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FRIENDS: Surely a wonderful gift?

If we have really good friends, the kind we can share happy times, bad times and our most embarrassing red-faced moments with, we’re fortunate beyond measure.

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HONOUR: How important is it?

There is no escape it would seem from Brexit. How did we get in such a state?

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SECRETS: Is it right to keep them?

> The man who can keep a secret may be wise, but he is not half as wise as the man with no secrets to keep. E.W. Howe Some time ago a friend of mine posed an interesting question.  She wondered how much information you should give your children

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NEW BEGINNINGS: Is it best to be an optimist?

> For last year’s words belong to last year’s language.  And next year’s words await another voice.  And to make an end is to make a beginning. T S Eliot Two thousand and nineteen began for me in a very exciting way for me, with the birth

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ENDINGS: Are they new beginnings?

If some persons died and others did not, death would indeed be an affliction. Jean de La Bruyère The French generally  have a sharp take on matters philosophical and  La Bruyère’s comment, some three hundred and more years ago has always seemed particularly apt. A French friend, well into

OBSERVATION: When does it become judgemental?

> I think my job is to observe people and the world and not to judge them.  I always hope to position myself away from so-called conclusions.  I would like to leave everything wide open to all the possibilities in the world. Haruki Murakami According to that inestimable source, the

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COMMUNICATION: Is it ever easy?

> The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. George Bernard Shaw Almost every instance in daily life throws up the treacherous threads of communication. Words, it would seem, be they spoken or written offer possibilities from the comic down to the simply frustrating

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WAR: Why do we ever think it's a solution?

I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, ‘Mother, what was war?’ Eve Merriam This Sunday, as we all know, marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I,  arguably the cruellest and most destructive war mankind has ever embarked upon. Frankly, at no point

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COURAGE: Is it a personal matter?

Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway. John Wayne Somewhere in my head is a possibly apocryphal story of a candidate sitting for a final philosophy examination.   The question was, ‘What is courage?’ For a long moment, the student looked at the question, then wrote on the

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HUMOUR: Is it essential medicine?

> Humour is the great thing, the saving thing.  The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place. Mark Twain Is it possible the most insulting remark you can make to another human being, leaving aside comments on appearance, ancestry

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ATTENTION: How do we pay it?

The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention Thich Nhat Hanh Recently I read a scholarly and readable book that made me think a lot about ‘attention.’Stand Out of Our Light is the work of former Google strategist  turned Oxford philosopher, James Williams.  One hundred and

MYSTERIES:  Do we need to solve them all?

> The important thing is not to stop questioning.  Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Albert Einstein My almost three year old granddaughter has just added a new word to her vocabulary: ‘Why?‘  My sympathies are with her because I too always have a lot of questions and don’

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FORGIVENESS: Is it the only solution?

> Forgive your worst enemy. It will heal your soul and set you free. Eva Kor The New York Times has run competitions over the years, including one for  the ‘Saddest Words in the English Language.’  My  all time winner would be the sentence that begins, ‘I will never forgive

EXPECTATION: Is it better to leave your options open?

> Peace begins when expectation ends. Sri Chinmoy Musing upon the good and the bad about ‘expectation’, I turned to my old friend the Shorter Oxford, always a useful source in times of perplexity.  Cutting sharply to the chase,  the OD suggests that,  ‘expectation’ is a ‘Strong belief that something

KINSHIP: Is blood truly thicker than water?

> Woven into our lives is the very fire from the stars and genes from the sea creatures, and everyone, utterly everyone, is kin in the radiant tapestry of being. Elizabeth A Johnson The word ‘Kinship’ has always appealed to me.  It’s inclusive.  It echoes with a sense of

GRATITUDE: Is thank you enough?

> If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘thank you’ that would suffice. Meister Eckhart If you happen to be feeling even slightly sorry for yourself or a tad low in spirits,  that old maxim to, ‘Just consider how many people are worse off than you

AGE and ADULTS: But when do we become grown-ups?

> Maturity is so often considered to be synonymous with ‘adult.’ But I truly feel that maturity may be defined by the ability to be both an adult and a child. Gina Marinello Anybody looking at a form where I’m required to note my date of birth, can see

FAITH: Is it a secret weapon?

> If there was no faith there would be no living in this world. We couldn’t even eat hash with safety. Josh Billings In brooding upon my personal  list of invaluable tools for life, faith has got to be very high, if not top of the list, as the

MULTITASKING: Is It Good For Us?

> Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time. Gary W. Keller Back in 1984,  I was writing on  the now defunct and rarely lamented BBC BASIC,  one up from an electric typewriter, but hardly user-friendly.  Nevertheless, it heralded entry into mass market

CHOICE: Don't we always have it?

> I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross I’ve made a choice to write about choice and it’s giving me a severe case of indecision.  In fact,

FEAR: Can we eradicate it?

> Nothing in life is to be feared.  It is only to be understood. Marie Curie. If there’s  one subject upon which I could write a volume or two, it would be fear!  Everyone has experienced it.  No one is completely immune to it.  Nor are there many instances

AMBITION: Do we really need it?

> I have been absolutely hag-ridden with ambition. If I could wish to have anything in the world it would be to be free of ambition. Tallulah Bankhead When I came across this quotation, it  made quite an impression on me.  Frankly, freedom from ambition is the least of my

CLUTTER: Keep or Chuck?

> Don’t Own so Much Clutter You’ll be Pleased to See Your House on Fire! Wendell Berry THIS WEEK I’ve been musing upon an article I read  months ago in Time Magazine that Americans now have more possessions than any society in history.  Some writer, and I

ANGER: Is it often an own goal?

> If you kick a stone in anger, you’ll hurt your own foot. Korean proverb. A friend once remarked, determined to put anger into some kind of perspective, 'It's simply strong emotion negatively expressed.' Is that I wonder? Alas, 'negative expression' can run

BUTTERFLIES AND BLOGS: A good match?

> All you get is the pleasure of a completed task. Scott Adams If you've spent a sizeable chunk of your life playing around with words, naturally you're curious about any new ones that pop up.  Blog, for example. Where did it come from?  And who