Can you juggle?....

....It's not that hard, I'm told, but I've never mastered the art. Well, apparently, it's not that hard to juggle two balls anyway. Once you get to three, it becomes trickier. If you can work successfully with three, there's only one thing to do. Learn to work with four. And after four? Five, of course! What is life without a challenge to rise to? On it goes until you find yourself facing a struggle so great that you will be busy for the rest of your life with it.

 

 

 

There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you are enjoying it.

I've heard this track....

....many times.  This has to be the best version, or very close to the best -

Celtic Woman / Chloe Agnew - ''O Holy Night'': http://youtu.be/cZ-8jYpa1-o 

There is often a lot....

....to be said for a policy of restraint and caution. Wise people are forever telling us how many decisions made in haste are regretted at leisure. But yet sensible-sounding arguments like these are also often used to justify many a process of pointless prevarication. The real question now is, 'What can't wait?' What regrettable consequences may ensue from allowing an unnecessary delay? That has to be the key concern.

 

 

 

Don't create false urgency but where urgency is real, respect it.

You know what you know.....

....As for what you don't know? Well, you don't know it, do you? So far, so simple. The trouble is, sometimes, we think we know what we don't really know at all. And then we dangerously act on assumptions that are usually built on sand.

 

 

Sometimes, too, we know something, yet for some strange reason, we don't really know that we know it! Only when our knowledge is put to the test, do we discover how far it extends.

I'm having a....

 ....short break for a couple of days. 

 

 

You may like to have a look at this link, although some of you will probably have read it elsewhere.  It just goes to show - don't give up hope.   (You never know - one day I may even have somewhere to live.)

 

http://www.networknorwich.co.uk/Articles/380890/Network_Norwich_and_Norfolk/People/Norfolk_Christian_Colin_tells_of_Spirit_encounter.aspx

 

 

To love means loving the unlovable. Faith means believing the unbelievable.  Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.   (G.K.Chesterton)

Loving someone or....

....knowing that they love you is not a licence to abuse or antagonise them. It is never okay to hurt someone's feelings, just because you suspect that you will be 'safe', even if you do.

 

 

We all need to learn to show each other more respect and to treat the people we are closest to with the same degree of deference and civility that we might show to a stranger.

How many books....

......offer to test your personality or measure your IQ?  (I can't tell you that without an abacus.) None, though, offers you the opportunity to assess your sanity. Now, why might this be? Because such publications would not sell? Or because, despite the claims of erudite professionals, there is absolutely no reliable way to make such a judgement. One person's sanity is another's madness - and vice versa.

 

 

So who can say what's crazy now? If you are happy with what's happening, enjoy it. If not, change it.

Yesterday I had to go....

....to a small village in the countryside.  A temporary hold-up, on a fast road, made all of us road users slow down. As I slowed to walking pace, I glanced over to my right.  Between the hedgerows I saw a small piece of rough pasture land with nothing more than a large puddle in the middle of it.

 

 

The frost and the bright morning sun turned the mundane into a truly beautiful image. It was so beautiful that I said 'thank you' for allowing me to see it.  This was definitely a case of being in the right place at exactly the right moment.  And, for once, road works were a blessing. 

 

(I used to be an out-and-out 'townie'. I still love the hustle and bustle but it seems that I continue to evolve.  We all do.)

History doesn't have to repeat itself.....

 .....But today of all days brings into sharp focus that as often as not, though, that's precisely what will happen. Syndromes and patterns; be they physical, social or psychological, have an awe-inspiring tendency to develop in much the same way, time after time - often painfully. 

(I once saw an old photo of an elderly lady giving her grandson a kiss before he went to his fate in WWII.  The caption said that years earlier, she'd done the same to her son at the outbreak of WWI; and her husband had seen action in the Boer War.)

 

 

 

Only when we make a deliberate effort to learn something from the past and try to make things turn out differently, do we break those ingrained habits.

Let's start the week....

....with some words from a well known song - well, it was well known once upon a time..!!!

