Seeker

Happy New Year to all who read this today 1 January 2017. What exactly is  'Happy New Year'? Does it happen by chance or can we do something to make it 'happy'? Here's a recipe from an anonymous source for a Happy New Year. Recipe for a Happy New Year Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancour and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time. Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time. Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work, (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), ...

What do you do to keep fit? Go to the gym? Walk? Jog? Run? Swim? Ski? Thanks to my lovely family, I've tried a few different things these last 3 months. This image of Jean-Louis Forain's 'De Seiltänzerin' (The Tightrope Walker) is displayed to celebrate that I've now reached 'professional' level in walking across a tightrope suspended high between tall buildings. I hardly ever fall off now and all my practice has been before breakfast. I'm not doing so well on heading footballs. Only amateur status there. Well, I've told you before I have no interest in football . Is that why I keep heading the trainers and the pandas flung at me instead of the spherical black and white objects? I do now easily manage 1000 + revolutions of a (virtual) hula hoop and catch all the additional hoops that come at me. While jogging after a guide around an island, my trainer told me recently 'you are a good runner'. This is a surprise. I hate running. I th...

"I am H-A-P-P-Y!  I am H-A-P-P-Y! I know I am, I'm sure I am, I'm H-A-P-P-Y!" These were the words of a dreadful ditty I was taught in Sunday School. I didn't think they were dreadful then. I remember enjoying singing it, perhaps because my childhood was generally happy. There were further verses which gave reasons to be happy, such as "because I know God loves me so". I realize now that at least one of the other children singing with me was unhappy most of the time. How insensitive and damaging to require children to claim to feel an emotion that not all could share. How much extra false guilt was piled up in young minds because of the message that you ought to be happy because...? I blame the BBC for bringing this song back into my mind today. They publicised the launch of a charity which is using the 'latest research' to tell people how to be happier. BBC Breakfast has lauched a 3-part challenge complete with downloadable workbook. I...