You haven’t heard a peep from me in a long time! My life besides this book writing adventure got overwhelmingly busy with a new job, so it’s not easy to find time for this as well. But I wanted to update you on the book front: the book files are with the printer!!
Yes, you read that correctly. Next steps: getting a paper proof from the printer, approving it and then ordering the books! Then starts the humongous job of promoting and selling the book. How I am going to find the time to do that, I have no idea. I might need some help.
I plan to start selling it in Switzerland and the rest of Europe first, until I can get around to putting it on Amazon and then I will launch it there too. Obviously, those of you who live further away can also buy it early, but you’ll have to pay more for shipping, I guess. Let’s see. One thing at a time. I don’t want to get stressed out about it; that is not the point of this. It is, after all, a book about Mindfulness!
Haha, yes, take a breath, Annika, and keep it together while you juggle it all. Life should not be juggled but enjoyed. This reminds me of something I wanted to share with you. Bertie Bunny, our book’s hero, is a big part of our lives. Many people have gotten to know him and he has travelled to many different places. He has many stories to tell, but here is one of my favorites.
About three weeks ago, my husband, our dog and I were driving back from a quick visit to Valencia, Spain. We’d been driving all day. It’s around a 14 hour drive. It was getting dark and we were about four hours away from home. Bill pulled into a large service station to fill up the car with gas. I needed to visit the bathroom inside the service station and wanted to get a coffee (and a large chocolate chip cookie to share with Bill). That took longer than it should have because there were problems with the credit card machine. When I finally came back out to the car, Bill was visibly agitated. His face showed signs of panic.
“I can’t find my wallet!” His voice was raised. I used my credit card to pay for the gas, but the machine didn’t like that card. That worried me a little, but I decided not to let that worry me. Instead, I used another card. I pumped the gas into the car while Bill kept looking for the wallet in different compartments, feeling his stress rising. The volume of his voice was increasing and he was getting somewhat angry. I decided to also look in the driver’s door to see if it was there, but he’d already searched there several times, he said, so obviously it couldn’t be there. “Well, let’s pull out of here and park further away, calm down and search some more,” I said. “Where can it be? I’ve searched everywhere!!” said Bill, getting visibly more and more worried.
Two minutes later, he searched one more time in the door of the driver’s side and there was the wallet. Can you relate? Can you relate to that feeling of extreme worry and rising panic when you think you have lost something valuable? Probably. But as the Swedish saying goes – It all works out in the end. Luckily.
What struck me as unique and heartwarming in this story was when Bill retold the story later to his sister. My sister-in-law Ana came to stay with us shortly after we arrived home from this trip. One evening, Bill retold the events at the service station. And this is the first time I heard it from his perspective. Sure, we had talked about it after he found his wallet again. The sense of relief we both felt. But, can you guess who he thought of while he was feeling the panic rising while he couldn’t find his wallet and I was inside the service station? Bertie Bunny and his best friend Maxwell Mouse! Bill thought, what would Bertie do? Maxwell Mouse would tell Bertie Bunny to breathe mindfully a few times. Wow. I felt so happy that Bill’s mind sought out my little characters to calm his nerves.
Mindfulness really can help us to calm our nervous system. We can learn to observe the thoughts and emotions that rise as a stressful event is happening.
So, if Bertie Bunny is having an effect on my husband, then I can be hopeful that he may reach others who will get to know him and his best friend Maxwell Mouse. The photo herewith shows Bertie Bunny, a travelling companion. Bring him along anywhere!
Take care, sweet people. Take care of yourselves and those you love. Until next time.
