Can we be happy when the News is bad.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jul/02/how-to-be-happy-when-the-news-is-bad-brexit-trump-oliver-burkeman/

Extract

” Stop telling yourself that you need to feel upbeat, and it begins to seem less pointless to make some tiny effort to address one or two of those problems: to take on a small weekly volunteering role here; to make a modest donation to charity there. The solution to feeling so despairing about the news, in short, is to let yourself feel despairing – and take action, too. “One of the great things about everything being so fucked up,” Jensen likes to say when speaking to audiences, “is that no matter where you look, there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Don’t kid yourself that you will single-handedly eradicate nationwide or global problems; instead, define and pursue small-scale goals, like joining a campaign with some connection to the issues that trouble you the most. Focus on activities you enjoy: these will be much easier to sustain. And there is certainly some relief in attending to your own wellbeing. Exercise, sleep, time spent in nature, meditation and socialising are all proven paths to increased happiness; they’re cliches, but only because they really work – and it isn’t self-indulgent to make time for them.

Paradoxically, it’s through taking action, despite not feeling happy about the situation, that a deeper kind of happiness can arise. (That’s certainly the implication of research on the emotional benefits of volunteering, charitable giving, community involvement and political protest.) Jensen has written that people sometimes ask him why he doesn’t just kill himself, if things are as bad as he says. “The answer is that life is really, really good. I am a complex enough being that I can hold in my heart the understanding that we are really, really fucked, and at the same time that life is really, really good. I am full of rage, sorrow, joy, love, hate, despair, happiness, dissatisfaction, and a thousand other feelings. ”

Yet underneath long sorrow there is joy

A strange flawed beauty caught my naked eye
As if some monstrous beast is hiding near
Where deep rose clouds hang from a darker sky

Now the rose has gone and all is grey
The night will fall and sorrow is our fare
A shattered beauty caught by mirrored eye

Yet underneath night sorrow there is joy
The wisdom of the ages does not stare
Though deep rose clouds hang from a darker sky

Now I see some gold spread unalloyed
The artist we can worship ,love, revere
Beauty, fearless, caught in mirrored eye

Nature in her way will never lie
Yet she can kill what humans hold most dear
While deep rose clouds hang from a near night sky

In the clouds of sadness faces leer
Hallucinations look but cannot jeer
Such beauty ,numinous ,affects my eye
While deep rose clouds sing from a darkening sky

Love’s victory

Turn back, live again, he asked of me
Do not wander in the darkness anymore
One false move might give death victory

We are each connected to that tree
The sunlit top, the roots hid in earth’s floor
Come back, live again, he asked of me

While we live, we’ll live with dignity
Not scrabbling for the gold in blood and gore
One more step will give hate victory

The kindness of the golden light was clear
And left sweet feelings in my heart’s deep core
Come back, live your life, he then soothed me

Do not wonder now why you are here
We’re here to live and living shall restore
What our suffering self has found so dear

I had never seen the Light before
Only Christ the Tyger with his roar
Come back, live through pain, he asked of me
That first step will give love victory

The light that is enough

Attracted by the light that is enough

We need not look for wisdom somewhere else

Wandering through the world so dark and rough

We may find the secret in ourselves

The sacred is as spare as leaves are fine

No wasted bud no colour in excess

So loving senses decorate the mind

We need not hide from chaos or distress.

The secret Life is here, the every day

This is where we know the mystic light

Our tongues alone will tell us what to say

Our normal eyes will show us holy signs

for with our shadowed selves we rightly play

Enlightened by the flowers so wild and free

The sacred is on earth for you and me

This variegated colour

In between the darkness and the bright,

Graded shades of grey and lilac lie.

These variegated colours give delight.

And from my soul, I hear a gentle sigh.

As we live, we dwell in mysteries;

Must take decisions based on various views.

And unknown memories from our history

Emphasis the old , see not the new.

For true perception, we must humble be.

Not for moral reasons but for sight.

The emptiness lets flood creative seas.

Allows bright rays of loving, guiding light.

We need to know we do not know at all.

And, trembling, hold the doors of vision wide.

So gentle should be judgements when we fail.