Grab your coat, and grab your hat, leave your worries on the doorstep, just direct your feet...' The thing is, though, what if the street has no sunny side? What if dark clouds are hovering overhead? What if it never stops raining? Well, perhaps that should be 'sunnier'. Or perhaps it should just be 'least bleak'.

 

 

 

One side of any 'street' will always present a more attractive proposition than the other, even if the difference is only slight. Pick the best option you can identify, and don't worry.

I once read about a poet....

...who went by the name of Khalil Gibran.  One of the things he said was - 'Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.'

 

 

And people who do seek wisdom soon discover that wisdom cannot be sought. Unlike information - which you can most definitely go out hunting or fishing for - wisdom is nobody's prey and nobody's quarry. If you wish to encounter wisdom - you must stand still and allow wisdom to catch you!

Let's discuss a hypothetical situation....

....You are a passenger in a vehicle. The driver is reversing round a tight difficult corner. You can see what they can't see, a wall very close to your side. So, should you keep quiet and be polite because you don't want to be a backseat driver? Or attempt a quick, gentle word like, 'You have noticed this, haven't you?'



And if the wall does get hit and you have not said a word, whose fault would it be?

Please take time to think about....

.....going to some lengths to procure the seed of a rare and valuable flower. You bury it, you water it and then you begin to feel more than a little hacked off because no shoots are appearing. Does this mean you should now decide to dig it up and plant something else instead? Why not apply just a little more patience to your project? You may not yet be able to get a clear idea of how long it is going to take. You may not even be entirely sure that it will ever come to fruition. But something drew you to it in the first place. Try trusting that impulse.

 

 

You may still have to wait a while for the bloom, but you could at least see exciting new leaves if you persevere.

Now you knew that this.....

.....was imminent - They say - What they say is, 'Whatever doesn't destroy you makes you stronger.' Oh yes. Very good. Very wise. Very comforting - I don't think. It may be true. But surely we all want better than a life during which we are continually taken to the brink and back, just so that we can be 'strengthened'.

 

 

 

Well, here's another saying -  'Whatever you can avoid putting yourself through makes you smarter.' We have options and alternatives. Nothing prevents us from taking these.

Last Friday was the happiest day....

.....I'd had in over 25 years. I was on cloud nine. Then two people decided that they would erode that euphoria so,  I guess, it's little wonder that I think we rarely feel as if we are entitled to enjoy ourselves. Life, it often seems, is an endless round of tasks that remain to be completed, promises that have yet to be kept and deadlines that need meeting. Must we really wait until we have taken care of all of these before we loosen up a little? Whilst it's good to be responsible it's important to remember that duties are a bit like viruses. They have a way of multiplying!

Mind you, I still maintain that if you are given a chance to be happy - take it.

Today is the first day.....

......in over 25 years that I have not suffered any abdominal pain or discomfort.  Nothing at all - just as it should be.  It may be the only day I get like this, but I don't care.  It's an amazing feeling to be free from all pain.  And my family neither know nor care - a seriously bitter pill to swallow.

 

 

 

 

 

When I realised, I offered up a prayer of thanks and wept.  (I was walking along a street at the time.)

And the heat returned.....

....yesterday evening. 

 

I went to a healing service to give testimony to what happened over a month ago.  (The same testimony I was driven to give yesterday morning, in a small church over 20 miles away.)  After the evening testimony, the Minister told the assembly how long he had known me and what he had seen me endure.  Then he prayed........During that prayer, I thought  - Not again!!  This heat.  This almost unbearable heat.  Even the Minister was sweating.....  At the end of the service it had all but left me. 
And not a single member of my family knows nor cares.  Oh well, such is life...

 

 

I wonder what the next chapter will bring.

When I was preparing...

