How quickly things change. It may be the weather, or it may be our circumstances. But we must be prepared for change.
How quickly things change.
Blue sky swamped by stormy clouds.
Here it comes, again.
How quickly things change. It may be the weather, or it may be our circumstances. But we must be prepared for change.
Continue reading “Here It Comes”In an age when we have been trained to discard things very quickly and replace them with something new, would it not be good to remember that the discarded item was once useful, valuable, necessary, even. Often, when we make a new purchase, we praise it highly, boast about the “bargain” that we struck, and tell others that we don’t know how we ever managed without it. So what changed? Why is a perfectly useful item no longer necessary? Like this door, have we forgotten its value?
Old doorway now closed.
Ivied frame sealed shut with age.
It once was useful.
We were sitting at the picnic table, enjoying our lunch on a visit to the Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans when I noticed this old doorway, surrounded by ivy. I was struck by the way the ivy frames the door, and the contrasts between the various colours and materials.
Continue reading “The Treasures of Days Gone By”What’s a fear you’ve overcome — and how did you do it?
I grew up with the fear of getting it wrong. I always felt that nothing was ever good enough for my mother, and that I was constantly being criticised when, in fact, she was probably only trying to do what was best for me, encouraging me to be the person she knew I could be.
Let’s be honest, most of us have had it drummed into us that “good enough isn’t” (good enough).
Then I learned the Pareto Principle. 80% of the benefit results from 20% of the effort. And I suddenly realised that good enough really is good enough. We aren’t perfect. We are going to make mistakes. There are very few, if any, areas in life where perfection is essential. So why waste 80% of our effort trying to correct that last 20% which no one except the most critical perfectionist (which is often ourselves) will notice, anyway.
Triumph and Disaster are imposters. They may engender strong emotions at the time, but those emotion fade and are replaced by the next big issue facing us in life.
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same
(If – Rudyard Kipling)
Rudyard Kipling’s poem, If, is a study in contrasts, considering many of the opposites that we encounter in daily life. He describes being able to do what others cannot; of handling situations with equanimity; of dealing with life in a balanced way.
Yet his comment, above, on the opposites, Triumph and Disaster, seems to add another dimension. Most versions of the poem capitalise the words as proper nouns, almost as if they are people, or even gods. And, in truth, many people see triumph as an idol to be worshipped at all costs.
Continue reading “The Imposters”We’re not a failure just because no one “Likes and Subscribes.” The failure is in not even trying.
How do you build loyal subscribers?
Maybe the question is more, WHY do you build loyal subscribers?
We all want to be liked. No one wants to be disliked. But there’s a difference between the desire to be liked, and the need to be liked.
For many people, today, being liked is not something optional; it’s become a matter of survival. And it all starts with parenting.
Continue reading “Do you like me?”
Greenacre 9 