TUESDAY 24th NOVEMBER 2015 07:33 GMT

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
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1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
24th November 1963
Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald 
Lee Harvey Oswald had been arrested for the murder of President John F. Kennedy two days earlier. Ruby, originally from a Jewish background in Chicago, was a Dallas-based nightclub owner. After driving into the city centre with his two pet dogs and sending an emergency money order to one of his employees, Ruby walked to the nearby police headquarters, where he made his way to the basement. 

At 11:21 am local time, while authorities were escorting Oswald through the police basement to an armoured car that was to take him to the nearby county jail, Ruby stepped out from a crowd of reporters and fired his .38 revolver into Oswald's abdomen, fatally wounding him. Ruby was immediately subdued by agents and police as he reportedly yelled "You killed the president, you rat!" The shooting was broadcast live nationally, and millions of television viewers witnessed it. 

A Dallas jury found Ruby guilty of murdering Oswald, and Ruby was sentenced to death. Later, Ruby appealed his conviction, had it overturned and was granted a new trial. As the date for his new trial was being set, Ruby became ill and died of a pulmonary embolism due to lung cancer, being constitutionally presumed innocent at the time.

The incident has been the subject of many conspiracy theories. Ruby was clearly sacrificing his freedom and career to carry out the assassination, an act that seemed out of character. Author Norman Mailer, and others, have questioned why Ruby would have left his two beloved dogs in his car if he had planned on killing Oswald at police headquarters.

When Ruby was arrested immediately after the shooting, he told several witnesses that he helped the city of Dallas "redeem" itself in the eyes of the public, and that Oswald's death would spare "…Mrs. Kennedy the discomfiture of coming back to trial." At the time of the shooting, Ruby said he was taking phenmetrazine, a central nervous system stimulant.


Ruby's explanation for killing Oswald would be "exposed … as a fabricated legal ploy", according to the House Select Committee on Assassinations. In a private note to one of his attorneys, Joseph Tonahill, Ruby wrote: "Joe, you should know this. My first lawyer Tom Howard told me to say that I shot Oswald so that Caroline and Mrs. Kennedy wouldn't have to come to Dallas to testify. OK?"

Another motive was suggested by Frank Sheeran, allegedly a hitman for the Mafia, in a conversation he had with the then-former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. During the conversation, Hoffa claimed that Ruby, who certainly had known members of the Mafia, was assigned the task of coordinating police officers who were loyal to Ruby to kill Oswald while he was in their custody. As Ruby evidently mismanaged the operation, he was given a choice to either finish the job himself or forfeit his life. 

The Sheeran statement fits with a major theory regarding the assassination of Kennedy, that it was a Mafia "hit" for which Oswald was framed and then silenced. However there is strong evidence that Oswald acted entirely alone giving the Mafia no motive to assassinate Oswald. 

Bill Alexander, who prosecuted Ruby for Oswald's murder, rejected any suggestions that Ruby was involved in organized crime, claiming that conspiracy theorists based it on the claim that "A knew B, and Ruby knew B back in 1950, so he must have known A, and that must be the link to the conspiracy."


Ruby's brother Earl denied allegations that Jack was involved in racketeering Chicago nightclubs, and author Gerald Posner suggests that Ruby may have been confused with Harry Rubenstein, a convicted Chicago felon. Entertainment reporter Tony Zoppi is also dismissive of mob ties. He knew Ruby and described him as a "born loser."

The true motive can only be known by Ruby himself, who took it to his grave.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Business Promotional Work
Meditation
Me Time
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,033 (down 5)
Non-followed eliminated = 4
@growwithroot +3 untraced
Unfollowers eliminated = 1
@TylerSedore22
New Followers followed back = 0
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Spammers not followed back = 0
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3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

I'm currently learning that it's one thing to know exactly what you need to do and another to actually do it! In my case this revolves around internal silence. 

For me this is not just some extra New Age skill to give me the thrill of soaring higher, it's an essential to my wellbeing. My mind is fully capable of self-sabotage if not tightly managed, wandering into all manner of dark places. This most unhelpful default needs to be constantly overridden. I can do it for periods, but not yet period. 

There isn't some great key to find, just slog and persistence, extending the periods until they become continuous. Techniques do of course assist, making it possible, but there is no substitute for putting in the mental effort. Today at least I woke undistracted and clear about my goal. Today I am using the mantra I AM THE SILENT OBSERVER to help me stay focused, and let the machine code of my subconscious run the show. 

