Chasing One Thing After Another.

It seems ages since I had time to sit down and just share my thoughts. More importantly to take time to look at the blogs of my friends. There really is no excuse, saying I was away on holiday  or working in my plot preparing for planting, the bottom line is we can always find time for the things we consider important. So here I am today. Having chased my tail for more than a week.

Speaking of tails, let me tell you about yesterday. I planted some new flowers in my back garden. No sooner were they in when I looked out and saw a cat lying sunning itself on top of them. I went out and chased it only to see it back in place ten minutes later. This went on for a go hour and more until at last it got the message that it was not welcome in the garden if it was insisting on  that particular spot.

This reminds me of the tale of the two cats. There were two cats a very young one and a very old one. One day the old cat watched as the young one chased its tail round and round in circles. Eventually the old cat purred the question. “Why are you chasing your tail all day?” The young cat responded, “Because it helps me to find happiness.” The old cat mused for a while and said, “ I used to think that also until I learned that no matter where I went my tail followed on anyway.”

The young cat continued to chase his tail. The old cat looked and purred and went off on his way. Sure enough as he left his tail followed him swishing away behind him. He looked very happy.

Happiness is not found in chasing after it. If we get our lives in order happiness follows us.

Have a great day.

This blog is linked to my other.  Cat on the Prowl

What Are You Waiting For?

I have had over a week in the mountains, enjoying walking and running. There is something exciting about running over rocky surfaces and hilly paths. It is a bit like playing chess; you have to always be one or two steps ahead of yourself. Watching ahead, and preparing for where you are next going to plant your foot. By comparison running on the road is just a case of making sure you do not bump into another person or get chased by a dog.

How wise it is to be prepared and ready. My son joined me for my last day, and we ran together.  As we ran I became aware of my age. I was running with somebody almost half my age. I said to him that I was aware that age was making me a bit slower. He laughed, and commented, “I have two things to say. One you will notice you are in front of me, and two, we have not passed anybody else your age out doing this.’ Point made and point taken.

Then I saw that my years had not been totally wasted. We came to a small river. I had ran this path so often before, I knew where I could, without losing stride, step over two large boulders to the other side. At this point my son said, “Come on dad just go for it.” He proceeded to make the jump , only to land flat on his face his shoes full of water. It is all about the right things at the right time.

There is a tale of another old man and his wife. They were a lovely old couple in there 80s. They had been married for 60 years and were still looking fit and well. In spite of their health they met an untimely end one day in a traffic accident.

They found themselves at the pearly gates. The angel showed them round. They were shown where they would live it was beautiful. The husband asked what the rent would be? They were told it was free. He then noticed just behind his house a beautiful golf course. He enquired what the green fees were and the membership rates. Again he was told it was all free. In the clubhouse he saw all the wonderful food. He asked where all the healthy fat free food was. He was told there was no such thing. He could not get ill so he could enjoy whatever he wanted.

He looked at all this and considered it. He turned to his loving wife and asked her, “What was all that about those awful bran flakes, we could have been here ten years ago.”

The road is in fact just what we make it. Rough or smooth hard or easy. The better road is always the one that leads to a feeling of achievement and wellbeing.

It is good to be back have a good day.

This blog is linked to my other.  A Good Feeling.

It Is Not Just About What You Know.

 

Yesterday I bought a set of bathroom scales. So you ask what is so special in that? Well, nothing if they were just another set of bathroom scales. These are made just for a person like me who is a lover of gadgets and toys for boys. These scales tell me my weight. Nothing special in that at all! Then they go a step further and tell my body fat, and the amount of water in my body. They also tell me of my bone density and body mass. They then finish by giving a reading of what the daily intake of calories for that day should be to maintain these statistics.

So I go for a run, come home, have a bath, and then I stand on the scales and learn all this information about myself. All this information I never knew before. My first thought was, marvellous, wow. Then I began to think, I have been running all those years and I have never had to think about those things. I ran very well this morning before I knew all this. If I had not learned it I would have still prepared to get up tomorrow and go running.

You see the bottom line is not what you know about yourself, but what you do with what you know. What you know about yourself and what you know about others is only of value if you use that information with wisdom.

A nice little story.

I remember leading a retreat for a group of young people. I told them we were going to try and learn something about ourselves and how to trust each other.

They were all to stand, facing away from their partner, and fall backward, relying on another person to catch them. Most of them were naturally uncomfortable with this, and could not let go for more than a few inches before stopping themselves.

There was a lot of embarrassed laughter.

Finally, one young person, a thin, quiet, dark-haired girl whom I had noticed almost always wore bulky, white fisherman sweaters, she crossed her arms over her chest, closed her eyes, leant back, and did not flinch, like one of those Lipton tea commercials where the model splashes into the pool..