....this morning's service, I found these words -

Worry is filling your mind with bad thoughts of the worst that could happen.  Worry is like water.  It begins as a trickle of doubt that creeps into your mind.  If it isn’t stopped, it soon becomes a stream of fear, which creates a pond of paranoia, which overflows into a river of distress, which develops into a raging torrent of tension.   And before you know it, the flood of worry has carved a Khyber Pass of anxiety in your mind! 
William Ward – the 18^th century Baptist missionary - wrote this about worry -  “Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster, and belief in defeat.  Worry is a magnet that attracts negative circumstances.  Worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.”

You could say that worry is like rocking in a rocking chair - it gives you something to do, but you never go anywhere with it.

When we face a challenging circumstance we have two choices...... We can lose heart and let worrisome thoughts control our mind; or we can pray about it.........

 

 

 

 

I guess we all worry to some extent, but I've never understood why we worry about things that we have no intention of altering - or even trying to.

 

 

Whatever you are doing, enjoy your day.

Time for one of those...

....different sort of blogs.  I need to start with an apology, because some of the following is a repeat.  (Let's précis the historical bit.)

1982 - Crohn's suspected.

1990 - Crohn's confirmed.

(In the intervening years, many tests, many pills and potions, many bouts of severe pain.)

1997 - Undergo small bowel resection

1999 - Crohn's gets 'foot back in the door'

2002 - Suspicion of pancreatic problems due to previous surgery

2009 - Exit sites of bile and pancreatic ducts relocated.

(In the intervening years, many tests, many pills and potions, Reiki sessions etc, many bouts of severe pain.)

2011 - Crohn's gets 'foot back in the door'

2012 - Confirmed that there is no prescribed drug currently on the market that can help. Talk about further surgery. Great concern by all, due to 'significant risk factor and mortality issue'

2012 (Sept onwards) - Can barely eat.  Any and all foodstuffs causes intense debilitating pain

2013 (Feb) - More intestine removed.

2013 ((Jul) - Crohn's hits back, hard.  Confirmed no period of remission appeared likely - more pills and potions; more tests.

 

My ability to absorb nutrients and proteins has been severely curtailed by the illness and the operations; so I have a constant battle against extreme fatigue

 

So much for the history.......

 

On 8th Sept I went to a healing service, in my own parish, led by Ash Kotecha. I went, worn down by the knowledge that the pain wasn't going to leave me, but get worse.  Worn down by the knowledge that I was (not so merrily) trundling along a road towards having my 'food' fed straight into my veins.

 

I stood at the front of the church, with a few others. At no time was I touched by any other person  (I knew that the power of prayer had more than helped me through the dark days at the beginning of the year.) The longer I stood there focussing on spoken words of Scripture I'd heard many time before, I became hotter and hotter (internally).  It was close to unbearable, and the pain was still there, still as intense.  At the end of the evening, the heat had gone, but the pain hadn't.

 

A couple of weeks ago I was aware that the pain was much less, and the sharp stabbing attacks were not lasting as long. And this is how it has remained. Instead of a daily pain level of 7-9, it's usually a level of 3 or 4.  It does still hurt to sit in meetings, as in sitting still for long periods.  It still wakes me up when I inadvertently move onto the traumatised area of my abdomen.  The level of fatigue is still the same.  But, overall, I feel just as I did approx. 15 years ago.  And if this is the general level the pain remains at, you'll hear no complaints from me. 

 

 

I know what happened on 15 February. I now know what happened on 8 September.  Do I understand it?  In truth, I doubt I ever will, but I know it and give thanks for it. 




 

The world is....

changing fast......(Oh no, there's that word 'change' again - run away, run away!!)  Today's state-of-the-art device is tomorrow's car-boot-sale bargain. As with technology, so with fashion - and sadly, even with philosophy. What once was cutting edge is now blunt and dull. It seems, sometimes, that to survive on this fluid, fickle planet, we must be ready, at all times, to abandon every idea we once held dear. Yet some things don't change.

 

 

 

If you are ever under pressure now, to drop a deep belief. Don't. Not if your heart still sees the sense of it. That's most likely one change too many!

People love speeches....

.....and announcements and orations. They elect, for example, politicians on the strength of their ability to make eloquent points. We all know that none of them will ever act on their promises, so we figure we may as well just vote for the ones who sound good.