A progress report tomorrow...

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Do you have a clear goal that you're pursuing?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
A moderate westerly wind showers throughout, some heavy
Skies will clear overnight
Max Temp = 6 degC at noon
Min Temp = 5 degC at midnight
Sunrise at 07:49
Sunset at 15:57
Moon: 

Weathertrack: Britain is in a run of showery air between a depression to the north and the Azores anticyclone to the south

Air Pressure: 1009 millibars and falling

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

There's nothing more difficult than trying to convince a narcissist that you don't like them.

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

Annie Lederman on having small boobs

8. TRIVIA

A person receives five times as much radiation in a lifetime from sitting in front of the TV or computer as they would from living next to a nuclear power station.

9. ZEN WISDOM

It takes courage to become happy—courage to remain true to one’s convictions, courage not to be defeated by one’s weaknesses and negativity, courage to take swift action to help those who are suffering.

MONDAY 23rd NOVEMBER 2015 07:12 GMT

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. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
23rd November 1963
The first-ever episode of Doctor Who is broadcast 
The first episode of Doctor Who, the world's longest-running science fiction television show, was broadcast on BBC television, starring William Hartnell as the first incarnation of the title role. Produced by the BBC from 1963 to the present day, the programme depicts the adventures of the Doctor, a Time Lord—a space and time-travelling humanoid alien. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-travelling space ship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Accompanied by companions, the Doctor combats a variety of foes, while working to save civilizations and help people in need.

Twelve actors have headlined the series as the Doctor. The transition from one actor to another is written into the plot of the show, as well as the differing approach to the role that each brings, under the concept of regeneration into a new incarnation. The show's premise is that this is a life process of Time Lords through which the character of the Doctor takes on a new body and, to some extent, new personality, which occurs after sustaining an injury which would be fatal to most other species. Each actor's portrayal differs, but they are all intended to be aspects of the same character and form part of the same storyline. The time-travelling nature of the plot means that, on occasion, story arcs have involved different Doctors meeting each other. Peter Capaldi took on the role after Matt Smith's exit in the 2013 Christmas special "The Time of the Doctor".

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

Twitter Followers = 2,039 (down 1)
Non-followed eliminated = 1
@TheDietRevolt
Unfollowers eliminated = 1
@Oli_Morgan
New Followers followed back = 1
untraced
Spammers not followed back = 0
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3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

Today is expected to be the cosy comfort of standard routine. There's a lot to be said for cosy routine if you enjoy your life. I find myself slightly embarrassed by how enjoyable I'm finding it right now, because it would not be interpreted as bliss by everybody. 

To be a carer for a paranoid schizophrenic who is currently the main breadwinner and be part of a family torn apart and estranged hardly seems the recipe for happiness. And yet of course some folk have everything and are deeply unhappy. Happiness is an internal thing to do with fulfilment, making the difference you want to make. 

The supernova of the extended family in bitterness and mutual acrimony has left me with a "happy remnant" - Me , Missus, Son and two cats. Though Son is more like a satellite in orbit that will soon orbit further out, living his own life, it nevertheless "works". I find myself with everything I want and lacking nothing, with enough challenge to keep me awake and alert and doing stuff that makes a difference. I have my own personal universe that I'm happy and thriving in, beneath the radar of the general population and therefore camouflaged from unwanted attention.

My situation therefore generates gratitude, and the Attitude Of Gratitude is the happiest, most productive and most fulfilling. It also generates sufficient calm for my consciousness to soar above my character and truly experience sentient being. This character meanwhile has already succeeded in the central purpose of passing on memes of truth, and will do more of it before it expires.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Are you clear in your own mind about what you really want?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Dry, cold and cloudy throughout with a moderate south-westerly wind
Max Temp = 6 degC at midnight
Min Temp = 1 degC at 7am
Sunrise at 07:48
Sunset at 15:58
Moon: 

Weathertrack: The Azores anticyclone extending over Britain will keep the country dry but pull in cold Arctic air

Air Pressure: 1023 millibars and falling

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

Why does Star Trek claim "to boldly go where no man has gone before" and yet when they get there, they always meet someone? :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

Robin Williams on Christian Fundamentalism

8. TRIVIA

In The Godfather (1972), John Marley’s (Jack Wolz) scream of horror in the horse head scene was real, as he was not told that a real horse head, which was obtained from a dog food company, was going to be used.

