Action for Happiness, a mass movement to improve people's wellbeing, claims there are 10 key steps to achieving contentment in life, it was reported in yesterday's Daily Telegraph. These are:
1. GIVING
Do things for others - volunteer to work for a charity in your spare time.
2. RELATING
Connect with people - get in touch with friends with whom you have lost contact.
3. EXERCISING
Take care of your body - go for a run.
4. APPRECIATING
Notice the world around - take time to appreciate wildlife in your area.
5. TRYING OUT
Keep learning new things - learn a new language.
6. DIRECTION
Have goals to look forward to - make resolutions and stick to them.
7. RESILIENCE
Find ways to bounce back - learn from defeats to do things better in the future.
8. EMOTION
Take a positive approach - focus on the happy moments of your life rather than the sad.
9. ACCEPTANCE
Be comfortable with who you are - do not dwell on your flaws.
10. MEANING
Be part of something bigger - join a society or club.
I could, I suppose, enlarge on those points but they seem to me to be concise and succinct and well worth taking on board just as they are.
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
There you are
And here I am, back before you've had time to miss me. It was a very pleasant break, but too short. Although traffic was heavy on the motorways both ways, we got held up only for a very short while heading north on Sunday afternoon. We had a most enjoyable Sunday lunch which was made all the better when another lady at the pub complimented us on the boys' behaviour.
I am sure there are more sheep around this year than I have seen for many years, both on the Downs round here and as we drove up to Sutton Coldfield. There were also great swathes of cowslips on the motorway verges. Very nice to see this flower making something of a comeback. I was, however, disappointed not to see the red kites as we passed through the Chilterns.
We had to come back yesterday as I had already promised to provide a taxi ride for my younger son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter to Gatwick for them to fly off to Tenerife or somewhere for a holiday in the sun.
I am sure there are more sheep around this year than I have seen for many years, both on the Downs round here and as we drove up to Sutton Coldfield. There were also great swathes of cowslips on the motorway verges. Very nice to see this flower making something of a comeback. I was, however, disappointed not to see the red kites as we passed through the Chilterns.
We had to come back yesterday as I had already promised to provide a taxi ride for my younger son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter to Gatwick for them to fly off to Tenerife or somewhere for a holiday in the sun.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Don't believe everything your mother told you
If I could be bothered - which I can't - I could easily find out when I first met Sue. I know it was shortly before she and I, along with several others, accompanied a relief convoy to Bosnia just after the Yugoslavian civil war. Sue is a member of a Lioness Club just along the coast from here so the Old Bat and I have had occasion to meet a good many times since then. The latest occasion was at the beginning of last week and Sue was telling us how she has only recently discovered that she has two half-sisters. A bit like my sister-in-law, who discovered a couple of years ago that she has a half-sister. Of course, all this knowledge only comes to light after the death of everybody who could tell us the stories behind the facts, stories which we would dearly love to know. It just goes to show that not only do we not ask the questions when people who can give the answers are still around to do so, but in fact half the time we don't even know the questions to ask.
When I started researching my family tree there was only one person left alive from earlier generations: my mother. It seemed natural to ask her to tell me all she could and she did so willingly. She told me that somebody on her side of the family had done some research which showed we were descended from a naval captain. That proved to be untrue. She also told me that one of my father's uncles was a fisherman who was thought to have been lost at sea in the early years of the 20th century. I have just found out that Great Uncle Ambrose was indeed a trawlerman, but he died in 1922 (hardly the early years of the century) in a sanatorium of enteric fever.
I wonder how many of the other things she told me will prove to be false?
When I started researching my family tree there was only one person left alive from earlier generations: my mother. It seemed natural to ask her to tell me all she could and she did so willingly. She told me that somebody on her side of the family had done some research which showed we were descended from a naval captain. That proved to be untrue. She also told me that one of my father's uncles was a fisherman who was thought to have been lost at sea in the early years of the 20th century. I have just found out that Great Uncle Ambrose was indeed a trawlerman, but he died in 1922 (hardly the early years of the century) in a sanatorium of enteric fever.
I wonder how many of the other things she told me will prove to be false?
Monday, 11 April 2011
Kish Celtic Band
It's getting on for seven years now since I was privileged to be invited to join Grandma Skip's family on Independence Day. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon listening to the Kish Celtic Band. I have been playing a CD of their's recently and was delighted to find some of their songs on the web. Here is one of my favourites.
Sunday, 10 April 2011
I will not be there
Today sees the second Brighton marathon. I won't even be spectating let alone running. I was highly dubious when it was announced that the first marathon would be run in the city last year as it meant that many of the roads in the city centre would be closed for at least part of the day thereby causing enormous complications for residents and visitors alike. I know one lady who is confined to a wheelchair who was unable to use her car at all last year and I assume the same applies today. But it seemed to be a great success last year and I hope it will be again today. This video shows the whole of the route in super-quick time.
I shall be trying to get across town for my grandson's birthday lunch, then back again to collect Fern before leaving for Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield actually) to visit my daughter for a couple of days. Don't worry - I won't leave you completely bereft of fascinating stuff.
I shall be trying to get across town for my grandson's birthday lunch, then back again to collect Fern before leaving for Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield actually) to visit my daughter for a couple of days. Don't worry - I won't leave you completely bereft of fascinating stuff.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Scenic Saturday - South Yorkshire
Number 36 in the series.
