We’re on lockdown – which makes this the perfect time to say “thank you”

There’s nothing better to keep up our spirit than a little dose of gratitude…

For many of us, being on lockdown is far from a pleasant indoor interlude. Instead, this has been an extremely challenging and stressful time, particularly for those lacking sufficient food supplies or comfortable living spaces.

Maintaining good mental health and wellbeing whilst staying at home couldn’t be more vital. However many experts are critical of the tendency of today’s culture to “cultivate an attitude of deficiency”, so that we unerringly feel that we need more experiences and more objects to achieve true happiness. Practising gratitude, they advise, can help us to frame events positively, even when circumstances skew out of our control.

We probably know deep down that gratitude is good for our health, though it’s sometimes hard to access those feelings of thankfulness when prospects are looking none too promising – such as when the world is faced with a once-in-a-century pandemic!

Luckily, it’s possible to feel and express gratitude in a variety of ways. According to Harvard Health online, people can apply feelings of gratitude to the past by retrieving positive memories and being thankful for elements of childhood or past blessings; honour the present by not taking good fortune for granted as it comes; and positively frame the future by maintaining a hopeful and optimistic attitude.

Regardless of the inherent or current level of someone's gratitude, it's a quality that individuals can successfully magnify themselves with a few simple practices. Research from the University of Pennsylvania supports this, as a recent study revealed that expressions of gratitude led respondents to report an immediate and marked increase in their own feelings of happiness.

So today we are walking the walk, and seeing a silver lining of gratitude on each grey cloud…

What we’re thankful for

As you may already have guessed, our showroom is currently closed. However, we are fortunate that as a business we have always been focused on sustainable and responsible growth and on the wellbeing of our staff. Our small and dedicated team have always had the capacity to work from home, enabling better work-life balance in “normal” times, and this has helped us to maintain business continuity in these challenging times.

The new series of case studies we had hoped to publish this spring has also been suspended due to our domestic and international contacts being furloughed or addressing only the most urgent of matters. However, we still had the opportunity to kick off the series with our Hawaiian Tropical and Luxury Care Home Residential case studies last month. These are just two examples of the many incredible projects we have been delighted to be a part of, and we’re looking forward to more memorable new builds and renovations once the public health crisis has passed.

We’re thankful for our amazing clients and partners, and fortunate to be a growing business with an outstanding, knowledgeable team in place. We’re proud to be part of a thriving community of traditional craftspeople, and to be leaders in a movement which champions sustainable innovation in the North of England.

We’re also immensely grateful for the key workers here in the UK and across the globe who are on the front lines of the crisis as well as those who are keeping our country’s essential services going.

Well, after all that gratitude, it’s hard not to feel a spring in one’s step – even if those steps are limited to your own home and garden.

So, what are you grateful for?

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