Happy New Year 2016 - 12 things I learned from last year

It's the usual thing for any blogger/writer/up-to-the-minute person to use December 31st, New Year's Eve, to reflect on the year passed and to look forward to the new year with resolutions and intentions - and to post the thoughts for all to see. 

So, as I spent yesterday reading other people's reflections and resolutions and also because I was ready for bed earlier than on an "ordinary" day, I thought I'd wait till today 1st January to post mine.

Like many people, I have made resolutions in the past and not kept them further than a few days into the new year,This was probably because they weren't really my own decisions but more what I thought I 'ought' to be deciding on.

Today I am not making resolutions as such, but posting 12 things that I have learned during and from 2015 (it was originally 10 things, but that would mean I learned less than an average of one a month , which is not much of an achievement - so 12 it is ) These are in no particular order of chronology, seriousness or importance. 

1    Trying to do more than one thing at a time is not a good idea and benefits no one, in most           cases. 

      This is foremost in my mind as only 2 hours ago I attempted to turn off the light in the kitchen             using the hand which was holding a full mug of tea whilst the other hand held a plate of toast and       had a laptop under the arm. Result ...well, you get the picture.

 

2    No matter how bad you feel - pain, sadness, guilt, desperation etc there is always someone           who feels worse for what sometimes seems like lesser reasons.

      This is not a new thing for me to learn. At my age, I've known it for a long time and that the                 reasoning of others is not always affected by me. It just feels that way at the time.

3    The theory that no matter how good you feel there's always something comes along to mess         it up -  is not (necessarily) true. 

      Though it's another difficult one to implement at the time, positivity does work. "The future                 begins with your next thought" is a good one to quote here. Not sure who said it, but I expect they       were always happy and content.

4    Being a mother was never easy. Being a grandmother is even harder. Goodness knows how         great grandmothers get through. 

      But they do, and I hope that if I am still around when I am blessed with this role that I can live up       to the standard of the great grandmothers I know.

5    Try to live a good life. Marcus Aurelius says this much better than I can -                                            "If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care  how devout you have been, but will             welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you                 should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a       noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."

6    Never trust a laptop, tablet, smart phone or printer to do what you hoped and expected it           to, especially when you are in a hurry. 

     This one sneaked into this list after the laptop that I am typing on has lost a whole page of text             just because it feels like it. I am wondering if this post will actually be posted today as it's now          11am and I started it before 9am. Lesson learned : learn the lesson the first time not the 250th              time.

7   Don't get irritated by news readers or anyone being interviewed on television who begins an      answer with the word "so".

     For some reason this really is an irritant to me, yet I've found that I often do the very same thing          myself. So, I'll try not to do it anymore or at least come to terms with the fact that it's an                  acceptable form of speech.

8   As cliched and sentimental as it may appear, in times of trouble and and stress, we really do      realise what matters most in life.

    And it is no surprise to anyone, especially me and my family following events in 2015, that it's           people who matter, But it's worth verbalising and writing it down now and then, to remind 

    ourselves. 

    

9   As we get older we think that our memories are being very unkind by making us forget many of the things that we should be remembering. Perhaps this is not the case and we remember only the things we need to remember at any given time, Based on this I will forgive myself for not remembering how to play the piano as well as I used to (though that was pretty poor) be patient with practising to  be ready for the time when it is more important. 

10  As per (6) and (9) above, that these items as I post have now become double spaced and I        don't know why is not important and does not matter. Likewise my (relatively new) steam mop does not steam any more, the washing machine is leaking and the dryer is only blowing cold. I shall rise above these small things and look for something to learn from these happenings.

11  That when politicians and those in authority say "lessons have been learned"  they don't mean by them. What they really mean is that they are relinquishing any responsibility for past events and that they think that we, the general public, are too stupid to realise this. Thought I'd better put this one in this list in case the reader thinks I am saying the same thing, in a roundabout way.

12  Life is a rollercoaster, you just gotta ride it - Ronan Keating circa 2000. That I have never really liked any fairground rides is totally irrelevant here. I will get on with 2016 in the best way I can and hope that anyone who reads this , and those who don't can do the same.

HAPPY NEW YEAR