This is a phrase that is commonly used. Like many of these phrases it’s got a lot of wisdom in it.

But it sounds a little bit like yourvself is a bog that you can start sinking into. And then it’s hard to get out of it

So we can get too deep ruminating and thinking about ourselves and  not look at the world around us.

I suppose a good book might do that but it might be also better to go outside if possible

Meeting someone friendly and having a conversation about something other than yourself could be good

Of course sometimes we have to think about problems and ideas and things that we have in our heads to sort them out but if we get overwhelmed then obviously it’s not going to be very good for us

Lots of the time we’re doing things we have to do like our job or looking after family members cooking meals etc. so our minds are distracted.

When I was young I remember distraction was regarded as a bad thing but it’s now regarded as good if you are suffering from chronic pain for example and no doubt for mental health problem is although I don’t really like the term mental health

I’d rather say we’re all struggling with difficulties in our human life in this world some of us are more than others somehow than worse than others but basically it’s just a question of degree. So

When I was in hospital and I was delirious I was convinced that one of the nurses was going to kill me. I thought it might not be true but it seemed very convincing

I didn’t know then that paranoia is very common in hospital patients but it’s horrible nevertheless it’s not so far removed from everyday life

You must remember going to the cinema seeing the film lasting for two or three hours and then coming outside and feeling very weird as if you weren’t related to the environment there anymore but fortunately you would return to normal after a little while.

Everything is a question of degree I think. But when things get to a certain point we might need external help or we might need to do something to get us out of ourselves and into the world.

I’m not sure why but gossip becomes into my mind because that’s what a lot of people do perhaps women more than men sharing information about the neighbors possibly with the idea of being helpful but also it’s a distraction and it’s natural to want to know about other people and what they might be doing or what they have done why they are now imprisoned etc etc

Even having a hot bath could get you out of yourself.

It was raining at Annie went round to Mary’s house next door. How quickly we forget the hot summer she thought to herself privately without telling anybody at all.

Mary was making some tea

Go and sit down Annie I’m just putting the washing machine on before I bring the tea through

The two women sat down in Mary’s drawing room next to her sketch pads paper and her drawing board

So any gossip to share she queried

No I went to the clinic and at my ear syringes and now my hearing is much better but it’s hard to find anywhere that will do it now.

They have referred me to ENT Mary told her mellifluously. They said I need hearing aids but it will be a year before I can

get them because there’s a long waiting list adult suppose the government wants us all to go deaf. I told the audiologist that I can hear music all the time and at first I thought it was coming from somewhere outside but then I realized it’s actually self-generated

Yes you have mentioned it before  said Annie.

Does it really bother you?

Not always but my tinnitus is really bad this morning I can hear a very strange noise now.

It’s the washing machine said Annie humorously I can hear this as well.

What a relief that is because sometimes I hear a sound like thunder and lightning.

Lightning ia not a sound!

UB surprised what happened when you’ve got tinnitus and the senses may get confused sometimes

Oh maybe this thunder sounds louder actually is louder when there’s lightning as well.

I don’t know how we can check that without some scientific instruments and there to expensive for ordinary People to buy but it’s possible if we look on Google or duck duck go that there may be reports of experiments carried out in universities or other places I’m sure there’s a lot of research on storms. Why when I was teaching I met someone who had been the first person in Britain to do flood research.

I wonder what sort of noise you would hear if you actually in a flood in your area like your street or your town?

I think we were too worried about safety to worry about the noise.

Emil was so fed up with the conversation that he scratched there is ankle with one of his claws

I’d rather talk about sex and love and romancem

Wouldn’t we all asked Annie plaintively.

And so say all of us

https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2025/sep/10/creativity-unconscious-process-incubation

Whether you are learning something new or trying to switch on a computer that you’ve not used for a long time when should you stop if you don’t succeed immediately?

Well when the adrenaline starts to run through your body you should stop what you’re doing and put it away if possible.

If you must continue wait till you don’t mind stopping and then you can start again but you should repeat this if you get the same problem.

There’s no point killing yourself because your computer won’t start so it’s better to ask for help then if possible

If you’re short  of money, I hope you’ve got friends because getting help from people you know is really nice

Paying someone if you can afford it is also good because people have to make a living so don’t be too keen to do everything yourself especially it’s making you a nervous wreck

Mary had been reading a new book called,” The Path” by Michael Puett and Christine Gross-Loh.To her surprise, she saw it reviewed on her phone where she read the guardian news

.She had decided to get out of bed on the other side
When she awoke the next day, she remembered her vow.Unfortunately, she forgot she was inside a fleece sleeping bag with a zip on one side only.Should she get some scissors and cut her way out on the other side?Or was that a foolish idea since nobody but she would know she had failed her to keep her first new promise.
She heard a noise and them her friend Annie came in wearing a long satin nightgown and a green velvet trench coat.
How do you like this, she asked Mary?
Mary was very red yet silent
What is wrong, with you Mary?
I need to pee but I can’t get out of bed on the wrong side.
You have no choice, said Annie.You must not wet the bed or die from a burst bladder. Get out on the right side

But I feel a failure on my first day.
Maybe that is your lesson.Accept you can’t do it and get on with your day.
Mary ran to the bathroom.What a relief passing water can be to poor ladies who suffer afflictions in these regions.
Annie went down to the bijou yet complex kitchen and began to make some toast and boil some eggs.She gazed at the peach walls and melon cupboard doors unable to decide if she liked them.Maybe kingfisher blue might have been better.Too late now.Mary could not afford a new kitchen even if this one was really old.At least it was not orange as was common in the 70’s.
Mary came in with her golden hair standing up on end like candlesticks from the Synagogue.
I just got a shock, she said
I can see your hair is standing on end.Was it the electric socket?
No, there was a man looking into the window and I was naked in the bath.
Perhaps it was King David, Annie joked.Why don’t you have frosted glass?
Stan said it would frost itself in the winter.He was the least practical man in the world.
Maybe we could glue artificial frost onto it?
Who was the man, asked Annie her cheeks pinker than her perky pink lipstick by Licumb ; those lips which were so thick and sensual with a lovely curve.
Mary tore her eyes away from these lips.I didn’t have my glasses on, she said.Maybe it was a man from a hot air balloon?
Maybe someone fancies you at last,saidAnnie.
Do you think I’d go out with a man who does things like that?
No, you could stay in with him, Annie joked, as tears of mirth made her green eyeshadow and red mascara stream down her cheeks like rain after a nuclear explosion.No wonder men ran after her in the street.
You could succumb to his charms,Annie whispered.
I think I’d like a man more sensitive than that, Mary screeched.
Well, Mary, you are so lacking in knowledge the art of flirting you only notice men when they do something really wild or unusual
Like what, asked Emile who had just munched up a bowl of dried cat food and was full of energy.
Well, Stan kept pretending he loved reading Newton’s original writings which he bought from some unusual website thinking it would impress Mary. However as he failed O leve; maths 5 times he could not understand it.He sobbed and cried in the public library and Mary was moved by his grief.Later on, though, he became angry at her intellectual talent and took me as his mistress to get back at her.She never even noticed!
I don’t see how having a mistress is a revenge on poor woman who was given her genes by God, said Emile.
Don’t be daft, she buys her jeans from TK Maxx, Annie answered.
And so do all of us.

I can’t write any more right now!

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/aug/31/michael-rosen-guide-to-having-a-happier-day-in-bleak-times?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other