I’m in Montreal, and it still is bitterly cold here. This morning, I was walking to a cafe in Old Port with my sister (to the best brunch place in all of the city, I might add), and tears were streaming down my sister’s face because of how viciously cold it was. She has lived in Quebec for almost half of her entire life, so she’s used to cold but this winter has gotten even to her.
Still, we will not be deterred from inaugurating spring in our SELF-CARE AND HAPPINESS challenge, right? And by the way, people have asked me if it’s OK to join the challenge now, in its 6th week, and the answer is, yes, of course. This whole exercise is about pleasing yourself and having fun. People should do as much or as little as they like.
Having said that, this is bot an easy week in the challenge. This week’s assignment is
WAKING UP.
Twice a day this week, we will be doing the best thing we can do to preserve our beauty and awaken our senses to the renewal of the spring season. Take a smooth cube of ice from the freezer and slide it over your entire face and neck. Yes, it will be cold. And if you let yourself feel it, it will be intense. But it’s very invigorating. And fun.
If this sounds too scary, then try dragging the ice cube across the inner part of your wrist. And just melt into the sensation for a moment.
Clarissa's Blog 
What do we do if we don’t have a freezer?
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Use a towel or similar dipped in the coldest water you can get?
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Polar bears, go for a dip in your local pond. (Make sure you have towels and dry clothing at hand).
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Entirely off-topic, but thanks for recommending Tony Judt’s “Postwar”! This book is excellent, and way more quotable than a 1000-pager should have the right to be. I’ve no idea how you’ve managed to abstain from making 200 posts quoting it. I mean, only in the last hour I’ve found
“The legitimacy of the state in post-war Scandinavia, the authority and initiative accorded to it by a mostly unquestioning citizenry, left government free to act in what it took to be the common interest with remarkably little oversight. It does not seem ever to occur to an ombudsman to investigate abuse of those who stood outside the rights-bearing community of tax-paying citizens. The line separating progressive taxation and paternity leave from forcible interference in the reproductive capacities of ‘defective’ citizens seems not to have been altogether clear to some post-war governments in Social Democratic Scandinavia. If nothing else, this suggests that the moral lessons of World War 2 were not as clear as was once supposed – precisely (and not perhaps coincidentally) in countries like Sweden whose collective conscience was widely presumed clear.”
and
“Even at the time it was obvious that government transfers and flat-rate social payments benefited those who knew how to take full advantage of them: notably the educated middle class, who would fight to hold on to what amounted to a new set of privileges”
and
“But the achievements of Europe’s “nanny states” were real all the same, whether introduced by Social Democrats, paternalist Catholics or prudently disposed conservatives and liberals. Beginning with core programs of social and economic protection, the welfare states moved on to systems of entitlement, benefits, social justice and income redistribution – and managed this substantial transformation at almost no political cost. Even the creation of a self-interested class of welfare bureaucrats and white-collar beneficiaries was not without its virtues: like the farmers, the much-maligned ‘lower middle class’ now had a vested interest in the institution and values of the democratic state. This was good for Social Democrats and Christian Democrats alike, as such parties duly noted. But it was also bad for Fascists and Communists, which mattered rather more.”
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I know, I feel the need to underline the entire book because there’s too much good stuff. I’m glad you’re enjoying it!
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