Sleep...

Sleep covers a man all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak.
It is meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, heat for the cold and cold for the hot.
It is the current coin that purchases all the pleasures of the world cheap; and the balance that sets the King and the Shepherd, the Fool and the Wise Man even.

Ask Yourself...

... What is important to you? Is it Family? Love? Money?
Now, think about energy. Energy is not infinite - we only have so much per day. Think of your energy as a measurable quantity - like having a bag with ten units of energy in it. This is how much you have to play with - so try not to waste it! Anger, frustration and impatience all eat up valuable energy from your ration of ten units, leaving less for the things you value the most. Expending energy cursing your ill-fate or bad luck, or blaming someone else for your misfortunes is a waste. It would be better used on something important to you instead. Life is not always fair, and if you keep this in mind then dealing with adversity is easier. Instead of wasting energy wishing things were different, or getting angry at the unfairness of the situation, use the energy to make the best of it. Many a poker hand has been won on a single pair. Be positive and don't waste energy on the things that don't matter.

Shine

Have you ever wondered what makes you so special? Look inside yourself and see how bright your universe is in there. One of my most favourite things is to see someone shine. Show them the truth - show them how unique they are, how clever, imaginative, creative they are. Give them an insight into the wonderous things they conceal inside themselves, and watch that brightness burst out from the locked-up place inside of them. It's a joy to behold.
It doesn't take much to see this truth - a little melted silicon, some simple reflective surfacing, and a border of your choice - drift wood and shells, pink plastic hearts, gunmetal grey or polished pine. Yes, a mirror. Look into the mirror and see you. Not your face or your hair - not your appearance. Just look at YOU. What you see in the mirror is what other people see - but by looking past that, you will begin to see what other people CANNOT see. That which is within - only you can release that. We have an inner light, suppress it and it's like snuffing a candle - bereft of air it will die. Let it out, let it breathe, and watch it flare and brighten. Do me a favour? Blind someone with your radiance today - go on, do it for me!

Simplicity

I watched Avatar again tonight, and sometimes I wonder whether we haven't got it all wrong? We clutter our lives with stuff. We buy the latest this, get a bigger that, have more and more of the other. I look around my home and think, we have more stuff in this one room than my parents owned in their entire lives!
Some would say I'm richer than they were, but in a way I think I'm poorer.
I think less would be better. Less complicated, less wasteful.
I've been to some of these Victorian Street type museums, and looking at the rooms, shops and so forth, I see fewer things, but home-made things, things that have value (not cost), things that have meaning (not bling-factor), a comb that would have been handed down mother to daughter - not something purchased for next to nothing that will last a week and be thrown away.
I hope that one day I can return to the life where value means more than cost. When comfort is more cherished than a brand-name.
I value simplicity. I see greatness in the small things, and I'm teaching my daughter to see those things too. I hope she values it too.

Inspiration

Inspiration - such an awesome thing. Where does it come from? The Heart? The Soul?
Two of my favourite pieces of inspiration are:

Desiderata - by Max Erhmann
and
If - by Rudyard Kipling

Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Fleming.
Einstein, Galileo, Leonardo-da Vinci, Stephen Hawking.

Captain Scarlet.

The list goes on.
Nature inspires me too - The Weather, The Landscape - Where I live. Where I can go? - how I can get there? Physical travel - bus, train, aircraft, boat? Or Electronic travel? Email, Internet, browsing, surfing? What about TV and Film?
Aliens, Star Wars, Star Trek, Avatar?
X-Files?
Hackers, Swordfish??

24, LOST??? Discovery channel? History Channel?
What bout all those Home-makeover, DIY, Shed-Head programs?
The Salvager, Restoration Man, New Yankee Workshop.

What about Nature programs?
David Attenborough's Blue Planet? Planet Earth??
Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days, Pole to Pole, Himalayas?

What about the great explorers, scientists, painters, poets, diarists?
The Greeks and Romans - Pliny, Plato, Plasticine?
OK - that last one wasn't an ancient Greek or Roman, but is inspirational!
Plasticine, LEGO, Meccano.

Each of us find our inspiration in different ways. My wife inspires me, and my daughter inspires me. Most things actually inspire me!
: )

Friendship

One of the most important things we can ever have is a friend. My best friend also happens to be my wife, and my daughter is also my best friend - or so she tells me. But then her teddy bear is also her best friend, and so is next doors cat, and the boy on the swings at the park. Even with these flighty, fickle standards, I know I feature in there somewhere.

But apart from wife and daughter, I don't really have that many other friends. I have people I work with - I like them, they like me. We do stuff for each other, and go for a drink after work sometimes. But they're not real "friends". I would expect them to miss me a little when I die, but not to go to my funeral and remember me forever afterwards.

My wife tells me I should have more friends, get out more - but if I'm being honest, I have enough friends. I have my very best friend (wife), and my best mate from London (who I never keep in contact with), and some old work and polytechnic buddies I stay loosely in touch with via Facebook, and even a few from the US who I befriended via FB - but we're not inseperable. We don't have that deep bond that real friends have. But I'm OK with that - I like them just as they are.

I think my wife thinks that this lack of friends makes me lonely, but in actual fact, it doesn't. I am comfortable with myself, and am happy in my own company. I easily live up to my own expectations and rarely am boring or dull. I laugh at my jokes, know just what I'm thinking, and don't need to fill the silences. I fit myself like an old slipper.

Oh, and I don't forget my birthday!

Friendship, true, deep friendship, is a rare commodity - and when I find it I treasure it - but I'm a bit too insular, a bit too reserved. I used to think I was antisocial - but I'm not, because in a social situation I am outgoing and funny, warm and friendly, sincere and attentive and nice. No, I'm not anti social, i'm just not sociable. I do not seek friends, or friendship, for it's own sake.