9. ZEN WISDOM

It is important to make the effort to calmly construct something together. From there, real love develops. Real marriage is when you have been married for twenty-five years and feel an even deeper love than you did when you first met. Love deepens.

SUNDAY 22nd NOVEMBER 2015 11:55 GMT

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. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
22nd November 1995
Toy Story, the first feature-length computer-generated animated movie is released 
PIXAR, a company founded by Steve Jobs after being sacked by Apple, which produced short animated films to promote their computers, was approached by Disney to produce a computer-animated feature after the success of the short film, Tin Toy (1988), which is told from a small toy's perspective. John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Pete Docter wrote early storylines which were thrown out by Disney, who wanted a more interesting and exciting scenario. After initially unsatisfactory story reels, production was halted and the script was re-written, better reflecting the tone and theme PIXAR desired: that "toys deeply want children to play with them, and that this desire drives their hopes, fears, and actions." The studio, then consisting of a relatively small number of employees, made the film under minor financial constraints.

The top-grossing film on its opening weekend, Toy Story went on to earn over $361 million worldwide. Reviews were positive, praising both the animation's technical innovation and the screenplay's wit and sophistication, and it is now widely considered by many critics to be one of the best animated films ever made. The film received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song for "You've Got a Friend in Me", as well as winning a Special Achievement Academy Award. It was inducted into the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 2005, its first year of eligibility. In addition to home media releases and theatrical re-releases, Toy Story-inspired merchandise has included toys, video games, theme park attractions, spin-offs, clothing, costumes, and two sequels—Toy Story 2 (1999) and Toy Story 3 (2010)—both of which also garnered massive commercial success and critical acclaim, with a third sequel, Toy Story 4, scheduled for a 2018 release.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
The Milk Run
Meditation
Me Time
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,040 (down 1)
Non-followed eliminated = 0
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Unfollowers eliminated = 1
@gypsyhearttour
New Followers followed back = 0
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3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

The Weekend Job proved a game of two halves - I was unsettled and unhappy on Friday by circumstances that weren't great but didn't really warrant the emotion. On Saturday I took the early morning easy, the circumstances at the job were better and so was mood and performance. I don't have an explanation for this swing of mood, but I was pleased at my own quick recovery. 
On thinking about it, it may be to do with power and control issues. I was more able to "play the system" on Saturday to get my way. Feeling more in control, I felt better.

It's important in self-development to recognize your own vulnerabilities, and mine is around in-your-face disapproval. Whether it's justified disapproval or not, my reaction tends to be the same - like someone's threatening me with a knife. In younger days this manifested in terror, breaking down and Munchausen's Syndrome. When I got to middle-age, and I finally discovered self-esteem, the response turned into counter-disapproval and wrath. 

This made life considerably better - now fully prepared to dive in to altercations and the odd disciplinary meeting, I could fight off predators, exploiters and parasites, and circumstances improved. I have learned that many people wield disapproval like a weapon to serve their own agenda, so I pay it back with interest and they move on to more vulnerable prey. 

If you have a problem with disapproval, the simple answer to it is to avoid those scenarios. This I have mainly done. As a therapist, disapprovers simply don't hire you or you don't take them on, so you only work with people you can win with. In my personal life there has been a wholesale purge of such folk and toxic people just aren't allowed in. This leaves the Weekend Job, where the disapproval is only sporadic, robustly opposed, and at two days, there is plenty of space to recover from any you get.

However it's important in safe spaces to consider whether the disapproval was justified, and sometimes the answer is YES. It may not be in my interest to admit it to others but I have no issue in admitting it to myself, and learning from it.

I would of course prefer to have a less emotional response to disapproval. Unfortunately my training cannot cure this, only manage it. If all this inner darkness is present and going to be stirred up, it can at least be channeled away from loved ones and leveled at genuine threats. I congratulate myself on great progress in this, and continual ongoing improvement.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Have you recognized and developed coping strategies to manage your vulnerabilities?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Cold, dry and cloudy throughout, with sunny/clear periods
A moderate northerly will swing gradually westerly and become colder
Max Temp = 3 degC at noon
Min Temp = 0 degC at midnight
Sunrise at 07:46
Sunset at 15:59
Moon: 

Weathertrack: The Azores anticyclone will extend over Britain, bringing dry weather, but will draw in cold Arctic air

Air Pressure: 1012 millibars and rising rapidly

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

I don't regret burning bridges. I do regret that some people weren't on them when I burnt them.

