Even without the Fairy Godmother…

I was having a chat, or discussion with my wife the other day. We had watched Cinderella a day or two before. A movie, incidentally, that I love, and I happened to say something along the lines of ‘life should be like a fairy tale, don’t you think?’  Initially she looked at me like I had lost the plot.

No pun intended.  And its not just because I have a tendency to wear frock coats either.

Let’s just think about it for a minute, what exactly is a fairy tale?

A fairytale is a genre of magical story usually originating in folklore.  Typically, a poor, brave, and resourceful hero or heroine goes through testing adventures to eventual good fortune and love. They include a wondrous or magical element, and include fantasy, supernatural or make-believe aspects.

Let’s start at the beginning then.

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When to wallow and when to stand!

When something bad happens it’s natural to spend some time wallowing in it. Retreat to safe place and process what’s happened. You see it in the animals we live with for example, if my dogs have got themselves into a difficulty, or hurt themselves they will go to their bed and spend some considerable time cleaning themselves. ‘Licking their wounds’, as it were.  Often children will go to their rooms.  They often don’t need to be asked, they just go. Often as adults it’s one of the many criteria for, ‘I need a drink’ or ‘I need a cigarette’.

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Life Skills. One. Talk to the person who can make decisions.

You may have realised, life doesn’t always do what you want and it doesn’t matter who you are or what you are; what’s important, is how you deal with it. That’s what matters.

And that can have massive impacts on your mental health.

There are two recent examples that spring to mind.  One from my own experience, and one to George Ford, England RFU Flyhalf.

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The Baton and the Ravenmaster, or how much do you want it!

Have you ever looked at the odd couples, the ones where one appears to be visually for more attractive? Especially the one with the stunning lady and the plainer fella. Come on, we all have, it’s impossible as humans not to prejudge and make assumptions. We might not say it, but we’ve all thought it from time to time.

The one occasion where I, or my partner, or wife have known them the response from the lady was, ‘well, he asked me.’

Have you ever not asked for something you really wanted because you didn’t think the answer would ever be ‘yes’?  Or because some else told you to be realistic, ‘you’ve got no chance’? And that then fed into your fears, and you just didn’t bother.

Again, I bet you have, or rather, haven’t.

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Anxiety, bastard anxiety, and the power of three

Ok, so I like to think I know a bit about anxiety.

Now that I know what it is.

Figured that as I know what I’m dealing with and have tools and strategies in place to manage it I didn’t have too much to worry about anymore. Especially as I have been managing it pretty well for a couple of years now. I’ve documented the work I have done to achieve that. Indeed, the book you have in your hands is testament to that.  That now was the time to really focus on helping other people.

Then I walked into some of the most massive anxiety attacks I’ve ever had last week.

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Balance and the shadow mask!

To have peace, or harmony, or calm, everything needs to be in balance, and we see this all around us. Day and night is the first example, and you may say that they change as we progress through the year, and you’d be right, but they lengthen and shorten in opposite ways as we cycle throughout the year. This can clearly be seen by the solstices of summer and winter and the autumn and spring equinoxes.  In fact, life and energy increase and decrease in balance the wheel of the year as do tides with their ebb and flow.

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When car and horse speak the same language.

Here’s a brain fryer for you.

Do inanimate creations have thoughts, or even will?

So, cast your mind back to the summer of 2022. I wrote a blog called, ‘why story telling is better than telling stories’.  I liked that title by the way. It described an equine encounter I’d had at the Little Horse Yard with, funnily enough,  a horse. Essentially the message had been about patience and how everything you are here to do, and want to do, is coming you just have to wait.

Well, the last eighteen months have been just that, waiting, whilst the obstacles that were in place were cleared.  I think its fair to say there’s been a certain amount of transition in my life since then, especially in the last few months.

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