For a moment, I was sure she was going to thump on the floor. At the last instant, her assigned partner grabbed her head and shoulders and yanked her up harshly.

“Whoa!” several others yelled. Some clapped. She turned and smiled. “You see”, I said to the girl, “you closed your eyes, That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too – even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling".

It is not just what you know but what you do with what you know.

It is so often the same with our art it is not just what we know we need to convey but what we feel. It is using what we know.

This blog is linked to my other.   Do No LookBack

A Bad Day? Not At All.

We all have them, bad days I mean. Those days, when just nothing seems to go right for you, and you wished you had just stayed in bed. We all have days like that.  I have had those days as part of my life for as long as I can remember.

There were times when they got so bad I just did not want to be here at all. My parents used to get very angry with me when they said I was having one of my sulking moments. It must have been difficult for them, I am aware of that now. I remember my mother speaking to the minister that I had become very friendly with, and who turned my life on its head.  My mother was explaining to him that I could be a real difficult person to live with, did he understand that. I do not remember what he said to her that day, but I do remember another day and another place.

In Scotland when a person becomes an ordained minister, and takes up post in his or her first parish, there is an event at which friends speak of the person. These friends tell funny stories  and tell the new congregation a bit about their new ministers past. On the occasion this happened for me, my friend stood up and spoke of  my dark days. He told the congregation that in me they had an all or nothing kind of person. That I would give all of myself heart and all, but that in the midst of that there would be times when I would be best just left alone.

He went on that night to say that those were my burnt out days. On those days do not listen when I complain or get grumpy. He said rejoice for what is round the next corner. What he meant was that those down days were the first days of the next cycle of creativity.

Why am I telling you this today, simple, I am on a low day. Normally I would not write a blog today, normally I would do nothing today, but here I am and I am remembering my old friend, now dead. I am remembering what he must have told my parents and what he told me. The black days are worth it, because these are the days that make you what you are.

I was listening to a track from the Rolling Stones. In it the mother rushes to the cupboard for her, “mothers little helper.” How often that is the answer now when we have down days.

I though I would share that thought with you on one of my black days. I am going to cope with this day, it will not be one of my best, but it will be the first day in the next cycle of whatever.

Things can only get better after all.

This all reminds me of the funny tale of the old lady. He husband had died. She went to the local paper to put in the death notice. She asked what it would cost. She was told it would be £1 per word. She said to the girl behind the counter, “Ok so it is a pound a word. Just write, Robert Dead.”  The girl looked at her and said, “I forgot to tell you the minimum number of words is five. “Ah,” she said, “in that case write, Robert Dead, Ford For Sale.”

Even at the lowest moment we need to begin to prepare for the good days ahead.

This Blog is linked to my other.    Handel - WaterMusic.

Everything Comes Round.

I was talking to somebody very close to me who had received a gift. She was wondering how she could let the person know how grateful she was for the gift. I advised that at this moment she did nothing, other than to say thank you. I went on to tell her that there would come an opportunity sometime to repay the kind thought. That is after all the way of life.

I told her that I would write this blog today to explain my thinking.

He was walking along the road when he saw the stranger coming towards him. The stranger looked somewhat down. As he neared, he smiled to the stranger. It seemed to have an effect on the man; he seemed to brighten up. Later that day he remembered a past kindness that had on another day lifted his feelings. He sat down and wrote a letter to the friend.  The friend on receiving the letter felt so good that later that day he left a bigger than normal tip for the waitress. The waitress was so surprised that she had got this tip on the same day as she had been given a tip for a horse race. She placed the whole tip on the horse to win, and it did just that.

She collected her winnings, and on the way back to work she gave part of it to a poor man sitting on the street corner. The old man had not eaten for two days and bought himself a meal. Feeling better he headed home to the hostel where he lived. As he neared the place he saw a little puppy, clearly abandoned and looking hungry and afraid. He smuggled it up to his room and gave it what he could manage, and made it warm.

Later that night when all the residents of the hostel were sleeping, a resident let a cigarette butt slip from his fingers as he fell asleep. The settle caught fire. The puppy on smelling the smoke caused a commotion of barking. The barking wakened the whole household and everybody was saved from harm.

One of the residents saw his lucky escape as a motivation for improvement. He worked hard and one day he became a doctor and went on to save many more lives.

All of this because of one smile. What had the smile cost? Not a thing and yet look at the ripple effects it caused.

I am sorry I have not been around as often as I would like to be but I have  been preparing my plot and beginning the planting. I have also been digging my old pals plot so that he to will be able to get on with his planting.

I have added one of my Four Seasons paintings to this blog to let you see what they all look like now that I have them framed with a beautiful double mount. (Matt)

This blog is linked to my other.  The Tempest