WEDNESDAY 26th AUGUST 2015 06:00 BST

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
WISDOM, HUMOUR, AND LOTS OF OTHER INTERESTING STUFF CAN BE FOUND ON MY PINTEREST PAGE and FACEBOOK PAGE
TO FIND OUT WHAT I DO, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE

1. THIS DAY IN WORLD WAR 2 (26th August 1945)
Germany...
Field Marshal Manstein is taken into Allied custody

Japan...
The arrival of an advance detachment of US occupation forces is delayed by a typhoon
Carrier-based aircraft from USN Task Force 38 conduct patrols and reconaissance flights

Kuril Islands...
Soviet troops occupy Matsuwa Island, Uruppu Island, and Etorofu Island

China...
Soviet 1st Far Eastern Front completes the destruction of isolated Japanese forces in the Tungning fortified region

Burma...
Representatives from Field Marshal Terauchi's Southern Army headquarters in Saigon arrive at Rangoon to receive surrender instructions

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Shopping
Me Time
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 1,995 (no change)
Non-followed eliminated = 1
@ourmindmatters
Unfollowers eliminated = 0
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New Followers followed back = 0
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Spammers not followed back = 1
AnnetteAdrdan86 

3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

The dynamic nature of life means that there is never room for complacency, but this character is certainly due some self-congratulation. Considering where he started from, deprived of any kind of wise counsel and a football for everyone else's issues and agendas, to get to this place of inner peace is a good achievement! Of course this character isn't entirely "self-made" - there was love and support along the way, and I'm still being strengthened and nourished by that. 

I have drawn a conclusion that I would have rejected utterly had I not experienced it first-hand - that your experience of life depends entirely on what you focus on. Your starting circumstances are almost irrelevant - if your focus is positive, so will your outcome be. 

But an even more profound conclusion is that none of it really matters anyway - it's all just the universe experiencing itself from an infinity of points. The experience of this character is particularly privileged because it's seen the pixels beyond the smoke-and-mirrors. 

My most important find is that life's ultimate prize is peace-of-mind, and genuine peace-of-mind comes only through Enlightenment. To have tasted it, to know it, feel it is the ultimate privilege. Effort is required to "stay awake" but that given, I can sit back, relax and enjoy the movie.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
If you could know everything, would you want to?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
A wet start with heavy rain in the early morning
Rain will then move away and cloud will thin out
Dry and sunny from noon onwards with a moderate but gusty south-westerly wind
Max Temp = 17 degC at 2pm
Min Temp = 13 degC at midnight
Sunrise at 06:04
Sunset at 20:12
Moon:

Weathertrack: A cold front will sweep rapidly east across Britain followed by a window of fresh dry air
Air Pressure: 998 millibars and rising slightly

6. TODAY'S ONELINER
The waitress said to sit wherever I wanted, but the couple at this table are giving me weird looks and have stopped talking :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!
Jon Stewart on climate change

8. TRIVIA
Approximately 99% of the population of Fgypt lives on about 5.5% of the land, as only the Nile valley is not desert

9. ZEN WISDOM
The great conflict of the 21st Century will be between the tolerant moderates and the intolerant extremists. Inefficient, painfully slow to react and easily corrupted, the moderates will nevertheless inevitably triumph, for extremists can deliver only hate, suffering and death.