 

 

Yet some words really do have meaning. And that's why they should be used sparingly.

It's a bit sketchy....

...this week, I know.  Sorry about that, good people. Need to get my head round a few things (like where to live).  Anyway.....

 

Some people say that nothing ever happens without a reason. But if you cannot see the reason for something, it is hard to believe that a reason exists. You may feel fairly sure that you are pursuing the most appropriate path. But you can easily be talked out of this conviction by someone who seems to be more logical, articulate or persuasive. But instinct is good. There is a reason why things are as they are, even if you cannot yet identify it.

 

 

Try trusting what you feel, not what you think.

Spin-doctors....

 ....Don't you just love 'em!  (Well no serious politico does.)  They love sound bites. They say, 'Let's not bother people with our complicated arguments. Let's just say something short and snappy. It'll sound good and stick in their memory.' And, as we're all too busy working to cover the taxes that, in turn, pay those politician's wages, we don't much seem to mind. Until, that is, we wake up and realise that they have squandered billions through incompetence and idiocy.

 

That's the price we pay for taking assurances at face value

This may come as an....

utter shock.  You may need to strap yourself down before reading further......Are you ready?..... Brilliant ideas do not always turn up in chauffeur driven cars. Men in shiny peaked hats do not roll out red carpets before ushering them out and bystanders do not invariably jostle for position on the pavement, striving to get a good view of the celebrity. Sometimes, indeed, it is the bad ideas that turn up in a manner like this... while the great ones sneak in through a side entrance and just start doing what must be done.

 

Does it ever matter who gets the credit for what - just as long as the right thing happens.

Why not go for a run....

...to lose weight - and take some sandwiches in case you get hungry along the way? Or why not try to please your critics? There are many great exercises in futility that you can perform if you wish to. Some things, though, really are not worth the effort.

 

 

 

If you really want to make some progress - pursue a plan that actually stands a chance of working; and treat the cause, not the symptom of a particular malaise. Think about what's really going on. Ignore what's being said.

You will offend someone....

....no matter what you say. You will misunderstand something, no matter how hard you try to grapple with a tricky topic. You will transcend an unwritten rule, no matter how delicately you tread through the minefield of social protocol. And how much will all of this matter? As much (or as little) as you care to let it.

 

 

Mistakes are not just forgivable, they are inevitable. They can be transformed into triumphs if they are conceded, not denied.

Would you please join me in....

.....three cheers for minimalism! Ummm, maybe, on reflection, it had better be one cheer. Let us all drink to moderation. (But let us make sure that the drink is non-alcoholic). If, one way or another you are feeling a little restricted, you may want to do a lot even if it is clear that you can only do a little. This, though, can be more than enough. Sometimes it is through the ability to hold back wisely that you are can start to achieve success.

 

 

It is quality not quantity that counts

This was just given to me....

....A brilliant analogy -

 

A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they'd be asked the "half empty or half full" question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 18g to 35g.

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralysed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

She continued, "The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralysed – incapable of doing anything."

Remember to put the glass down.

Here's one of those....

....different posts to keep you all up-to-date. Yesterday.  I didn't see the surgeon, but one of his registrars.  There was no record on file of my meeting with the medical team over a month ago.  Anyway, to cut a long story short - even though my top wound hasn't 'skinned over properly', surgically all is far better than they had hoped.  I've been discharged from the surgical team.  In any future meeting of all 'experts' - one is due shortly - the surgical group would try to resist any suggestion of further surgery.  In his words - you've had a lot removed already, any more and it wouldn't be safe.  The clock ticks....but I'm not due to see anyone again until October.

 

 

And so the saga continues, and all the while AP stays by my side with a 'you can't get me' attitude. 

 

But, no matter what cross we have to bear, if we allow ourselves to wallow in self pity nothing we do will be of much worth.  Not to mention that it's a tad selfish. 

Seemingly, somone once designed.....