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

Russell Howard on North Korea

8. TRIVIA

By the early fourth century, the Romans had built a road network of 53,000 miles throughout the empire. Each Roman mile was about 1,000 paces (about 4,800 feet) and was marked by a milestone.

9. ZEN WISDOM

Human life possesses a potential deeper than the great wide ocean and vaster than the sky. We may tend to give up and resign ourselves to present circumstances, thinking “There is no way.” But by breaking down these barriers in our minds, we can enjoy vibrant lives, filled with powerful life force like the sun.

ANNOUNCING SATURDAY AS A REGULAR DAY OFF

I have decided after many years offering my good stuff 7-days a week to have Saturdays off on a regular basis. Though I still love doing it, Saturdays are a busy day for me and it's becoming a time-struggle. I still fully intend to keep churning out by good stuff for the other six days!

FRIDAY 20th NOVEMBER 2015 06:49 GMT

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. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
20th November 1946
The Nuremburg Trials begin
The Nuremberg trials (German: die Nürnberger Prozesse) were a series of military tribunals, held by the Allied forces after World War II, which were most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany who allegedly planned, carried out, or otherwise participated in The Holocaust and other war crimes. The trials were held in the city of Nuremberg, Germany.

The first, and best known of these trials was the trial of the major war criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT). Held between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946, the Tribunal was given the task of trying 23 of the most important political and military leaders of the Third Reich, though one of the defendants, Martin Bormann, was tried in absentia, while another, Robert Ley, committed suicide within a week of the trial's commencement. Bormann, officially missing, had died unrecognized during the Soviet assault on Berlin in 1945

Twelve of the accused were sentenced to death: Herman Goring, Martin Bormann, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Alfred Jodl, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Alfred Rosenberg, Fritz Sauckel, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, and Julius Streicher. Hermann Göring committed suicide using a potassium cyanide capsule the night before his scheduled hanging. Seven received prison sentences (ranging from 10 years to life in prison): Rudolf Hess, Karl Donitz, Albert Speer, Wlather Funk, Baron Konstantin Von Neurath, Erich Raeder, and Baldur Von Schirach, three were acquitted: Hans Fritzsche, Franz Von Papen and Dr. Hjalmar Sclacht,  and two, Gustav Krupp (medically unfit) and Robert Ley (suicide) were not charged.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Shift 1 of the Weekend Job
TV Comedy night

Twitter Followers = 2,041 (down 1)
Non-followed eliminated = 1
@MemeStreme
Unfollowers eliminated = 0
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New Followers followed back = 0
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Spammers not followed back = 0
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3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

Another week has flown by at breakneck speed! Though they all do, I'm still amazed by it. It does of course give a strong incentive to make the most of each moment. I am currently enjoying the return to cosy comforting standard routine. This has meant the return of Thursday evening shenanigans. Missus, bless her, has praised me for my patience, but the reality is I hadn't greatly missed it. My main sense of "relief" actually came from successfully completing her pleasure.

A further sense of relief was that we can now conclude that Missus knee had suffered a strain and nothing more serious. The doctors, though I was displeased with them at the time, were absolutely right in their diagnoses. 

So with everything back to normal, it's a case of of simply getting on with it gratefully. In particular, to be intuitively guided. Both in good times and bad, a quiet mind functioning at the "machine code" subconscious level has proved beyond doubt to be best for my wellbeing. The hard part is in keeping the focus up in the face of distraction to enable me to stay in this mental mode. As Bruce Lee described it, "not thinking yet not dreaming". That is simply a case of persistence, practice, and keeping it as Priority #1. It is only in this state that I'm truly conscious and fully alive.

