So I asked Chris what my statistics were and he told me. I almost fainted. I told my friend Colette that it blew my mind and I cannot imagine that many people. I told her one way to think of it is a queue with hundred of people. She said it would be helpful if I thought of them as nude, as in having no clothes on. I laugh uproarishly as I write. I told her that I do not have that vivid an imagination, I do know some of my readers but I have seen only a very small number of them nude. A tiny portion and none of them women. I do not look at bare naked women in the gym locker room. So it continues to be a little mind boggling
I was actually troubled by the numbers of people and I wrote to my friend Bruce about it. He was, as usual, so helpful. He gave me advice and said that I could pass it on. He visited a 90 year woman, the aunt of a friend. The aunt showed her visitors a stack of grateful books’. These were notebooks that she filled with ‘gratefuls’. “Every day she would write down 5 things for which she was grateful. It could be a phone chat with a friend or a visit from her daughter or a friendly exchange with someone at the supermarket. She said that by writing down these things every day she trained herself to focus on the good things in her life. This tactic gradually forced her to feel happier and more positive… it became her standard habit-of-mind..Your blog could work like that if the aim was to write about the things that you find interesting and rewarding. If the blog were to constantly focus on the events that anger you, then it can become depressing, I think. It would lead you toward negativity. I suspect that if you are with other people in comfortable and positive relationships every day, those conditions will induce more positivity. But if one is on one’s own a lot one probably needs to work harder at finding positivity. The act of consciously searching for something positive guards against drifting into the negative. Does any of this make sense?” I wrote back that of course it made sense and then I thanked him for being my guiding light.
But then two things happened. I lost my wallet – somewhere and somehow it is missing. It is more than a little problematic and definitely something not to be grateful for. The good news is that my passport is safe and with me, so I guess that equals gratitude.
Then this is so stupid!! I did go about my day even without the wallet ending up at my former property in West Marrin. I was gazing in adoration as I pulled into the driveway. There is a purposeful raised bump (for flood protection) and I did not see it. There was a horrible noise. I saw Trinka who bought the place from me twenty four years ago, gave her a huge hug and told her that I ran over the bump. She said that there was a traffic cone to warn people but it did not seem to be there. Where was it? Under the Mercedes – yes indeed. I kid you not. I ran over the traffic cone and it is stuck there. It sounds unbelievable but it is true. So now I get to see if I can get rid of the cone and drive to my bank and report everything missing and get some money. I will take a picture later in case you do not believe this.
My life is more than a little strange but I do have wonderful friends. I have not seen them for years but when I do see and talk to them it is like I just saw them the day before yesterday and I have been in London for two and a half years. We pick up where we left off. I am so grateful for that.