Then errors we’ll appreciate, not hide.

We must deal with life unknown, unclear;

Perception is a better guide than fear.

Oh,my dear sister what can you see ?

She’d never seem rainwater deeper than eyes
Mystery undisguised.
Round the big puddle she ran and ran;
Too much for her dolly’s pan.
By reflections of trees she was hypnotised.
Curiousity’s often so wise
Oh,my dear sister what see you there?
I hope it’s a vision fair.
What are these ships and the tugs and the tide
Where are the sailors who died?
This is an ocean and I’m in my boat
Come sisters dear,let us float.
We’ll never see daddy again, ‘cos he’s here
And down her face travelled one tear.
I see him afar off, he’s meeting the Lord
There’s the archangel with his sharp sword.
We cannot follow,no, we must go back
We each must stay on our own track.
Three little children with long golden hair
On this road going to where?
Once three small sisters ,but now only two;
Eyes of one green, the other’s blue.
By the park gate by a pool of sea rain
We shall be three again.
One in a pushchair and one gripping tight.
I push my dear sisters into the light.
Keep hold of the handle and never let go
I loved my sisters so.
Keep hold of my hands as Dad crosses the sea.
Don’t hope for what cannot be.
I told her it’s only a rainwater pool,
Held in God’s hand like a jewel.
But she saw the patterns and she saw the tides
Which all human beings must ride.
For nothing is “only” and nothing is “just”.
All we can live by is trust

Thank you for your funny face

Thanks for all those calls and letters
Thanks for caring that I’m here.
In my darkest, lonesome moments
These replies will keep you near.

Thanks for answering all my emails
Thank you for the hours you give.
Thanks for sharing heartfelt thoughts
And being so generous with your love.

Thank you for your wit and grace,
Thank for your funny face.
Thank you for your deep blue gaze and
Thank you for your warm embrace.

Thank you,thank you,thank you,thank.
Love you,love you,love you,Love.
Thank you,thank you,thanks to you,
Because,because,because,Because

‘Hoard evidence of your greatness’: 10 ways to be much more confident at work (So funny)

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/jun/14/10-ways-more-confident-work-colleagues-positive?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Mary and the bed

Mary picked up her mobile phone to ring for a cab..On it,there was a message
.You have missed a call from home.Mary shivered.
Has Stan come back?
Then she recalled she had rung her own mobile before coming out.Her mind sagged like sheet of rubber suspended between four tall trees in the jungle..
Hello,It’s Mrs Tan.Can you do a me cab from the dental surgery to my home? It’s right by the doctor’s surgery.
She stepped outside into the warm air which felt like a caress on her poor numb face.
When she got home she found Annie in the kitchen looking at her collection of cookery books.
Do you want to get rid of any of these, her friend queried.
I am thinking of learning some new recipes so I can invite those awful therapists across the road for dinner.But I have to be sure that what I serve has no hidden meaning especially aggressive or sexual.
Well,Mary said,don’t you think that people differ in what they find sexual?
Beats me,said Annie meaningfully.I fancy doing beef in beer with French bread and mustard baked on the top.
I used to do that,Mary said.Why did we stop doing that cooking? Penguin brought a new book every month.I have most of them and ,at the weekend, I’d study them for ages looking for things like apple mousse and different stews.
When we first got married I used a kind of cheap women’s magazine approach and most often as a pudding I did tinned peaches with cinnamon sprinkled on grilled till hot and spicy.Eventually, Stan got fed up with it and so I got into cordon bleu and using real cream not Carnation milk
Her blue eyes gleamed in excitement and were rendered even more remarkable by the teal and turquoise eye shadow Annie had forced her to wear which matched the sea blue mascara she already had.Annie said.
it will be good for us both to meet new people especially educated ones
Mary disagreed.I like ordinary people because a certain amount of education makes some people very conceited and only real scholars or mystics realise that the more we know the more we realise our own ignorance.Will such folk like makeup?
Perhaps one of the psychoanalysts will be a mystic,Annie retorted loudly.
But would such a person want to visit us? Mary bleated childishly.
Why not? They have to eat and they may need a new love interest or someone sympathetic who will know how hard their job is.Someone like me,beautiful funny and willing to look after a man when he needs it.
How about a man who might look after you,Mary said brightly
Well,it’s not quite the same.I like looking after men whereas you prefer reading about Fourier series and infinite integrals.And knitting patterns,she added hastily as if omitting that interest would severely anger Mary.
I think we’ll invite two men and two women ,all single.They can bring their cats for Emile to play with if they want.And we’ll eat in the kitchen to make it more relaxed.
Thank God,said Mary as the dining room was full of paper and books.
Why don’t I have a study,she pondered.Or ,if I slept in the dining room, my bedroom has a lovely view and I have an old desk somewhere.
Mary ,in her younger days, had often moved the furniture around and had even slept on a camp bed on the lawn one summer but she no longer did this as looking after Stan had worn her down to a shred of her former self.
But beds do take up so much room.Without them ,the house would be quite spacious.And how about tables and chairs… her mind ran on as she quite fancied a new start without moving house.
With fewer clothes ,she could ditch a wardrobe… on the other hand ,she could not afford such quality clothes again on her widow’s pension.
To think she might have to stop wear Bowlands of Wrath was a rather painful thought.Still most of humanity have got hardly anything so maybe Mary will think more deeply about donating some to Oxfam.
Suddenly the doorbell rang.Dave the paramedic was outside
Are you both ok?I’ve not heard from you lately,he remarked as he powdered his nose.
Well,I do have an old desk that you can carry upstairs for me,Mary told him thoughtfully.Then we need the floor scrubbing.I’m sure the NHS will pay.After all dirt might make us ill!
And so pray all of us