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Are you carving your own path in life or being led drifting through it?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Dry and cloudy start
Scattered light showers arrive by mid-morning
Showers move away mid-afternoon and it will be dry, cold and cloudy thereafter
A cold moderate westerly will swing to a colder northwesterly after dusk
Max Temp = 5 degC at noon
Min Temp = 1 degC at midnight
Sunrise at 07:42
Sunset at 16:02
Moon:

Weathertrack: Britain is in a run of cold Arctic north-westerly air on which weak weather fronts are carried

Air Pressure: 1007 millibars and falling

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

I'm so sarcastic, even I don't know if I'm serious or not :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

Saturday Night Live - Hermione's Growth Spurt

8. TRIVIA

Famous premature babies include Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Napoleon Bonaparte, Mark Twain, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Renoir, Stevie Wonder, Johann Goethe, and Sir Winston Churchil

9. ZEN WISDOM

Each time you fall down, get back up. If you can pick yourself up, you can also move forward

THURSDAY 19th NOVEMBER 2015 07:21 GMT

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. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
19th November 1863
Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address  
It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Abraham Lincoln's carefully crafted address, secondary to other presentations that day, was one of the greatest and most influential statements of national purpose. In just over two minutes, Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens. Lincoln also redefined the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for the principle of human equality.

Beginning with the now-iconic phrase "Four score and seven years ago"—referring to the start of the American Revolution in 1776— Lincoln examined the founding principles of the United States as stated in the Declaration of Independence. In the context of the Civil War, Lincoln also memorialized the sacrifices of those who gave their lives at Gettysburg and extolled virtues for the listeners (and the nation) to ensure the survival of America's representative democracy: that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Despite the speech's prominent place in the history and popular culture of the United States, the exact wording and location of the speech are disputed. The five known manuscripts of the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln's hand differ in a number of details, and also differ from contemporary newspaper reprints of the speech. Of these varying versions, the "Bliss version", written for Colonel Alexander Bliss well after the speech as a favour for a friend, is viewed as the standard text. It is the only version to which Lincoln affixed his signature, and the last he is known to have written.

The wording of this version is:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Business Promotional Work
Meditation
Me Time
Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,042 (down 3)
Non-followed eliminated = 6
All untraced, probably all corporate/spammers
Unfollowers eliminated = 0
-
New Followers followed back = 2
@runthelove, @ChevonneFermoy1
Spammers not followed back = 1
@letimyjesel, 

3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

If you're one of the dozen or so regular readers of this blog, you'll know that I'm not one to hide anything - "my life is an open book with illustrations" a phrase coined by Hugh Hefner. Unlike Hefner, most folks find that being completely open is bad for their career. Before I set out on this path, that was certainly true in my case, costing me my job at AH Marks at the beginning of the 90's and had me scuttling back to Croda for another 8 years.

On the other hand I keep the confidences of others who speak to me firmly and faithfully, an essential requirement of a therapist. I would probably tell you everything you'd request to know about me (with the exception of my passwords and PIN numbers!) but pass on nothing about you to any third party. 

I think it's fine to keep your true self hidden from others and is in many cases essential, but I find that people who are not honest with THEMSELVES are the ones who make themselves ill. People who don't meet their own expectations of themselves develop a stressful highly self-destructive self-loathing. 

This character has learned that it's OK, with all your flaws and weaknesses to be you. You are still of worth and value and can make a difference just as you are. Whatever your best is was not chosen by you, it was dealt. It is therefore no true reflection on you, whatever others may think of you. The true measure of your character is how you respond to what was dealt. Are you making the best possible difference with it? 

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Do you like yourself?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Dry start
Showers arrive by mid-morning and will be occasionally heavy
Rain will clear by early afternoon and it will be dry thereafter
A moderate to strong westerly will blow throughout
Max Temp = 8 degC at noon
Min Temp = 5 degC at midnight
Sunrise at 07:41
Sunset at 16:03
Moon: 

Weathertrack: Britain is in a run of cold arctic air with weather fronts to the far north and far south - there will be a dry zone between.

Air Pressure: 1006 millibars and rising slightly

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

I found someone very attractive on Tinder but couldn't find out how to download her :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

Julie Bowen on the Late Late Show

8. TRIVIA

Several famous actors were decorated during WWII. For example, Henry Fonda won a Bronze Star in the Pacific, Walter Matthau was awarded six battle stars while serving on a B-17, and David Niven was awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit. Christopher Lee was a pilot in the Royal Air Force and also won a number of awards.

9. ZEN WISDOM

People shouldn’t hesitate to exert their all, in a way true to themselves. How can you possibly ever know how far or fast you can go if you’ve never run all-out? To give up even before you’ve begun is actually arrogance—an affront to the wondrous power of life within you and disrespectful to yourself.