Bounce your thoughts.

   "It's not that you can't, it's just that you haven't." Chapter 14 is such a clever, simple chapter. It turns a difficult thought into a simple one. Change isn't as difficult as you think. Why? well because you just don't try it enough. I remember trying to learning to drive and thinking "am I going to be the only person I know who can't drive a bloody car." Slowly but surely you can change.
   In other news. I'm back at home by the sea for the first time in over a week. I woke up around 7 and was off for a walk along the beach just before 8. There wasn't a soul around, the street full of the same cars that were here last night although now with a dusting of frost on them. Margate's a pretty depressed place in reality. When the sun shines and the beaches are full it masks the fact that there isn't much work. So it appears I'm the poster boy for industry and early starts here in my corner of town. There couldn't have been many applicants for the post, for me to have been the pick of the bunch or maybe they just held the interviews early when the street was still asleep?
   So, back to the beach. As I went through the gap I could see the ships at anchor in the near distance waiting their turn to unload further along the estuary at Tilbury or Sheerness. The sea was pretty calm and the sky clear. All the seaweed from a couple of months ago was gone, just a sandy beach and me. The child inside me isn't buried very deep so I'm always thinking I'm going to find some treasure washed up from a long forgotten wreck. today was no different from previous beach combing days. No finds, a couple of nice shells and various footprints disappearing into the distance. I added my footprints but not in a usual straight line oh no, more a mazzy staggered path. For no other reason, than the thought that someone would come along later and wonder what kind of drunken fool had been staggering along their beach. Did I mention the child in me?
   There were a couple of other things I saw during my meander but I've taken up enough of your time for now.

Onwards and upwards in search of fulfillment :-)    

And the next chapter is ....

Going to be in my next post. It's Christmas so I'll take a holiday. I got to cook lots over Christmas. I don't have a fully functioning kitchen yet. So being a guest where there was one, gave me a chance to try some things out. Most turned out OK but a trifle I made for a party hadn't really set and as we drove to said party it started to merge as we rounded each corner and stopped at each junction. No one asked what it was but It did get eaten. The picture isn't mine. Maybe next years will be. I entered Christmas with most things done and no regrets and I leave it with no plans to change things next year (see below). I also have no intentions of looking back over the year and making resolutions for the next one. Just keep moving.
       In other news .... I don't how I came across it but I found an interesting article about Churchill. It dealt with his depressions and how when depressed he had unrivaled clarity of thought. Paradoxically this clarity of thought when depressed was also entwined with grandiose notions of success and ambition. Interesting I thought and I immediately pushed aside the full scale model of Buckingham Palace I'm making from match sticks and glue and I've put on hold my menu plans for this evening. A three course meal for six guests using only two small aubergine and wild fruits gathered from the forest, cooked over an open fire in the garden. Ummmmmm I had a nagging thought, this article reminded me of someone but who? Someone close?  Me maybe?
   Trying to overcome the might of Kent County Councils planning department is a little akin to smashing the Nazi war machine and my ambitious plans for Maison Margate are probably on a par with Winston's plans to invade Europe. Joking aside this has been something of a revelation. Finding something that mirrors one's habits or behaviour is both reassuring and helpful. Now I don't presume to see any similarities between Churchill and myself except our joint love of red wine and the fact we both need to breath in to see our feet occasionally. Knowing there's a pattern is almost as good as knowing there's a solution. I will admit to having ambitious plans to carry me out of despair and gloom in the past. However reading that, made me decide there and then, that if I did not have the tools or wherewithal to do something then I won't make a plan. I would do what I could with what I have. The clarity would be useful though.

Onwards and upwards in pursuit of fulfillment :-)))

Chapter 13 .Definitely plan your work.

   In Chapter 13 the word "transmutation" appears. Changing one thing into another, in fact one of the definitions for transmutation in the dictionary is "to turn base metals into gold or silver." Which is interesting. Change my inertia to action. Darkness to light.
   Napoleon Hill, a chum of Dale Carnegie, believed the best time to learn one of life's unusual rules was when you think you're too angry, upset or depressed to do so. You change those feelings or transmute them into something better, through "definitely planned work." Once we work out who we want to be or want, we switch our negatives into positives. Instead of thinking about how angry we maybe. We think about how we will do something to change and write it down, as a plan or timetable, to help make that change and that gives us the "energy of purpose" to do it and we keep doing it until it turns into gold. Now on the face of it, this isn't rocket science but I've never considered turning a wrong thought into a right one.
   In other news I've been deleting old emails, pictures and unused posts and came across this one. "Why does everything I do take so long ??? I don't expect you to answer that. Unless you have a fist full of degrees from a renowned University a couple of books out and various appearances on TV then feel free to email me." it was part of an unfinished post. There are a few tucked in amongst the 411 published ones. A Google search reveals 531 million results to that question although only a few are relevant. There's mention of ADD and ADHD and tests for you to do. I'm not keen on labels. I've met too many people who have found labels to attach to themselves for some short fall in their lives and once found, they stop any kind of meaningful attempt to do anything about it. On the other hand, through this blog I've come across plenty of examples where people have been or found a labelled and choosen to march on.  I'd like to be associated with the later and not the former. Strange but apt I should happen upon that particular unused post after re-reading chapter 13.
   I'm off to write my plan now.

Onwards and upwards in the pursuit of fulfillment :-)))