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Seeing the extraordinary

(Background music - Harp)

"In my first Spring here I had a baby. I bought her pictures of fairies but my cynical nature wouldn't let me put them on the wall... cool people didn't do fairies.

I became ill, several days at a time for years... bored, angry and in pain, sometimes even thinking hurt. Between illness everything looked ugly... cracked concrete and weeds.

One day I could only sit still outside but in that stillness I saw how beautiful the weeds were. Those small beautiful things made me want to live and to see that the world beyond the concrete was beautiful... then I realised that in its way, cracked concrete was beautiful too.

Last year I put figures of fairies in the garden. My cool voice said, "You're too old for fairies - they're naff!" I said, "So what, they're pretty."

Within days two perfect fairy rings grew in front of them.

Cynical people said coincidence. But I said, "Years that wood chips been there but not a mushroom. Now two rings of toad stools, just to let me know they're there."

Y Tylwyth teg.

Even my cynical voice was impressed. Now, when I go for a walk in the woods it says that looks like a door in the tree... they might be there. Sit still and watch.

Life can be hard... finding beautiful things makes it bearable. I love life now... every moment is precious. I notice what happens around me and see amazing unexpected things everyday... I see the universe play."

What's your story about?
Learning to see the extraordinary in the apparently mundane and ordinary around us. It's about taking time to slow down and notice what we're usually too busy to see or what we dismiss as coincidence. Things that can make our lives joyful.

How did you end up choosing this particular story?
It illustrated the way that seeing the ordinary can lead to perceiving the extraordinary and be life enhancing. Many talented and successful people I know are unhappy - as I used to be. I began to wonder why and how I had changed and whether what had happened to me could help someone else. I thought that cynicism was one of the greatest barriers to happiness, was very prevalent in modern life and a very difficult mind-set to change. Cynical people are generally not happy.

What was the process of digital storytelling like?
The thought of making the story was daunting - the work, the technology, etc. But the team were wonderful. They have left a community planning to go on and share those skills so that others can tell their stories and experience the excitement.