MONDAY 19th OCTOBER 2015 08:44 BST

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
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TO FIND OUT WHAT I DO, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE

1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
19th October 1469
King Ferdinand of Aragon marries Isabella of Castille
In one of the most important dynastic marriages in history, the two kingdom's heirs marry. The consequences were not immediately clear at the time. The king of Castille, Isabella's half-brother Henry IV, disapproved of this marriage and reacted by cutting Isabella from the succession, nominating his infant daughter Joanna as heir instead. 

When Henry died in 1474, respective supporters of Joanna and Isabella both proclaimed their figureheads as queen. The result was a civil war in Castille that involved France and Portugal in support of Joanna, who married her uncle the king of Portugal, and Aragon in support of Isabella.

In 1478 France withdrew its support for Joanna in return for Aragon withdrawing support for the duke of Burgundy. In 1479 Portugal agreed to a peace deal with Aragon in return for Ferdinand and Isabella renouncing any claim to the Portuguese throne, and the two powers respecting each other's overseas territories in the Atlantic. 

Also in 1479 Ferdinand finally inherited the crown of Aragon, resulting in the union of the two kingdoms. The immediate result was the formation of the powerful new devoutly Roman Catholic kingdom of Spain. This spelled the end of Islamic rule in southern Spain with the final conquest of the Emirate of Granada in 1492 and later the creation by conquest of a vast empire in South America. 

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Housework
Meditation
Me Time
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,026 (up 3)
Non-followed eliminated = 0
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Unfollowers eliminated = 0 
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New Followers followed back =2
@pnooren, @goldenroadinfo 
Spammers not followed back = 1
@DreamLiveGrow

3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

Today I will be enjoying an extra abundance of time as Missus is going out for supper hotfoot from work. I am conscious of my capacity for squandering time when unfocused so I intend to be as focused as possible led by intuition rather than thought.

I am toying around and experimenting with various techniques that will keep my mind free of random thought. I've done this for a number of years without settling on one that "stuck". However, my latest technique seems to be staying the course. I imagine the air as an anesthetic gas which once it gets into my brain both calms me into a trance state and blows away random thought. As random thought keeps naturally bubbling up into awareness, my focus is like an anaesthetist that has to keep the gas flowing to keep my EGO, i.e. my self-identification as character "sedated" - my mind thus is clearer and my focus by continual use strengthens itself.

This is basically what I do with clients - I use their own interests and background to create visualizations which they can effectively use to tackle their issues. Since I personally have a lifelong anaesthesia fetish, my visualization takes on that particular shape.

I have of late made excellent progress in emptying the mind and can do it at will, but keeping the mind continually in that state, particularly in the face of frustrations and distractions, is proving more of a challenge. However, by continually doing it I can feel the ability growing, and I'm enjoying observing myself changing.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Are you growing stronger or getting weaker?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Dry and cloudy throughout, with some sunny periods and negligible wind
Max Temp = 11 degC at 1pm
Min Temp = 8 degC at 9am
Sunrise at 07:41
Sunset at 18:02
Moon: 

Weathertrack: An anticyclone over Britain will keep the country dry

Air Pressure: 1026 millibars and rising slightly

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

My ideal woman is willing :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

Steve Gilliespie on middle-aged men

8. TRIVIA

The greatest single loss of life in the history of the British army occurred during the Battle of Somme, when the British suffered 60,000 casualties in one day. More British men were killed in that one WWI battle than the U.S. lost from all of its armed forces for its whole time in the war.

9. ZEN WISDOM

Each form of life supports all others; together they weave the grand web of life. Thus there really is no happiness for oneself alone, no suffering that afflicts only others.