first sunny day of the month

london 12.7C sunny wednesday 2015

today , this morning for the first time this december month, the sun came out and is shining in a bright blue sky . it has been grey up till now. so it has been 9 days since we turned december that the sun has come out. whilst the whole of november has been grey.

but somehow i dont seem to miss the sun that much. granted it is nice to get to see it and to see a bright blue cloudless sky but it wont kill me not to have it. i am glad i dont suffer from SAD, (seasonal affective disorder) that affliction which affects some people when they dont see the sun.

i think it is a mindset. if u think u can only be happy if u see the sun and it is bright and sunny and warm, than u will get sick if it is not. it is all in the mind. change that mindset and see the change. but it does mean u have to do the work of changing the mindset and a lot of people dont know how to do it, or have very indisciplined minds that talk back and tell them not to be idiots but to continue to believe the sun will make them happy.

there is an article in the papers today about how anti depressants are only as successful as mind therapy. and yet people criticise the mind therapy and praise anti depressants for fixing those who are depressed.

the only thing good about anti depressants is that in the short term they do something that makes people think it is working. ( i think they have a sedative effect, dulls the mind, and stops it nagging, so it appears as if the person is getting relief. )whilst mind therapy takes time and is expensive and requires the patient to put in the effort.

taking  a pill does not require any work by the patient. perfect for those who say ‘i dont have to do anything, u are the doctor u do allthe work to get me well’.

‘that is your job’, they say.

whereas if u are using the mind method u have to practise and do the work after the sessions with the mind therapist.

but i have noticed when i do yoga or tai chi with an instructor, i tend to not do it afterwards. i wait till the next lesson comes round and then do it. but that is not the correc way… to  only rely on the once -a -week sessions.

 i know i should be practising the moves every day, but i dont do it. why? if even i could fall into that laziness, how much easier are those who are allready afflicted to do  that.

that is why having mindful sessions take up so much effort and may not be successful at the end.

in the end, i believe it is not that crucial to get lessons from someone and expect to be taught. you can be your own teacher and do the mindfulness on your own.

many of us who are sensible and live an equable life without any of these neuroses, are those of us who can discipline our mind and scold it if it goes off kilter and start to tell us rubbish ideas and views.

the undisciplined mind can be a real nag. telling u all kinds of fibs, and creating anxiety. if u can remember a time when your mind tells u that u have forgotten to lock the door, or switch off the lights, etc. even though u remember clearly doing so. that is the nagging mind, telling u lies, and u should firmly tell it to fuck off or you will give it a earful. slap it down and then it might not nag at u and make u anxious. that is what i mentally do when my mind start acting up. i advise u to do the same. 

why do people kill themself?

london 11.45am cloudy 14.6C wednesday

i have always been puzzled how people can commit suicide just like that. why do they do it? this guy writing here tells me why. and it seems his mind is the reason. he cannot control it, and it just bombards him with everything. the mind noise is too much. it seems he does not know how to control it.

 meditation is learning how to control the mind.

i think he could benefit from it. the main thing he can get out of meditation is to learn the skill of controlling his thoughts and his mind. the most simple thing they teach you in meditation is to empty the mind of thought. it is a very useful skill to acquire. from there all else follows, peace of mind, a quiet mind, a well disciplined mind that wont give him anxious thoughts or fearful thoughts, or depressive thoughts. i think this skill should be taught in all schools. taught to everyone. it is a basic life skill. it can help a person build a mindset that would serve them well in life. perhaps others will say it is too simplistic this solution to suicide, depression, etc, but i say it is the only way. better than drugs. the mind is powerful, and can be used for good, but because of it very power, an uncontrolled mind can be  very destructive.

discipline your mind

London
The talk talk wifi box was delivered very early yesterday, 5.12.13 at about 8.40am. Rather glad of it otherwise it wont be able to be delivered as I was going to my passport office to renew my passport. It is done every 5yrs.

I had a really pleasant experience doing it. In and out of the place and back within the hour and half.

The photos were done in house, too, which saves having to get my photos from the photo booths in the railway station.
In fact, I will go there if ever I need id photos done. It costs £5 for a set of 4.

The wifi box works for simon’s laptop but not for mine. For some reason, I could link to the wifi but it wont link to the internet.

Luckily the old net gear wifi I got still works for me.
I tried to call talk talk on their help line, but even at 7am today, it was very busy so I put the phone down as I was only told it is very busy and there was no time given as to how long I will wait. I don’t need to use the new talk talk wifi as I can get online already using my old net gear box.

