By Sarita Rajiv
Last week was a happy one for me. I heard from my dad that his health was getting better. Oh the joy of hearing the smile in his voice, his laughter, the strength in his voice! And I got to spend a few days with friends we haven’t seen for a year. We picked up where we left off, getting back into the zone of comfort that comes with special friendships.
I came home, loaded with happy moments, fresh memories and an unusual book. My friend, Jan (who's perfect gift is this ), saw the book ‘99 things to do when you have the time ’ and she thought of me. Not because I have more time than anyone else (wouldn’t that be fab!), but because she thought I’d like what was in it.
‘99 things to do when you have the time’ isn’t a book of leisure. On the contrary, it is a book of doing things…unusual things; the key difference being the 99 things listed are not what you would find in your everyday to-do list. It’s a book about slowing down, about stepping out of our rushed, over-scheduled lives and exploring new things.
It’s about using different faculties of our body, using different senses in different ways. Like this: practice writing with your other hand and the one below.
‘99 things to do when you have the time ’ is about invoking memories from the past while making new ones. Sample this: Rewrite a story you were told when you were young . It’s about getting-the-hell-out-of your comfort zone and doing things you wouldn’t dare to or wouldn’t have thought of yourself.
It also has some silly, funny stuff like this: “ Observe the face you tend to make. Try making another face .” (I make this tensed face of intense concentration and furrowed eyebrows. Now I’m trying to relax those brows every now and then).
Am I gung-ho about all the 99 things listed? Nope! But there are many I’m looking forward to; they appeal to the story teller in me: Read a paragraph from one book. Then a paragraph from another. Invent a connection between them.
I'm going to try and do at least one a day and see how it makes me feel, see where it takes me. Would you try something like this?
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Sarita Rajiv is a writer, gifting specialist and founder of The Orange Gift Bag. She’s on a mission to uncover the ‘best gifts after love’. When she isn’t dreaming up unique gift ideas, she writes for The Copenhagen Post and The National Geographic Traveller India among others.
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Anne
30/07/2015 at 16:15This is so adorable!! What a truly delightful gift, I love it.
The orange gift bag
30/07/2015 at 21:26Totally! I'm discovering something fun and new everyday with this.