In the window

I was sitting in the window of a coffee shop called Joe’s

I was sitting in the window when the rain turned into snow

I saw my own reflection in the glassy window panes

When my reflection smiled at me, I thought I was insane

When I looked again there was nobody out there

Then I saw my sister she was looking very fair.

She gave me lots, of money, it was silver it was gold

She sat down here beside me, she grabbed my hand to hold.

You’ll be alright now baby because I am here with you

I was fragmented and flying, then she brought me back to earth.

Everybody’s fragile but we know what we are worth

She put me in a basket, holy Moses, where’s the Nile?

She said she got my number and she’s put it in my file.

I am happy I am sad cancer drove me mad

I felt fifty shades of grey but it’s not entirely bad.

I’m still alive I’m still alive and I will sing my songs.

So she went into the kitchen and soaked up something wrong.

Good is bad and loss is gain. Whatever shall we do

We’re coming back with Cohen, he can sing the blues

My sister

My sister’s eyes were sea green and deep

Like pools in the Irish sea off the coast off Anglesey.

Moelfre where she swam ,despite the cold,

Like a small seal.Night times I told her stories,

She lay and dreamed them till schooltime

But we grew beyond my storytelling

When adolescence drew us apart.

Years later

As I sat with her child

At my knee,

Weaving stories for her

Around the Russian horse

From the antique shop in Aldeburgh,

I saw my sister leaning towards us,

Her green eyes full of long-lost yearning.

I realised she was still my loving little sister,

From long, so long ago, her green eyes,

In the deep caves of her inner sea ,filled with longing.

I felt she wanted to get back

Into the magic circle

Of the arms of the mother we

No longer had to hold us.

So, I took her inside my heart,

And hold her there always

Compulsory deodorants in the UK

If the government gets its way anyone who smells can be put in prison.

I wonder who defines exactly what constitutes a smell? If you are wearing a perfume like Poison some people might think that is a smell.

Just looking for new meaning to the phrase

Poison is dangerous.

Come to that being alive is dangerous especially for the homeless. Where do they imagine they’re going to have a wash and apply a deodorant?

Come to think of it they might prefer being in person as they will have showers and regular meals and definitely a bed

But I would have thought you’d need to commit some kind of a crime to get put in prison and smelling however unpleasant is not a crime as yet.

I don’t like the idea of a policeman coming to my house and asking to sniff my armpits all my crotch or will there be some kind of a distance like can their smell me from three feet away or two feet away.

Maybe if it’s only that they smell you when you’re 10 feet away I think will be a crime.

