Often we want to speak or do. Sometimes ours best to just observe. You can learn a lot from active and intentional observation.
Calm your mind. Take some slow deep breaths. Let judgments pass and expectations drop. Remain indifferent to the words or actions.
Just observe.
Make the effort to eat together at least once a week. Whether it’s you and your partner, your kids, parents, close friends, or grandparents, get a frequent time in your diary.
Then also make sure you are present, alert, engaged and making it the best possible moment you can. These are important moments. You don’t know how many you have left until the last one happens. Then it’s too late.
Enjoy dinner together.
It is so easy to gloss over people’s contribution or even ignore it or joke about it. You are a better person if you see someone’s contribution, no matter how large or small and regardless if you think it was enough or how you would do it or want it.
Give people some kudos. Do it as often as you can and for whatever you can.
Monday is a day people can do this when referencing The Queen. Appreciate all that she did and didn’t do to make the world a better place. Such leadership from a 26 year old woman, in a very different world in the 1950’s.
Your appreciation will make you and the world around you better. Find the good in people and things. You’ll be happier for it.
Look what you have achieved so far in life! You’ve mastered walking, socialising, some sports, learning, reading, eating, toilet time, tests, exams, paying bills, earning an income, holding a job, dealing with stress and travelling somewhere new.
Of course, you’ve managed to do all sorts of other things too! And just because others have done it, doesn’t reduce the validity that you did it too.
You are an amazing group of cells doing quite exceptional, though sometimes mundane, things. Things a giraffe ? couldn’t even imagine doing. So well done!
Now everything else is quite simple. So go make it happen. I believe in you and you should too!
Live it to the limit! Thank you Wrangler.
Pump up your self talk. Be more confident. You’re better than you think you are!
Yesterday we took the opportunity to float down a lazy river with mild, intermittent rapids. It was calm, gorgeous, fun, cooling (in 36C heat) and hugely enjoyable.
Sometimes taking an hour or two to float through life is a wonderful thing.
We met a man standing waist deep in water just before a set of light rapids. He had a beverage in his hand and a friendly demeanour but tough looks.
As I was being pulled straight toward him by the flow of the river I said I didn’t know which side of him I’d end up on. He said not to worry and that the river would decide. Very zen.
Don’t fight the current. Go with the flow.
Lazy river fun and philosophy.
Laugh, smile, wonder, delight and play like a child. Be innocent and fully present. Enjoy the moment to the extreme. Let your soul soar. Give yourself permission and make it happen.
Hiking, spa, massage and spending time with my wife. I did all of those combined today and it was brilliant.
Find things you love and go do them!
What to do and what not to do. Some people accept ageing as a part of the life process while others don’t. Some people may even be happier as they age because they are living longer than some of their less fortunate friends. If they appreciate what they have rather than what they are losing, they will struggle less with the eventualities of life.
Your body and mind may not be what they were, and some decline is inevitable, but you can appreciate what you still have.
Staring mortality in the face is not an easy task. And it would seem natural to be angry, frustrated, upset, disillusioned and startled. It is hard to tell how you will respond to the situation when the endgame becomes obvious.
However, hold your chin up, enjoy what you’ve experienced and role model wisdom and appreciation rather than fear and panic. 10 billion people have gone before you and had to deal with the end one way or another. Take some time now to consider your viewpoints and make some plans. This will make the acceptance easier when the final curtain becomes inevitable.
