Doctor's Orders

The doctor* is in.

"Rarely have wiser words been spoken.

Read these, embrace them as my goodwill token" 

- S.

1. Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.


2. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go. With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.


3. Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.


4. We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.


5. If things start happening, don't worry, don't stew, just go right along and you'll start happening too.


6. Be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. 


7. Only you can control your future. 


8. If you want to catch beasts you don't see every day, you have to go places quite out of the way. You have to go places no others can get to. You have to get cold and you have too get wet, too.


9. Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.



*All wonderful pieces of cake courtesy of Dr Seuss.

Ephemeral* Cake

Some of the wonderful words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry from The Little Prince.

1. All grown-ups were children first. (But few remember it).

2. If I were to command a general to turn into a seagull, and the general does not obey, it would not be the general's fault. It would be mine.

3. It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. You are only truly wise if you succeed in judging yourself.

4. Language is the source of misunderstandings.

5. One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eye.

6. We must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if we wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.

7. No one is ever satisfied where he is.

8. The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them.

9. Love does not cause suffering: what causes it is the sense of ownership, which is love's opposite.

10. If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood or assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

11. The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something.

12. "How could drops of water know themselves to be a river? Yet the river flows on."

*Ephemeral: that which is in danger of speedy disappearance

How to be happy(er)

1. Spend a few minutes every morning stretching.
2. Sleep with the curtains open, and let the sun’s energy help wake you up.
3. Accept that change is inevitable. When it hits you, dwell on it for a few moments, and then move on.
4. Pseudo-science: Get yourself a healing crystal. The science may be bogus, but the placebo effect may do you wonders. Really, you’ve got nothing to lose.
5. Actual-science: Hug or be hugged four times a day – research has shown that this will help you look younger and live longer.
6. You can’t make everyone happy, so if you have to pick one person to make happy, choose yourself.
7. Micromanage problems, not people.
8. When you smile, your brain assumes you’re happy. Smile often enough, and pretty soon, you will find that you are.  
9. “You are a free person.  Exercise your freedom.” – P.C.

(Inspired by @otrainbowjordan and @tfaris)

A few scars

Fighting your way through life, you may often stop to wonder whether you really belong, and whether it is worth is. One way or another, you learn. At least you hope that you do.
Most of you will recognize these nuggets of wisdom. 
For the rest of you, you can thank me later. 

1. "If you don't know what you want, you end up with a lot you don't."  

2. "Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken."

3. "The things you own end up owning you."

4. "Maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves."

5. "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.  You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile."

6. "People don't want their lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown."

7. "There are a lot of things we don't want to know about the people we love."

8. "I just don't want to die without a few scars." 

9. "Maybe self-improvement isn't the answer.... Maybe self-destruction is the answer." 

10. "It's only after you've lost everything, that you're free to do anything."  

Cake in Wonderland

The Mad-Hatter, the Duchess, the Queen, the Cat... even Alice herself! They live in a muddled world where no-one is really sure of what's up and what's down, or even whether they are the same person they were yesterday... or this morning.

Like me, it seems Alice is a bit 'lost', but "curioser and curioser", she's also learning more and more as she wanders through Wonderland.

Some of you may have noticed the under-the-influence-of-Alice references in the past few posts, so dedicating a post on its own seemed the obviously appropriate and necessary thing to do. Hold on to your hats...!

1. "Be what you would seem to be, or if you'd like it put more simply: Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise." - The Duchess on being yourself

2. "We're all mad here." - The Cat on sanity

3. If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does." - The Duchess on world dynamics

4. "Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it." - The Duchess on ethics

5. "What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations?" - Alice on literature

6. "Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction." - The Doorknob on following instructions

7. "Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only knew how to begin." - Alice on disappearing

8. "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop." - The King on storytelling

9. "It was much pleasanter at home, when one wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits." - Alice on nostalgia

10. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" - The Queen on moving forward

11. "After a fall such as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling downstairs!" - Alice on the theory of relativity

12. "I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole — and yet — and yet — it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what can have happened to me!" - Alice on regret

13. "It would be so nice if something made sense for a change."- Alice on rationality

the wise words of winnie the pooh

meet my friend, winnie the pooh.

true, he's a bear, and full of fluff, but just like me, he's also learning as he goes along...

1. It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"

2. You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.

3. If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.

4. You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count.

5. Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.

6. A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.

7. Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.

8. When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish.

9. Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.

10. A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.

11. Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it.

12. When having a smackerel of something with a friend, don't eat so much that you get stuck in the doorway trying to get out.

13. Some people care too much, I think it's called love.

image: quote from Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh's best friend.