Diplomat

 Am I a Diplomat?  I am certainly a lot less confrontational than I used to be, and will let things go if ther is no point in the argument.

I just did an on-line personality quiz which told me I am a diplomat! 

Isort of think there is some truth in this.  I am surprised how often I have been told that I motivate or inspire people.  I hope it is true, anyway!  

You may or may not like people, but people like you. You are a natural born leader, whether you think it or not. Ask your friends and you will see. People greatly value your opinion, and often come to you for help. You can be inspirational without even trying, often motivating others to better themselves simply by being who you are.

New pages

The brother of a friend of mine wrote this -  it sums up a lot of my attitudes, so with their permission I have "stolen" it:


I’ve just been reminded that, while in our heads we are halfway through the book of our lives with many blank pages yet to be filled, we are Infact, every day, on the last page.
No further pages exist for tomorrow, only plans and hopes for a continued story.
We have no idea if our book will be thick or thin, only that as each day passes, another page is added.
If we live for the things we want, the houses, the cars, the holidays, then we spend all our time living for a story yet to be written on pages that don’t exist.
If we live every day for what we love and believe, every page is filled with our efforts.
Every page is rich.
A thick book doesn’t mean a better story or a thinner book a story unfinished. The quality of the story is determined by the spiritual quality of our life; in love; in effort; in making the most of what we have on the pages we write today.
And at the end of the day, thanking God for the pages we’ve had and acknowledging that it’s his power, not ours that will give us another day and another page tomorrow.

--------------------

Many thanks to Rachel Bown and David Thomas

New Year

Facebook is filled with sappys stuff, especially at Christmas and the New Year, but I realy liked this one

I have decided to do this in a little diary that a friend gave me for Christmas.

I will reflect each day on the pleasures the day has offered which will give me a good mental exercise at the end of each day.

Then as the year goes on I can dip back into it and remind myself of the richness and joy my daily life offers ... Neat idea innit
x

letter for lisa RIP

Hello.  I was sad to read you are confined to bed.  Things might even have changed since then.

I have recently read (the anti-cancer guru) Dr Shervan-Schreiber's book about the last stages of his life.  It is called the Not the Last Goodbye .. and he reflects on this business of saying goodbye to people and knowing each time that it might be the last one.

And for as long as possible it may NOT the last one, but we can sometimes say goodbye as though it IS the last one, just to make sure we say the things we need to say. We never know when the really last one will be, and that is fine ...  it is fine just  to keep saying our last goodbyes .. 

I hope this is not our last goodbye, Lisa, but just in case it turns out that way, I am coming into a private space to tell you that I will miss you.  I have valued your inter-net friendship and enjoyed your writing very much. Thank-you. 

Your voice comes across clear and spirited, always so full of wit and wisdom.  You model a way of living with cancer that  motivates and inspires many of us, and I am grateful to you for that. Your blog will go on after you and continue to do that for strangers you will never know.

I only know of your personal life that which you choose to write about, and it is a fascinating read, for sure.  I am especially glad when I read of you making your peace with people and being so proud of your kids, because that must bring peace to your heart.

I hope you pass away with peace in your heart.  You are so young it must be very hard to let go of the anger ... very hard indeed.  

There is a deep sadness  (that you know yourself ) when people on the same cancer train are taken by it.  You and I started out on this at about the same time and it is so unfathomable how it can go differently for a while.  I am doing pretty good just now,  but the damned thing is there and waiting for us both .. It is so  much  closer to you now, and that  chills me and angers me, but I will not lay that out for you in detail, there is no point now.  Reading your experiences will certainly help me when my turn comes.

All I can say is that I have struggled to find the words for this, and I hope I have not offended you in some way ..  it is  hard to know what might seem wrong in these uncharted waters .. it is all well-meant, though, and I wanted you to know that I will miss you and grieve for you. 

With deep regard and kindest thought, Lisa. 

From Susan xxxxx

Peaceful Thoughts

Two little thoughts

HEALTH
We are re-learning and scientifically documenting what ancient peoples have known all along: that mind and body are inseparable, that to move health forward we must unify the fragments; how we nourish ourselves, how we relate to others, our personal perceptions and the manner in which we live on a daily basis. From this unification we can achieve “hale”— the Germanic root word for health derived from whole.

Verne Verona, an anti-cancer proponent.

PERCEPTION
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but, in having new eyes.”

Proust

Live in the present

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, replied:


 "Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. 
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. 
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present.


The result being that he does not live in the present or the future. He lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived."


Pause for thought, people.

Happiness

The spiritual thoughts in my diary for April are concerned with happiness.
I am a great believer in being in control of your own happiness and I find these words very motivating and encouraging:

You have the power to hurt yourself or to benefit yourself. If you do not choose to be happy no one can make you happy. Do not blame God for that! And if you choose to be happy, no one else can make you unhappy. It is we who make of life what it is.

I find this really helpful if I am annoyed with someone, say like my bullying next-door neighbour. He behaved very badly and he upset me but I cannot make him be “nice” to me, he is outside of my control. The only thing I can control is how I feel about it. So I try to take control of my thoughts about what happened and send the angry/bitter thoughts packing when I get upset. There is no point in it. His behaviour upset me once; there is no point in allowing myself to be repeatedly upset on account of the same thing. I must choose to laugh about it and put the distress out of my head to save myself any further pain about it.

This might seem like a small example, but I find small examples sometimes pester my head more than big ones, and in any case it is the same method for both large and small upsets in life. What good does it do me to re-live the original pain? I might as well choose to be happy, make of my life what it is.

Another thought on the same theme:

A strong determination to be happy will help you. Do not wait for circumstances to change, thinking falsely that in them lies the trouble. Do not make unhappiness a chronic habit thereby affecting yourself and your associates.

It is a blessedness to yourself and others if you are happy. If you possess happiness you possess everything. To be happy is to be in tune with God. That power to be happy comes through meditation.


Source: Spiritual Diary, Parmahansa Yogananda