And in any case I thought Britain’s prisons were overcrowded. With middle aged women shoplifters, and.. starring pregnant women and men who soft it was a good idea to break the window of the supermarket just to get .. a few bottles of brandy and a glass of red wine.

I hope they don’t put babies in prison because they often smell even from the best homes

The solution is this that they should put everybody in prison straight away and then there will be no more crime at all.

There will be sin no doubt but there will be no crime because you can’t commit crime in prison can you?

Of course this will break up families,.. friendships and lovers.

Churches will not be needed…. Most shops can close down and altogether it will save a lot of money because you won’t have to pay for your own heating anymore nor food.

The few people who are not in prison like the royal family might be a little bit lonely but they will get used to it and some of them might deserve to be imprisoned might I add nervously.

Well think about it …it makes sense doesn’t it

Before and after

Before you and after you

There was a world with no you.

Before you has gone and after you has only just started

Before you there were parents brothers cousins

And after you, who is left but me ?

There is no red fire with a whistling kettle

There is no mother knitting

There is no father polishing shoes

Not even a cat playing with wool

After you I am still here but am I still me?

I thought that you were part of me but now you have gone.

After you, after all,I am alive.

My old phone

I found my first phone in the drawer by chance
C 1 -01, a Nokia, coloured pink
Memories of my flower photographs

We look but we don’t see,oh,happenstance
Now I shall pour out the tea and drink
I found my first phone in the drawer by chance

I saw cats and dogs but no giraffes
Now I might just sit to muse and think
Of memories and my flower photographs

We walked around those gardens holding hands
Saw the iris and the rose.oh God be thanked
I found my first phone in the drawer by chance

You preferred the sea shore.edge of sands
The waves ran on our feet, the fishes winked
Oh memories ,oh all our photographs

Like the fish, you also sent a wink
Just before you died, a smile , cheeks pink
I thought you looked much better,but no chance
Blessed memories of our lives in photographs

Redress the balance: Being steady on your feet – Reader’s Digest

https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/health/wellbeing/redress-the-balance-being-steady-on-your-feet

There are three components to balance. The first is the visual system, which shows us whether we’re tilting. Then the vestibular system in the inner ear sends information to our brain about the motion of our head in relation to our surroundings. Thirdly, proprioception is our body’s ability to sense its location, movement and actions.

“People with ear problems that cause dizziness […] are more likely to have balance issues”

People with ear problems that cause dizziness, or with joint problems or muscle weakness are more likely to have balance issues. If you suffer from dizziness, see your GP to find out the reason.

Get your strength up

Exercise goes a long way to helping you stay steady on your feet

But there’s a lot you can do yourself to improve physical strength. If you exercise, you’re ahead of the game. One study found that a group that did 32 weeks of resistance training improved their ability to stand on one foot by 25 per cent and another group that did 32 weeks of aerobic exercise increased theirs by 31 per cent.

” If you exercise, you’re ahead of the game”

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Otherwise, improve your balance by walking, cycling or climbing stairs – this will strengthen muscles in the lower body – or by practising yoga, pilates or tai chi. Or simply practise balancing on one leg – hold onto a chair to begin with, if necessary.

Read more: H ow to protect your hips

Keep up with the top stories from Reader’s Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter

CBD oil: Benefits, uses & best UK brands in 2021

HEALTH CONDITIONS

5 Types of bodily pain – Marietta, GA

WELLBEING

Can gossip be good for you?

WELLBEING

5 Ways regular exercise keeps your mind fit

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“People with ear problems that cause dizziness […] are more likely to have balance issues”

People with ear problems that cause dizziness, or with joint problems or muscle weakness are more likely to have balance issues. If you suffer from dizziness, see your GP to find out the reason.

Get your strength up

Exercise goes a long way to helping you stay steady on your feet

” If you exercise, you’re ahead of the game”

null

Read more: H ow to protect your hips

Keep up with the top stories from Reader’s Digest by subscribing to our weekly newsletter

CBD oil: Benefits, uses & best UK brands in 2021

HEALTH CONDITIONS

5 Types of bodily pain – Marietta, GA

WELLBEING

Can gossip be good for you?

WELLBEING