.....a special suit that was designed to keep you dry while you were having a bath. (Probably got paid a lot of money, and went into politics.) It sounds like a great idea until you stop to think about it. There is, of course, a world of difference between a nearly useful invention and a really useful invention.

 

 

Do you have a plan that sounds very convincing, appropriate and wise. But does it contain a fundamental flaw? If you can't see one, invite someone else to criticise it. There is nothing wrong with a little cautious cynicism.

Food manufacturers, when they want....

....to sell products, don't show photographs of what their meals will look like after they have spent a few hours in your digestive system! In car showrooms, salespeople don't start up the engine and invite prospective customers to sample the exhaust fumes. There are some very true facts that we all prefer not to think about... which is fine... or even to allow for... which is not so clever

 

 

In recognising the potential downside to any situation, you're not being pessimistic... merely sensible.

Let's stick with songs...

.....for the moment. There's an old one with this line in it - 'There ain't nobody here but us chickens.' It's basically a song about worrying too much, and the reason why it is never wise to do this. We can always envisage a fox in the hen house or a wolf at the door. Even if such enemies are real, though, we do ourselves no favours by overreacting.

 

 

 

 

Cool, calm, level-headed thought, that's what wins the day.

Let's return with a little song....

....Are you ready?  On 3 - 1....2....3....'Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose...' Yes, yes, I know it's June, but a little Christmas cheer can lift any mood.

 

You know, the one thing that really makes Christmas good is not the tradition, the feast or even the sense of celebration; it's the spirit of goodwill. The willingness to make extra allowances and to be emotionally generous.

 

 

Anyone can give a present. But it takes a lot to give of yourself.  Give all that you can.

Psychologists call it 'displacement'....

....So I'll call it something else, me thinks.  Now where was I?  Ah yes, we feel frustrated about something serious, but we are unable to influence the situation. So we transfer our attention to something trivial and get angry about that instead. Or we create a fantasy realm full of false priorities and warped perspectives.

 

 

We kid ourselves that our world is the real world. It comes as something of a shock when we discover that it is not.

Do you remember, as a child.....

....being told you were not allowed to go swimming straight after you had eaten a meal. This was, we were assured by various serious looking adults, very dangerous. If we didn't wait for our food to go down, we might sink to the bottom of the pool. But modern experts don't agree. They say that, unless you suffer from a particular medical condition, there is absolutely no need for such caution.

  

 

 

 

I mention this only to illustrate the way in which commonly held beliefs are not always true. Always check out any assumptions made.

An ant can carry up to....

....a hundred times its own weight. That makes it one of the strongest creatures. Yet, it still doesn't give it much of a fighting chance in an altercation with an elephant.

Everything is relative - a point well worth remembering at times.

How do you know....

....what someone else is thinking? How do they know what you are thinking? You may think you know. They may think they know. But sometimes, there can be a world of difference between what we know and what we think we know. And, for as long as we think that what we know is what we really know, we cannot really know what needs to be known because we cannot see past what we think.

 

 

 

There should always be clear communication.  Confusion arises from assumptions, and sentences starting with 'What I meant was.....' help nobody.

This post will be....

.....communicated in semaphore. Watch carefully while I wave these little flags up and down. There. That is perfectly clear, isn't it? You can't see what I am saying? Get away with you.  Look more carefully.  Oh, ok, let us try smoke signals instead. There must be some way I can set fire to this site!

 

When something needs to be said, the best way to say it is in a way that can neither be ignored or misinterpreted. Guessing games don't help anyone understand each other better.

It is hard to put someone else's....

....mind at rest whilst your own is in turmoil. Hard, too, to heal another person's wounds while your own ache and weep. Hard, yes. Impossible, no. Life may have taken a lot out of you, and a lot out of me, but we still have a lot to give. So we should give it. Share it. Summon the hope and the kindness that resides deep in your heart and express it to those around you. Resist the temptation to complain, even though there's plenty that you can feel justifiably unhappy about.

 

 

 

 

 

Positivity is the only way forward.  Negativity should be outlawed.

