the potato was edible.

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New pillows.

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Sandals. That we can go to Speakers’ Corner and say whatever we want. Anybody who ever loved us – even a little.

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A teacher helped us learn to read. Tenderness.

Public libraries.

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That our eyes can see

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colour.

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Beach huts.

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That we have four seasons and the weather is always changing so we all appreciate a sunny day.

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Shark protection. www.sharktrust.org

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Porter and Gershwin wrote songs. That Cole

George

Candles. The state of Peace. And any contribution that we can make. That we can always give ourselves

another chance.

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That we live in a multi-cultural society. The choice to stay in when it rains or the choice to go out and get wet. All the tunes and all the lyrics in My Fair Lady.

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The extraordinary work of

Dame

Judi Dench.

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Fountain pens.

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Anyone we know who can play a musical instrument.

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Edinburgh.

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We can all make the better place.

world

a

Trees – any trees – all trees – from any angle. Our favourite

Puddles

film ever.

and the right to jump

in them.

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Breathing

deeply makes you

feel good.

The Internet.

And the joy of e-mail that doesn’t interrupt people’s lives. The first person we think of who

makes us laugh.

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Sea horses.

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The smell of freshly ground coffee or your five most favourite smells.

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Coloured pencils.

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A glass of water.

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That there is relative Northern Ireland. That Mother

peace

in

Teresa looked after

the dying and her community is all over the world – especially in Baghdad.

Re-incarnation may be true. We can always

different.

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do something

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Toast. Digital cameras. I don’t have one yet but maybe one day I will. That we can send birthday cards to our friends. That we can swear if we want to.

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That you can write your own list.

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www.summersdale.com

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