O P o t B

The last post to my blog resulted in a number of comments on the style of writing and while this peaked my interest the comment that "this was my take on the subject" is what really made me think.  With this in mind I reread the post and realised that this was in fact my take on the subject.  Not only that, but this was a reflection of a life experience and the way I hoped it would have turned out but, alas, it was not to be.  Prompted by this realisation I felt compelled to examine my thought processes, do some research and decide what exactly constitutes a forbidden thought.    Firstly it became quite clear to me that most of us have forbidden thoughts and most of the time these are harmless.  It is when we decide to manifest these thoughts that they become potentially life changing and may affect those around us and especially those that are closest to us.  They can be of such a nature that they challenge or contradict our belief systems, our value systems, the very

It was not like she had planned it, nor did she anticipate it or contemplate it.  It just happened, unexpectedly.  You could almost say that it surprised her even though surprise was the last thing on her mind.  It all started when, as usual, she walked over to the coffee machine for her mid morning coffee break and selected, what she thought was her usual drink of coffee with milk, but, by some quirk of nature, had inadvertently selected the freshly brewed tea.  It did not occur to her that the drink took an unusually long time to prepare nor that the drink that emerged displayed the distinct signature of tea blended with milk.  Not even when she took the first sip, and the slightly bitter sweet taste, distinctive of tea, permeated her senses, did she realise her mistake.  For it was this very moment, this very instant, that the universe decided to change her life forever. It was this very moment, while her senses were permeated by the distinctive taste of tea, that she saw him.

Looking back in time I cannot believe that three years have passed since I started this blog.  In these three years I have managed to post one hundred and fifteen posts on this humble blog and while statistically that is 30 posts per year the reality is that I was most proficient the first few months.   Today I chanced a look at past posts and I realised the breadth and even the depth of the posts changed over time.  It would seem that instead of getting down to the meat of things the blogs changed and became rather more shallow with time. I also noted, that while I get immense joy out of writing, I had not dedicated myself to the task and with the result have not given it my all and, if I dare, am poorer for it. I guess the passing of Madiba has had a more profound effect on me than I would have ever anticipated or imagined.  And while so many had visited his home, or attended the memorial services or even formed the guard of honor as his remains were transported to the Union

It is a long time since I have penned anything down. I seem to have misplaced my muse and you have no idea how difficult it is to find a misplaced muse. And, like all things misplaced you always find it in the last place you look. You may have been wondering how my happiness project is coming along?  At first I bought into the idea that I could plan my happiness and that, that would get me there.  I must admit that I had a sense of fulfilment to a degree and felt better, but happiness? Well not quite.  A sense of fulfilment and a sense that I achieved something, but definitely not happiness.  I kinda figured out that happiness is a state of mind and in todays world there very few have this state of mind. One thing the media has got right is to distort our view on what happiness is.  Ever see an ad where someone does not end up happy?  Even washing powder adds, now don't get me wrong I love my clothes to be clean, but how does washing powder contribute directly to my happiness?

While working through Gretchen’s Book, The Happiness Project, she mentions that one of the key things that kept her on track were what se referred to as the “Twelve Commandments”.  While I was working through her commandments I realised that I would need a few of my own.  These are the things that I will be embracing that will, I hope, assist me in me committing to my resolutions.  These would form the basis of my thinking and guid me and remind me of what I had set out to achieve.  So, you may ask, what has changed? You have made resolutions before and I don’t even need any fingers to count how many you have kept!  And how right you would be.  However I have seen that I have changed at least one aspect of my life significantly, and that is to get up early in the morning before sunrise.  And this I have managed now for just on two years.  Do I manage to do it everyday?  No there are days when I do oversleep, however these are few and far between and instead of giving up I persist. 

Getting to this list was quite an exercise.  The dilemma I faced was exactly how would I classify what makes me happy?  In order to do this I first had to examine what would I classify as being happy? And this made me realise that it is this very aspect that makes us different.  So while we may all have some common things that we derive happiness from, how it contributes to making us feel happy will be fundamentally different. To start with I started at the easiest place, material wealth.  I examined the things that I have acquired over time and when I looked at most of the things that I have, while it gave me a sense of achievement that I had managed to acquire these things, that was where it stopped.  And while a sense of achievement is a good feeling, and may contribute to my overall state of happiness I felt that it was not a major contributor.  I recall that after both my divorces that, materially, I had left behind most of my possessions and not to mention wealth and this did

Keeping to the commitments I made was a really tough chore.  One would think that with only two commitments it would be easy, alas not so.  It would seem that every time I wanted to tackle the task of meeting my commitments to my self there was always something else to do.  What I was really doing was finding an excuse why not meet my commitments and this I had to admit was at first puzzling.  Once I had actually taken out the journal and set pen to paper I had managed to fill three or more pages.  The trick was to get the pen out and, irrespective of mood etc. just write.  Unbelievable how fulfilling that is. One of the things that I have found quite intimidating is actually learning more about myself.  While this seems like a trivial issue, it is quite a daunting task.  What makes it daunting is that you have to look at yourself, critically and honestly and to find out what makes you tick and the this is scary. I would have to look at myself and decide what makes me happy and wh

I started reading a book, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, and decided maybe it is a good time to start my own happiness project.  And just in case your imagination starts running wild, no this is not about the pursuit of happiness, instead, it is about increasing the level of happiness in life.  Now I will be the first to admit, while I am happy, I do not necessarily feel happy all the time and the intention of this project is to make this feeling of happiness more prevalent. While this sounds like a trivial task to many, including me, I soon discovered that this is far from the truth and that in order to create an environment in which happiness becomes more prevalent I am going to have to do some serious soul searching and make some serious commitments to myself.  And herein lies the problem. I have often made commitments to myself and, more often then not, have let myself down.  This, I have discovered, is not a very good place to be.  If I am unable to maintain the com