To work long hours and never spend quality time with your family
To worry about things you can’t change
To never follow your dreams
To care about what others think of us
To be anything but happy
To save every pence we earn and never treat ourselves
We are all on this earth for a limited time, therefore, live each day as if it were your last, as you never know just how many more days you have left to tell those you love just what they mean to you, or do the things you’ve always wanted to do.
I don’t know about you but there seems to be Zero Toleranceposters on walls in nearly every customer facing office or public service office such as council offices, hospitals, police stations, schools, doctors surgeries, shops. My question for you today is, do these posters work?
Personally I’m not sure they do, as I doubt very much that someone who is ready to inflict any kind of abuse on a member of staff in these places, would stop and consider their actions just because they saw a zero tolerance poster! Maybe I’m wrong, as I obviously don’t have any insider knowledge on this.
However maybe the fact that these posters are even there, make it more likely that someone will come to the aid of someone who is being abused. Or does it simply makes it easier to prosecute these folks because there are warnings about the consequences of them inflicting abuse.
Maybe I’m just a little sceptical that a poster saying zero tolerance is all that’s needed to stop abuse. Hopefully I’m wrong, as I certainly do not condone abuse of any kind.
I don’t know about you, but over the last couple of weeks, particularly the week leading up to Christmas, the shops were mobbed but everyone seemed happy to speak to the person next to them in the queues, even although they’d never seen that person before, and probably likely to never see them again.
Funny that, because every other week of the year you go shopping, no-one is interested in speaking to you unless it’s to give abuse or complain about something. Isn’t it funny how the spirit of Christmas seems to make everyone nicer to each other.
Wouldn’t it be good if that Christmas spirit of friendliness towards others could remain all year round, not just for the few days of Christmas.
I don’t know if you’ve ever come across the song Christmas Shoesbefore, but it’s such a beautiful song with a great message for each of us, I want to simply share this with you today:
Christmas Shoes
It was almost Christmas time And there I stood in another line Trying to buy that last gift or two Not really in the Christmas mood And standing right in front of me was a Little boy waiting anxiously Pacing around like little boys do And in his hands he held A pair of shoes
And His clothes were worn and old He was dirty from head to toe And when it came his time to pay I couldn’t believe what I heard him say
Sir I wanna buy these shoes For my mama. please It’s Christmas eve and these shoes are just her size Could you hurry sir Daddy says there’s not much time You see, She’s been sick for quite a while And I know these shoes will make her smile And I Want her to look beautiful If mama meets Jesus tonight
They counted penny’s for what seemed like years then the Cashier said, “Son, there’s not enough here.” He searched his pockets frantically Then he turned and he looked at me and he said “Mama made Christmas good at our house though Most years she just did without, Tell me sir, What am I gonna do? Some how I gotta buy her these Christmas shoes.”
So I laid the money down I just had to help him out And I’ll never forget the look on his face when he said, “Mama’s gonna look so great.”
Sir I wanna buy these shoes For my mama. please It’s Christmas eve and these shoes are just her size Could you hurry sir Daddy says there’s not much time You see, She’s been sick for quite a while And I know these shoes will make her smile And I Want her to look beautiful If mama meets Jesus tonight
I knew I’d caught a glimpse of heaven’s love as he thanked me and ran out I knew that God had sent me that little boy to remind me what Christmas is all about
Sir I wanna buy these shoes For my mama. please It’s Christmas eve and these shoes are just her size Could you hurry sir Daddy says there’s not much time You see, She’s been sick for quite a while And I know these shoes will make her smile And I Want her to look beautiful If mama meets Jesus tonight
I Want her to look beautiful If mama meets Jesus tonight
What a beautiful message isn’t it?
Why not do something selfless for someone in need this Christmas – not only will it help them, but it’s make you feel good too!
In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
It’s true isn’t it, that we often take so many of the things we have for granted, that we actual forget they are given to us. Sadly, it’s often only when we lose those gifts that we realise just how much we received.
That may all sound a bit contradictory, but the bottom line is really this – We must accept all things we receive, no matter how small, with gratitude. After all it’s nice to receive gifts so why not be thankful for everything you receive each day.
Why is it that when you go shopping and there’s only one item of something you want left, it’s always at the back of the top shelf that you can’t quite reach
Why are some people always late regardless of how much earlier you tell them they’ve to be there?
Why does toast always land butter side down when you drop it on the floor?
I’ve never understood how you can be too tired to sleep – isn’t that just a contradiction?
Why does it always rain when you forget your umbrella?
Why are dogs said to be “man’s best friend”…what about other human friends!
When you’re in a hurry to print off some last minute notes, why does the printer always run out of paper
We all have things which annoy us, some trivial, some quite serious. So today I want to share with you some of the trivial things which annoy me…they’re listed in no particular order:
People who don’t hold the door open for you even though they’ve obviously seen you
People who don’t say thank you when you do something for them, or give them something
People who finish the toilet roll/kitchen roll but leave the empty roll on the holder (can you guess who I’m talking about?!)
People who barge in to wash their cups etc when you’re using the sink, but who don’t bother to say “excuse me” or “could I just nip in” BEFORE they lean in and start cleaning their cup, forcing you to get out of their way!
People who don’t really know me but who judge me based on what they see or the little that they know about me
People who butt into a conversation they weren’t part of, just to give their tuppence-worth
People who leave shopping trolleys in a car parking space, rather than walking a few metres to put the trolley in one of the provided trolley parks!
People who park over 2 spaces instead of 1 and therefore reduce the already limited number of available parking spaces
People who go through the 9 items or less queue despite knowing they have more than 9 items in their basket
People who park in disabled parking bays who don’t have a disabled badge
Do any of these annoyances sound familiar to you?
Yes, all the above things annoy me, but most of time I manage to stay quiet when they happen and just observe and say/do nothing as I know it’s just me being me!
I’ve done a few Word Associations with you over the last few months, so today I’m going to give you another one. So as usual I’m going to throw some words at you and I want you to note down the first word that comes into your mind when you read each word.
So here goes…
1. Negativity
2. Yummy
3. Boredom
4. Heart
5. Milk
6. Sunshine
7. Kindle
8. Dementia
9. Airport
10. Candle
So how did you get on with those words? Did you find it easy? Did youranswerssurprise you or were they just as you expected?
Well here’s my responses to my questions:
1. A specific person (I can’t name them for obvious reasons!)
2. Mum’s homemade chocolate cake
3. Unhappy
4. Pain
5. Cow
6. Happy
7. Books
8. Dad
9. Holidays
10. Light
Were any of your answers the same as mine? Did any of my answers confuse you? Did any of your own answers confuse you?
I’ve said in previous word association posts that I find I get a bit stressed when I’m doing them as I put a lot of pressure on myself not to over think my answers! Are you relaxed when you do them or do you find it stressful too?
I still believe that when we respond with the first words that come into our minds, our answers tell us a lot about our emotional state, and what’s important to us at that particular point in time.
Bearing all this in mind, review your answers, does my theory hold true?
I sometimes just pick some really random words and just try this myself just to see what my answers are – I know that really does sounds sad, but I often find it illuminating to discover what is occupying my subconscious…I’d urge you to try it out for yourself.
I don’t know about you but there seems to be 
Why is it that when you go shopping and there’s only one item of something you want left, it’s always at the back of the top shelf that you can’t quite reach
Hearing a cat purring
