Random connecting thoughts

Following on from the events of last week I have spent much time pondering how we react to such events. First of all we start to adapt what we do and how we do things. This is essential for survival of course. Often we find we have to compromise by doing different things that we had put on one side for a later time and then of course there is the finding of other ways of doing things.

But these thoughts also bring me to the way we lead our lives. I don’t personally know any one whose life has gone smoothly. We all seem to have times when there are hitches or delays or when we have to change our plans. This is life of course and how we deal with all the hitches and changes is what makes us unique because we don’t all work in the same way. What works for one person does not necessarily work for another.

Looking back at my life I can see many times when I have had to change course as it were. Unexpected events, unexpected results of exams and unexpected changes of jobs are just a few of these. In most cases I either adapted to the changes or found ways of dealing with them that took me in another direction. This of course explains my varied academic achievements from music to science! I have found my life to be a very long learning curve.

What has your life been like? How do you adapt to unforeseen changes or events? Do you compromise in difficult situations? Do you continue to learn each day?

My restrictions on walking this week took me to a tiny garden planted by the residents of that street and called the Jubilee Garden. It won awards over several years and was hard for me to find until the shrubs were pruned and I realised what it was, a little gem in the midst of houses. I might not have found this had my walking not been restricted.

 

More on taking things for granted

I am writing this with one hand. An unexpected event occurred on Friday evening. I was doing something quite normal with my left hand when I got a very sharp strong pain around my thumb. Overnight the hand swelled and the pain got worse and I could not use the hand at all.

Here in the UK we have walk in clinics often attached to small hospitals so I asked a friend to take me there. After four long hours and lots of x-rays I was back home with my wrist and thumb splinted so I could not use them.

Until you don’t have the use of a hand you don’t understand just how difficult it is to do things using only one hand. I think I am being given some lessons to learn this week. And yet I have known people who only had one arm and they always seemed to manage OK. I think that you learn to adapt and find ways of doing things so this is what I shall be doing until my appointment at the fracture clinic on Thursday.

So this blog is shorter than usual for obvious reasons.  I shall now go and find a way to have a wash and get dressed without any help. It has made me appreciate what others go through at times in their lives. And also appreciate the dedication of the nurses who are not paid enough for their work.

Taking things for granted

Earlier in the week I was thinking about this blog and found a really good word for the title. Now it escapes me and I have had to use the words ‘taking things for granted’. However I was looking at what we take for granted, here in the UK at least. Most of us take for granted that we may have a job, a house or other residence, enough food and enough clothes. We take for granted the electricity and gas that power our homes and we also take for granted the water we use. Some of course have other sources of power and some even have a well not piped water but we do have water.

So what else do we take for granted? We often take our relatives and friends for granted too. We expect them to be there for us when we need them and can get upset when they don’t help. We take our public services for granted. I know we pay for them but we get cross when they don’t work. We take for granted that our politicians will do the best for us even though we know they won’t but we seem unable to get them to change.

One of the main things we take for granted is our health. Although many of us have various kinds of health problems we expect them to be dealt with by doctors and hospitals, but don’t fight for the nurses to have better pay so they can do an even better job of looking after us. But the health problem hit hard this week. I have been having a lot of pain and swelling in my hands and wrists and am waiting to see a consultant. But I have been busy sorting out lots of paperwork from years past and this has not helped. I woke up the other morning unable to use my left hand at all and my right hand only a little. Have you ever tried to wash and dress yourself with the use of only one hand and the partial use of the other? It was quite difficult and it brought home to me just how much we use our hands and take them for granted. We use our hands to wash and dress ourselves, to clean our teeth, to prepare food and cook it and to do so many other things it is too long to list them.

So what do you take for granted in your life? How do you deal with things that go wrong unexpectedly with what you take for granted? I love to read your comments some of which give me other lines of thought and different ways of perception so thank you all for those comments and keep them coming.

 

Working through brain fog

This week has been one where I have been suffering from what is known as ‘brain fog’. It makes it difficult to make everyday decisions and to do things. But I have had to work through it this week as I had a couple of important forms to fill in and post as well as other things to do with my research.

I find the answer was to do things in little spurts. Do a bit then rest or do something less tasking. Then do another bit and so on. That way I got the forms filled in and all the relevant papers copied and put them together and then took them to the post box yesterday.

But the decision making is on hold. I know I have to move again at some point as my health is not good enough for me to keep managing the stairs. Ideally I would love a cosy cottage in the countryside in a nice village with friendly helpful neighbours. But I know that is not possible as I need to be near help if needed and a good bus service and some shops as well as the usual optician, dentist and doctor. So somewhere along the line I have to compromise but making those kind of decisions when suffering from brain fog is not a good idea.

Decision making is always hard but I do go with what I call my gut feeling about places and people. My instinct does not often let me down. But when I have this brain fog I am quite wary. There are times when I think that finding my dream place would be really good and that if I took this leap of faith I would find what I needed in that dream place. But do I have the courage to do that and hope that all would work out well? Something for me to ponder on this coming week. Is length of life more important that quality of life I ask myself often. Perhaps this is where I stop writing today so I can ponder more on this question ready for a future blog.

All your thoughts are welcome as usual.

Being happy

So often I hear words said about being happy. I hear people asking others what will make them happy. Will a new gadget make them happy, a new car perhaps or something else. I have also heard people say that they can’t be happy unless their partner is happy too. So what is happiness?

Happiness can be defined as contentedness, satisfaction, delight and joy or even just good spirits. For me there are deeper levels of happiness. You can have what I call the more superficial levels of happiness where you feel happy because of something you did or someone else did and you felt happy at that. Listening to music can make me feel happy too  But there is a deeper level of happiness that resides in me, somewhere deep down in my soul. It is about being contented with who I am and what I do. It is accepting who I truly am and allowing me to be that too. I am happy as I am, I do not want to have more material things as they do not make me happy and so on.

My happiness has a deeper sense of meaning and purpose. I know who I am and what I have to do to keep this level of happiness and I am not likely to let others get in my way or try to change me. Are you happy? What makes you feel happy? Bear in mind that happiness comes from within, no-one else can make you happy. How do you define happiness?

Sometimes tiny things can enhance that happiness like the bunch of flowers given to me the other day quite unexpectedly. But those kind of gifts are not necessary for my happiness. Of course we all have days when we might feel sad or other emotions but if we have that deep seated happiness it will still be there after those days and the bad days are less bad because of this if that makes sense.

The photo here today made me feel much joy inside me and enhanced my happiness.