I retired from the energy business in 2014 and started writing poetry. At first I shared my writing with family and friends. Then I set myself a challenge to write a poem every day for a year. After meeting that goal I just kept going and started this blog in 2021. I hope you enjoy reading my poems. Remember happiness is just a state of mind and poetry is great nourishment.
If you are not satisfied with the way you live your life right now, here are some things you can do to make it better. Start with the first task in Week 1, then add a further task each week so that you are covering all 8 areas by Week 8.
Week 1– Join the wake daily up at 5am club. It does not have to be so early, as long as you can find one hour every morning when you will be alone without any interruptions. Use this hour to complete these three 20 minute tasks in any order you want:
20 minutes of exercise with at least 10 minutes of cardio, 5 minutes of weights or resistance and 5 minutes of stretching. If you are not sure how to do any part, find an online video.
20 minutes of reading to learn a new skill or acquire knowledge.
20 minutes of gentle relaxation and meditation.
Repeat this one hour routine daily, even at weekends or days off work.
Week 2– Make a plan to declutter your possessions. Assign some time each week to tackle a specific room or area and put things into keep and dispose piles. Organize the things you keep so they are accessible, anything in a container can be labelled for easy identification. Donate or dispose of stuff every week.
Week 3– If your spending is out of control, cut up the credit cards or reduce them to just one. Cancel subscriptions to things that are non-essential like cable TV, music streaming or Apps. Track your spending with a free App or a notepad to accurately record your outgoings. Make decisions on what you can afford and create a realistic budget for essentials like food, shelter, heating, commuting and self care/medical. Allocate spending for entertainment and fun but stick within your budget. If you are overwhelmed go see a financial adviser. Allocate time to this task weekly.
Week 4– Reduce your screen time from phones, computers and TV. Put your phone on silent for most of the day so you are not interrupted by unscheduled calls, texts or notifications. Consider giving up social media completely, it is not an essential part of healthy living. Spend more time in nature taking walks or bike riding. Stop and smell the roses. Make a plan to focus on this each week.
Week 5– Prioritize experiences over material possessions. Find joy in simple things like writing, reading, spending time with loved ones or just taking a walk. Every week, find time to reach out to a friend or loved one you have drifted from.
Week 6– Plan your time effectively and leave gaps between tasks to allow for over-run or downtime. Practice single tasking and try to finish a task before starting a new one. Learn to say no to things that are not important to you and focus more on what is. Check in on this aspect weekly
Week 7– Practice self care to ensure your physical, mental and spiritual well being is not being ignored. If you need to lose weight, start a diet and exercise program. If your drinking habits are excessive, considering having a totally dry month. Join a group with shared interests and consider volunteering as a way to donate your time helping others. Verify you have addressed this at least one a week.
Week 8– Look back and reflect on how your life has improved, allocate more time on areas that are not yet yielding results. Reward yourself with some outrageous, decadent, delicious, guilt-free self indulgence.
We had a hard copy of the Oxford English Dictionary
Always on hand during a game of scrabble
If it was not in the book then your word did not exist
Of course each year they have to add new words
In my youth you could never use laptop or internet in a game of scrabble
I am totally fine that the Children’s edition of this dictionary evolves annually
However its shocking to learn that words are arbitrarily retired from this book to make way for new ones
Here are some of the words that kids today may never discover:
RIP Newt– We caught them in jars from the local creek
RIP Minnow – Chased with a net on the end of a pole and put in the same jar with the newt
RIP Herring-We ate them for breakfast in their smoked form as Kippers
RIP Kingfisher-That flash of blue flying over the creek will now have no name
RIP Lark– Not just a songbird for me because it also meant having fun or larking about
RIP Leopard– Not many leopards roaming about Liverpool in the 1960’s except for the fake fur coats worn by middle aged ladies that were described as mutton dressed up as lamb
RIP Lobster– It was never on the menu menu in our house but often I fantasized about being chased by a giant lobster with pinching claws
RIP Magpie– You black and white thief of shiny objects now arrested and thrown into word jail for life, maybe your sentence will be reduced upon appeal
Mussel– Oh poor sweet Molly Malone will no be allowed to sing “Cockles and mussels alive alive oh”
Cheeky Monkey Poetry 