The new one is only good for simon, as he can get a signal in the kitchen. With the net gear wifi he has to come into the living room to catch a signal but once he got it, he can go back to the kitchen.

So really there is not much advantage to this new talk talk. Even less as it does not seem to connect me to the internet.

Well, as you can see, my life is quite easy… not much excitement, thank goodness.

You might say winning the year membership to the tate is quite exciting… I am happy to get it, but then again, it wont devastate me not to get it.

There are plenty of things in this life which is nice to have but not necessary to my happiness. I am happy with or without them.

I have been reading I am a cat, by soseki natsume,
‘If some mountain range blocks our free passage to a neighboring country, we do not seek to flatten the mountain, to restructure the natural order. Instead we work out some arrangement under which the need to visit that neighbouring country no longer arises’.

‘Nobody however mighty , can do as he likes with the world… but any man is able to do as he likes with his own mind.

I think that might explain why there is so much depression nowadays. Few are ‘prepared to undergo the disciplines that lead to control of the mind, you would never even hear the racket kicked up by those graceless imps at the Hall…

The writer has been getting angrier and angrier with kids from a nearby school making lots of noise and invading his garden to retrieve their balls.

You can train the mind not to heed those things that irritates, in fact, if u are very good at it, u don’t even notice it at all to get irritated by it.

I think that is how I deal with things… and I have on hindsight realise I am quite good at it. Haha.

 

the chattering mind

London
Its been very nice here in London. That is because I ignore those who keep saying how much they dread winter, and how much they miss the sun, and fear the cold. Haha. My advise to them is to stop those thoughts as soon as they come up. And start having thoughts of how nice the cold feels, so crisp and clean. Your thoughts can and will determine how u reacte to things.

The mind says all kinds of things to you and you don’t have to listen to it.
I was reading this article about schizophrenics, and this guy says he hears a voice, of a woman, who tells him to do things and he does them.
It seems strange to me that he must follow what the voice say.

Most of us, in fact all of us have thoughts. We don’t normally give it a personality or a gender, as most of us know they are generated by our mind.
It might be wishful thinking, like having thoughts about holidays, or buying expensive stuff or living a life of spending, or whatever.
Or they might be thoughts about what might happen… the worst case of death of loved ones, or worry about someone , or worry about the future, etc.

Or fear that u might kill someone, or yourself, etc. 

But most of us are sensible enough to realise that we are just frightening ourselves for nothing.
When u ask others for advise, they usually say just think of the worse case scenario… and you will find it is really not all that awful.

Or you soon learn that all your worries do not come true. Even the person u are so worried about when u don’t hear from them, u find later on, they are ok, and did not think they are in any danger enough to keep phoning u to say they are ok. So take it that no news is good news and just forget about worrying about anyone or anything. and resolve that when or if problems come, you will deal with them then. rather than torture yourself now when there is nothing u can do, nor even if they will come true. 

But it seems those with mental problems cannot differentiate and silence the voice in their heads.

I wish those who treat them will teach them to isolate the voice and tell it off and not obey it. Teach them the technics to do it. it is not easy of course and require effort by those afflicted by voices to learn how to do it.  and some of them just may never acquire that skill.

And others who do know  may find they just dont have the man power or time or even the inclination to teach it. so much of it depands on the person . in fact u can learn how to do it without any one ‘teaching’ you. just sit and apply it diligently give it time and practise, and u will get it, if u want to strongly. (it helps if u like doing and learning by yourself and dont rely on another to help you. i have learnt in the past to ride a bicycle, and to swim. so i know it can be done just by being diligent and persistent;  practising it, and if u do it often enough, u soon become good at it. 

Meditation is one way because it shuts the mind down and keep it silent. It is a skill that is very useful to learn. People can be driven mad by a mind that keeps talking and bringing up thoughts. Meditation silences that mind. It is a form of learning , the aim being to discipline the mind. (modern medicine would do well to adopt it, but no, they think it is all airy fairy new age thinking). 

But instead these people are given drugs. Ha.

Anyway, when u look around you u can see lots of people who don’t know how to cope with life.

Maybe it is a failure of the education system, because it does not teach people about how to control their minds and their thoughts.

Ah well, those of us who know will find out by trial and error. And by listening to those others who have achieved peace of mind .
The rest will just have to go through this life and wait for the next life, or many lifetimes to achieve enlightenment. Haha.

Oh, the sun has come out, it is a bright sunny day and bright blue sky now. so i shall post this and run out to it.