SATURDAY 20th DECEMBER 2014 08:05 GMT

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK

Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK

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1. THIS DAY IN WORLD WAR 2 (20th December 1944)
On the Russian Front...
Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front is attacking north of Budapest around the Hron River and Ipel valley
Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front is attacking south of Budapest

On the Western Front...
The Battle of the Bulge:
British 21st Army Group (commanded by Montgomery) assumes command of US 9th Army and 1st Army north of the Ardennes salient.
US 1st Army attackis Untermaubach and Schneidhausen north of the Bulge and holds new positions on Elsenborn Ridge 
German 6th Panzer Army and US 1st Army heavily engaged around Wirtzfeld, Eupen, Malmedy, Stavelot, and Stoumont
German 5th Panzer Army attacks around St Vith and completes the encirclement of Bastogne 
US 3rd Army begin moving divisions against the southern flank of the Ardennes salient 

Italy...
British 8th Army attacks around Faenza, Naviglio Canal, Lamone River, and the Senio River

In the Atlantic...
USN LST-359 is sunk by U-870

In the Pacific...
Japanese vessel Shoeki Maru is sunk by Dutch aircraft off the East Indies
RN Task Force 67, including carriers Indomitable and Illustrious, attacks targets in northern Sumatra


US 6th Army attacks around Kananga, Libongao, and Palompon on Leyte Island

Burma...
Indian 19th Infantry Division of British 14th Army captures Kawlin
British 15th Corps advances around Hparabyin and Kindaung in the Arakan 
RN Task Force 64 with destroyers Napier and Nepal and supporting warships bombards Japanese positions along the Arakan coast in support of 15th Corps operations

Today's Air Raids...
Regensburg, Germany and Salzburg, Villach, and Linz, Austria by US 15th Air Force
London by six V-2 rockets
Pilsen and Brux, Czechoslovakia by US 15th Air Force
Po Valley and Brenner Pass, Italy by US 12th Air Force fighters
Java and Ceram Island, Mindanao and throughout the central Philippines by US FEAF 
Iwo Jima by US 7th Air Force
Hseing-hkai, Tigyaing, Na-kamkongnyaung, and Man Hkunhawng, and bridges at Mongmit, Tangon, Tantabin, Hay-ti and Pa-mao and the ferry at Thabeikkyin by US 10th Air Force

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Meditation
Me Time
Shift 2 of the Weekend Job
TV Footie

Twitter Followers = 1,847 (no change)
Non-followed Tweeps unfollowing =0
Unfollowers Eliminated = 0
New Followers followed back = 0
Spammers not followed back = 0
 
3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION
As if to temper all the abundance, Friday was a day of minor disappointments not enough to be of consequence but enough to piss me off - stuff like not getting good reception for BBC News 24 HD on Freeview. I'm fully aware of course that such things don't really matter but emotions by their very nature don't do logic. 

Oddly, on a day I wasn't expecting it, the Weekend Job went exceptionally smoothly, the one shining light in an irritating kinda day. The profoundest disappointment was the disappointment itself - the fact that a string of minor frustrations could bug me so much. 

With suitable time and space, my training kicked-in - to look inward for the cause of dark emotions. With the surface events being so insignificant, the cause becomes obvious - the scars of the past. Once I focused on the fact that I am safe now, the malaise began to lift. When minor things bug me, I now understand that they are triggering the scars of big things, and the remedy is therefore the gentle soothing of those scars.

I must accept that the past inevitably has an impact of the functioning of my mind, and the right action is neither to deny it nor to re-live it, but to acknowledge it, allowing periods of grief to express it, so that between I can get on with the fulfilling abundant life I now enjoy. 

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Are you grieving properly for the past an in an appropriate way?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Dry and cloudy start
Showers between mid-morning and early afternoon
Dry and cloudy thereafter
A strong westerly will ease by mid-morning and swing south-westerly overnight
Max Temp = 6 degC
Min Temp = 5 degC
Sunrise at 08:22
Sunset at 15:47

Weathertrack: A brief fast-moving ridge of high pressure will temporarily bring settled weather to Britain before a depression to the north brings weather fronts on Sunday 
Air Pressure: 1018 millibars and rising

6. TODAY'S ONELINER
If you stammer after eating fruit from trees, it's a peach impediment :D  

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!  
Russell Howard on Rebecca Black

8. TRIVIA
Scientists estimate that bats first appeared 65-100 million years ago, during the time of the dinosaurs. The earliest known megabats lived 35 million years ago. Megabats were more closely related to modern primates (monkeys, apes, and humans) than they are to modern microbats.  

9. ZEN WISDOM
True love should be transformative; a process that amplifies our capacity to cherish not just one person but all people. It can make us stronger, lift us higher and deepen us as individuals. Only to the extent that we polish ourselves now can we hope to develop wonderful bonds of the heart in the future.