A blank canvas
It’s been a good month for positive posts. I think there is something about the start of the year that people see as a blank canvas and feel optimistic about what might lay ahead. Quite quickly I found a few posts that I wanted to link to in this round-up, like Suzanne’s post about teaching her children to count their blessings this year and Cat’s one about Choosing Happiness as a project in 2013. How amazing does that sound? You wake up every moment and you choose to take the positive path – I love that. In fact it fits in perfectly with my Reasons to be Cheerful linky which I run each Thursday, if you read my #R2BC page it talks all about choosing to be happy.
Crowd-sourced
I sat down to write this post, I thought I’d ask some fellow bloggers for any recommendations they had and I was bowled over by the response, so the rest of this post will be crowd-sourced. Jumping straight in there was Ruth from DorkyMum who said she is loving the positive posts on Older Single Mum Anya’s new blog The Healer. I had already popped over and a post that particularly spoke to me was this one about us being Human beings and how important it is to just be.
Then Ruth just could not help herself and she pointed me over to a new blog to me, the Startup Wife where I read about Emily’s chosen word for 2013. She is focusing on her mothering this year and thus her word is Love – sounds perfect to me and what a lovely warm blog it is, I’ll definitely be going back there.
Mutual appreciation
Next Penny from the Alexander Residence pointed me over to Becky’s Family Budgeting blog and I have to admit, I’ve never been here. I’ve known Becky in the blogsphere for some time now but always as Baby Budgeting, how fab to find she has another blog and also one written in her friendly and accepting manner. Penny said that Becky’s weekly money quote inspires her and I have to say that this last one certainly resonated with me too.
I was busy chuckling away when I saw that at the same time Penny recommended Becky to me, Becky had been recommending Penny’s new Parent Shaped blog. It seems that many established bloggers have decided now is the right time to have a second blog and Penny has started this one to explore parenthood and what it means – big stuff!
Becky also pointed me over to an old friend Chris at Thinly Spread, she has been writing about the horrendous amount of food that is wasted in our world, never even making it to the point where a consumer can buy it. It is truly shocking that 30-50% of all the food produced goes to waste, especially when so many in the world are starving.
Success story
I think at this point Ruth realised that Becky had caught up with her in the recommend a good post stakes so she shot in again with a very worthy recommendation for a post over at Mammasaurus. Annie is a true blogging force to be reckoned with, in the short time she has been part of the parenting blogging community she has probably helped more people, launched more blogs (and bought more domain names!) than most other people. What she has also done is been the backbone behind Blog it for Babies, which has led to real and tangible results in Bangladesh, have a read of the update here.
A lump in my throat
I’ll leave you with the most impacting read in a long time. Maggy from RedTedArt pointed me over to a US blog called Hands Free Mama; there I read the most brilliant post. You know the type that has you sat on the edge of your seat with your eyes glued to the screen. Rachel shares with us her most important parenting lesson, learned even before she became a parent herself. I can safely say this blog will feature on my reading list from now.
Thank you to all the wonderful bloggers who were selfless enough to share these recommendations with me. If you have a positive or inspiring post that you wish to share with us then please do so.
Wishing you a peaceful February, I’ll be back next month – I hope you join me. Mich x
About Michelle Pannell
Mummy from the Heart is the fourth baby of Michelle, a 46 year old (manic) mother living in East Sussex. Having moved to the countryside and ‘retired’, Michelle can now be found eating too much cake and taking long walks. She lives life on the bright side and looks for the joy in every situation, even the excess pounds those cakes keep adding! Michelle’s blog is a very honest place where she shares tales of imperfect parenting, being a Christian digital activist and anything else that takes her fancy.


Emily
Sunday 3rd of February 2013
Just wanted to apologise for adding the wrong link to this incredible list of inspirational blog posts! Getting crafty, obviously isn't quite appropriate. Please forgive me for being a complete social media novice. I do promise to post something this week that will be far more suitable. And thanks for such a fab roundup!
michelle twin mum
Sunday 3rd of February 2013
Ahh no need to apologise Emily, I've featured crafty ideas before as part of my round-up. Some people find caft incredibly inspiring.
Have a great week, Mich x
Suzanne
Saturday 2nd of February 2013
Thanks so much for including my post and I'm loving reading all the others on here. What an inspiration bloggers are!
michelle twin mum
Saturday 2nd of February 2013
They certainly are, there is such variety you can find and it is very refreshing. Mich x
Mammasaurus
Saturday 2nd of February 2013
Wow thanks Michelle and Ruth! Such a feast of inspiration in this post it cannot fail to raise a big smile from anyone who reads x Thank YOU also for being such a rock of support and inspiraion this week as we set off to Ghana x
michelle twin mum
Saturday 2nd of February 2013
My pleasure, you can see that I wrote this before I knew about your inspirational journey!
Enjoy, Mich x
penny
Saturday 2nd of February 2013
Thanks for including me, an inspiring read for my train journey today, wifi permitting! Great round up, so many takes on inspiration!
michelle twin mum
Saturday 2nd of February 2013
and what a train journey that will be, the start of something massive.....
all the best, Mich x