South Yorkshire: coal mines and steel works. Dreary (to me) towns such as Barnsley and Rotherham and the city of Sheffield, once the world leader in cutlery manufacture, especially knives, and stainless steel. That doesn't sound much like a scenic place, but South Yorkshire also extends to part of the Peak District and there are certainly some attractive sights in other parts of the country. This picture of Totley Moor was taken by Roger Temple.
South Yorkshire: coal mines and steel works. Dreary (to me) towns such as Barnsley and Rotherham and the city of Sheffield, once the world leader in cutlery manufacture, especially knives, and stainless steel. That doesn't sound much like a scenic place, but South Yorkshire also extends to part of the Peak District and there are certainly some attractive sights in other parts of the country. This picture of Totley Moor was taken by Roger Temple.
Friday, 8 April 2011
I could be world champion
There are not many things I'm good at, including English grammar as that opening phrase should probably read "there are not many things at which I am good". But the "correct" wording - if, indeed, it is correct - sounds clumsy. Perhaps the best way of dealing with it is to reword it completely.
There are not many things I do well. Does that sound better? It's a bit like when I try to write a letter in French. I don't have to do it very often and my French is not exactly fluent so when the need arises I tend to draft the letter in English and then translate it. The problem with doing that is that although I usually manage to get the words right, the result is not exactly correct because the French put things in a different order. Anyway, as I was saying, there are not many things I do well but there is one sphere of activity in which I am definitely world class. I suppose the purists might say that my world-beating ability is in a sphere of inactivity rather than activity since my prowess is in procrastination. There are people, I am told although I can't recall ever meeting one of them, who live by the motto, "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today". Not me. For me, the converse is true and I am for ever trying to find excuses for deferring things. Not that I have to try particularly hard as there is always something else more urgent or important or just more interesting that I want to get on with.
This morning is a case in point. I have a pile of paper sitting beside my keyboard on my desk. This constitutes my pending file. I don't remember when I last looked at the papers at the bottom of the pile but I have a sneaking suspicion that the very bottom one could be a letter from my dentist reminding me that my 6-monthly check up is due. That has been sitting there for 18 months now. I did nothing about it when I received it because the last time I visited my dentist he suggested that I only need see him once a year unless I have trouble. Well, I haven't had trouble so there didn't seem much point in disturbing him but I suppose I really should do so sometime. Not that that particular example demonstrates this morning's procrastination. That refers to a letter I should have written before now to a young lad in Maryland who suffers from cystic fibrosis.
Some years ago my Lions Club twinned with a club from Maryland. After a while we decided that twinning should be more than just exchanging newsletters and we decided to establish a joint service project. After some to-ing and fro-ing, it was agreed that we should each "adopt" a disabled or life-limited youngster in the other club's area and try to brighten their lives by sending letters and postcards. Somehow it has fallen to me to write to Joe each month and I diarise to do so at the beginning of the month. I have spent all week putting off writing my April letter as I am finding it increasingly difficult to write on a different theme every month. I have suggested that somebody else might take over this job - I've been doing it since its inception - but to no avail.
Well, I mustn't put it off any longer. I had better see what I wrote last month and try to carry on from there.
There are not many things I do well. Does that sound better? It's a bit like when I try to write a letter in French. I don't have to do it very often and my French is not exactly fluent so when the need arises I tend to draft the letter in English and then translate it. The problem with doing that is that although I usually manage to get the words right, the result is not exactly correct because the French put things in a different order. Anyway, as I was saying, there are not many things I do well but there is one sphere of activity in which I am definitely world class. I suppose the purists might say that my world-beating ability is in a sphere of inactivity rather than activity since my prowess is in procrastination. There are people, I am told although I can't recall ever meeting one of them, who live by the motto, "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today". Not me. For me, the converse is true and I am for ever trying to find excuses for deferring things. Not that I have to try particularly hard as there is always something else more urgent or important or just more interesting that I want to get on with.
This morning is a case in point. I have a pile of paper sitting beside my keyboard on my desk. This constitutes my pending file. I don't remember when I last looked at the papers at the bottom of the pile but I have a sneaking suspicion that the very bottom one could be a letter from my dentist reminding me that my 6-monthly check up is due. That has been sitting there for 18 months now. I did nothing about it when I received it because the last time I visited my dentist he suggested that I only need see him once a year unless I have trouble. Well, I haven't had trouble so there didn't seem much point in disturbing him but I suppose I really should do so sometime. Not that that particular example demonstrates this morning's procrastination. That refers to a letter I should have written before now to a young lad in Maryland who suffers from cystic fibrosis.
Some years ago my Lions Club twinned with a club from Maryland. After a while we decided that twinning should be more than just exchanging newsletters and we decided to establish a joint service project. After some to-ing and fro-ing, it was agreed that we should each "adopt" a disabled or life-limited youngster in the other club's area and try to brighten their lives by sending letters and postcards. Somehow it has fallen to me to write to Joe each month and I diarise to do so at the beginning of the month. I have spent all week putting off writing my April letter as I am finding it increasingly difficult to write on a different theme every month. I have suggested that somebody else might take over this job - I've been doing it since its inception - but to no avail.
Well, I mustn't put it off any longer. I had better see what I wrote last month and try to carry on from there.
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