Get this.....

....Apparently people don't like to be deceived.  Oh really!  Well actually, we do. That is why so many of us end up being so easily misled. We enjoy being fooled - especially if this allows us to feel that several of our favourite fantasies are being confirmed as 'probably true'. .

 

 

 

 

 

What we don't like is to be undeceived! We don't enjoy being told the truth or forced to face some uncomfortable fact.

This was part of an email....

....I unexpectedly received recently - '....I had a read through some of your blog and it's very thought-provoking - I looked back to your entries in Feb and March and found your positivity while you must have been in a huge amount of pain inspiring'

 

 

There are no words that can do justice in expressing how I felt when I read that.  In a strange way, those words seemed to make everything that has happened (or not) since last autumn, worthwhile.

Loving someone or....

....knowing that they love you is not a licence to abuse or antagonise them. It is never okay to hurt someone's feelings, just because you suspect that you will be 'safe', even if you do.

 

 

We all need to learn to show each other more respect and to treat the people we are closest to with the same degree of deference and civility that we might show to a stranger.

Why would you limp through the door....

...to the future, clutching a big bag of clothes that don't suit you, dragging behind you a cart of other people's problems that they have asked you to help carry? The door is only so wide. With all that baggage, you may not pass through.

 

 

 

 

 

You may have to wander round in a kind of eternal version of yesterday... until or unless you put down what you no longer need.

For an inordinate length of time....

....many hundreds of years, in fact, people fantasised about the ability to fly. That, our ancestors concluded, would surely alter everything. It's now 228 years since the first hot air balloon carried humans aloft. Has this amazing invention allowed us to conquer war, end famine or eradicate cruelty? It has just allowed more of us to travel further and made a worrying contribution to climate change!

 

 

 

 

We have to be careful when we aspire to progress. We may well get it - but we can't be sure it will do for us all that we hoped it would.

The following was posted....

.....on Facebook by a young woman who has as much right to put two fingers up to society and life in general, as anyone I've ever known - More than 12 years ago my husband had his accident which changed our life forever....our hopes and dreams were taken away....life may not be what we had hoped but we are still incredibly lucky to have true happiness.

 

 

 

That is both inspired and inspiring, and if the vast majority of us worked at adopting the same attitude, we would live in a glorious world.

Spin-doctors love....

sound bites. (Don't they just!!)  Their view - Let's not bother people with our complicated arguments. Let's just say something short and snappy. It'll sound good and stick in their memory.

And, as we're all too busy working to cover the taxes that, in turn, pay those politician's wages, we don't much seem to mind. Until, that is, we wake up and realise that they have squandered billions through incompetence and idiocy.

That's the price we are likely to pay for taking assurances at face value, no matter who gives them.

I'm guessing that most of us....

know the biblical tale of Lot and his wife, and how she turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back at the wrong moment. Nothing quite so dramatic is going to happen to you if you try to relate too strongly to the past, but you could risk missing a lot! If you're wise, you'll throw in your lot with whatever is most likely to take you forward fastest.

 

There's not a lot we can do about anything that's happened, but there's plenty we can do to ensure that tomorrow makes us happier... er... with our lot!

 

Next week I hope to be....

....able to bring you a live debate between President Obama and a Director on the Board of the NRA   Today though, and at enormous expense, I have managed to get two very special guests. The chicken from the beginning of time and the original egg. Both claim to have got here first. So which one really did? Before our special panel of invited guests, each will make the case. Then we'll have an audience phone poll.

 

 

 

 

Er, here's a tip - avoid any pointless conflict. Deal with what's practical... and relevant.

What a long list....

....of gods we must continually appease. Gods of fashion and social acceptability. Deities of 'paying the mortgage'. Angry powers of chaos that will wreak havoc in our lives if we do not make them regular offerings of cupboard-clearing and shelf-tidying.

 

 

How ironic that in our efforts to satisfy the demands of these spirits, we almost entirely overlook the need to honour and respect the one who represents a 'higher purpose'.