A distinct lack of laughs.

There's been a lack of humour recently in my posts and my life in general. I'm far too concerned with other stuff. Fair enough, we all get side tracked and whenever you leave the usual route you run the risk of getting lost. Just like I am right now.
As much as I want to address the lack of a laugh on these pages I'm doing it again and wandering off in another direction  but stick with me. We all wander to some degree I guess. From when we were babies "ooh bright shiny thing, I want that" to when we become old farts searching through a box in the loft and find the old fart equivalent of the bright shiny thing and don't reappear from that loft for several hours. Procrastinators take it to another level. They deliberately head off track to avoid reaching their destination. Which made me think about depression also being an off track experience but an unconscious one. You slowly get sucked in. Completely unaware and because you're unaware, unable to stop yourself disappearing into the darkness.
Well I've been there and very fortunately managed with a little help to get back to the roadside. However as alluded to above I still occasionally wander off on my own or join the procrastinators in one of their regularly organized rambles and disappear for days.
So I need a little something that brings me back to the track and reminds me to laugh and reminds me of other important stuff as well. Not so much a mantra but more powerful than a slogan. To turn me back, whenever I begin to wander and wonder. Something like  "laugh alot, love alot, live alot" I'll work on it
Ok I'm history, until next time.

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

On course or off it, things are improving.

   Another month has past and on the surface not much has changed. Underneath things continue to improve in ways that surprise me. Bad news doesn't send me dropping into a black strop. I can't put my finger on why and I've always been a person who needs to know "why?" Now I don't seem so hung up on why and just get on with it (why?).
   As I work alone the radio and podcastes are my daily workmates. I listened to a wonderful TED talk by a lady called Linda Cliatt-Wayman, "How to fix a broken school." the other day. You wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of her, she's a bit of a bully but to be fair to her, she wouldn't achieve what she has without meeting obstructions head on and ready to push through them. She's passionate too and worth a listen. When things go wrong she doesn't let it phase her. She says "So what. Now what." You can't dwell on things with that little mantra like that bouncing around inside your head can you.
       I'm sticking with the food combining thing and have lost another 8lbs. I've calculated, that if this continues I'll disappear by the summer of 2017. In the mean time I'm cooking quite a bit. Nothing too glamorous, just getting the hang of good simple cooking. I made two pumpkin pies the other day. One went to my mothers. She wasn't impressed with the idea of a desert pie made from an ugly vegetable but she liked it enough to have a second slice and put what was left away for later. the other went to a friend who has spent time in the States and felt mine was as good as the ones she's tasted there. I'm either a natural or she's after something. I'm making more tomorrow for the practice and to remember how to, without having to look at a recipe each time. If they turn out well they are destined for the dinning table of my friend Pres and his family.    
       A couple of things I've read recently. Have piqued my interest, so by default you get dragged into having to read about it. The Apollo space ships that headed for the Moon were only on course for two or three percent of the time. The technology back then wasn't as advanced as I'd presumed. The other ninety odd percent they were vaguely heading in the right direction. The writer of this piece used the, "we're heading for the moon now we're not, now we are,"  to show us we don't need to be "on course" for every moment of our lives to succeed. We just need to check with mission control occasionally.
   Then there's Mindfulness. It's a word banded about a lot in the UK at the moment. It's being put forward by some as the new cure for all ills. I'm not going to knock it but personally I think it's just another of the things we've been made to forget to do in life. So much of our daily routine is taken up with remembering what to do tomorrow, next week, month, year. So it's hardly surprising we don't live in the moment so much any more. It's one of the things modern life has knocked out of us. Along with, walking somewhere instead of jumping in the car. Knowing which fruits and vegetables are in season, filling a glass from the tap when we're thirsty, instead of reaching for something from the fridge. Etc etc.
     Then there's the appreciation of things, all kinds of things which has now been usurped by its ugly twin, complaining about everything.
   Over the last few days I've really tried hard to live in the moment and along with NASA, not get too stressed if things don't seem to be moving in the right direction and I make a mental note each morning to appreciate all the things that make my life interesting and better. I bet you preferred it when I was miserable!

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