Dream Small, Dream Often

Be positive about life.

OK. You can’t be positive 100% of the time. Life does have its knockbacks sometimes. Also, don’t hanker for things that are, for the most part, out of reach. Sure aim big, but dream small steps to get there. You can’t be a millionaire overnight (unless you win the lottery, and the odds are millions to one).

Personally, I get great pleasure out of the small things. A day off work tomorrow. Time with my wife. Looking forward to a weekend away. Stopping by the pub on the way home. Losing two pounds this week. Eating healthy for three days in a row. Finishing overdue tasks. Get my drift? Whatever little things please you. Bask in it, in your own head if you like.

If things are making you unhappy, make small changes. You can’t usually change everything overnight. It all becomes overwhelming and then you get stressed again. You can take time enjoying small changes, and tiny events. Make a cup of tea or coffee and take a walk around the yard for five minutes. No yard? Walk around the block (perhaps without the cuppa).

Just a few minutes to unwind can help make all the difference!

Discipline

Recently I read a story about a mother who is planning to move her daughter from her current school.

Why?

Because the mother doesn’t like the school rules, and instead of quietly making her views known to the school, and then abiding by them, she decides she doesn’t want her daughter there anymore. What a wonderful example this parent gives to her child.

What’s the issue?

The daughter has a nose stud, and the school has said it’s against their rules, mostly on health and safety grounds. They’ve even offered to pay for this child to have the nose stud replaced during the summer break, which I find incredulous. Particularly in these times of austerity, shouldn’t every single penny that a school receives be going into education?

No wonder we’re producing so many louts these days. Kids only have to look to their own parents for examples of how to stamp their feet and get their own way.

It’s a sad world sometimes.

Spring Is In The Air

TomatoesYes! It seems to be at last.  It’s been a long time coming this year in England, with the coldest Easter on record since the long long winter of ’62, which I just remember as a very small boy.

Much as I wonder on the wisdom and usefulness of Daylight Savings Time (which was started by the Germans in Word War One), I do enjoy the evenings being longer lighter, particularly when I am not working a late shift.

It’ll soon be time to fire up the grill in the back yard in the evenings, and enjoy some home-cooked deliciousness that only grilling seems to bring.

Thoughts too, of bringing some order to at least some of the garden has me reading about planting some vegetables this summer. Some runner beans and some tomatoes at least I think.

Let’s hope the worst of the chilliest weather is past, and fingers crossed there’s no more frost, but you never know in this part of the world!