Seeing Stars and DMC News

"Two men looked out through prison bars, one saw mud, the other stars."

I grew up with this saying and I often remind myself that it takes a little practice to be the one seeing stars.  I've read our natural inclination is to see the negative; it is some sort of default setting in the human brain.  But the good news is we can trick or train our brain to see the positive and thereby, improve our mood and outlook.  Takes work though.

 I know several things that work with me  and though they are generally considered "givens", I have had to learn to deliberately seek them out when I need a boost. Here are three:

1.  I know my mood is lightened by humour...love a good laugh or in my case, a good smile, and the Pinterest humour category is very helpful to provide a few laughs instantly when I need it.  When I'm amused my mood is definitely improved. They don't keep telling us laughter is the best medicine for nothing.  
2. An older relative of ours really favoured movies and shows involving dogs when she was elderly...she would watch Beethoven movies and The Littlest Hobo and the like over and over...any time we went to rent her a movie (imagine now renting movies!) we would look for the puppies or baby animals.  She said they cheered her up, and no, she was not senile or anything like that.  I've noticed that now I really like  puppies and baby animals and yes, as corny as it sounds, they also make me feel better. National Geographic has great videos of baby animals that are bound to please you.  I always enjoy the many videos of animals doing wonderful/crazy/funny/amazing things circulating on Facebook.  Definitely cheering and according to the number of 'likes' some of these get, I'm not the only one enjoying them. 
3. And no surprise at all, any thing having to do with my needlearts, whether it is fabric, threads, tools, pictures, patterns, magazines and on and on, are all heartening and comforting to me.  Maybe because they all hold the idea of promise and future enjoyment. So I think we all need a little something to look forward to doing whether it's a hobby or not that gives us a lift.

Which reminds me.  Perhaps you could check out the DMC Website.  They have a number of good tutorials for embroiderers and others, as well as free patterns.  In October, 2013 they added 16 new colours to their floss collection, a big deal because it is the first time in 15 years that new colours have been added.  This makes their colour range the largest in the world.




And with one of the best lift-raising seasons coming our way,  I'm in love this latest project that Jenny Elefantz has begun.  It is a stitch-along Christmas design and is generously offered block by block for free until October 31.



The embroidered words in this little wreath are Family, Jesus, Merry, Faith, Home and Love.  All words that are positives and sweet.
Hope the weekend is uplifting and has a little bit of fun in it for you too.