One of the pleasures of periodically reviewing the images pinned to my mental calendar as memory tags is remembering those particularly special days I have lived.
The weekend of 18-19 July 2015 is a recent example. My wife and I took a coach to town an hour away and stayed at a hotel I had booked on the internet. It turned out to be better than the description led me to believe. And the nearby square had a great little restaurant.
I was up early for a 10 km race that was a short warm-up run away. That went well and I made it back to the hotel in time to grab breakfast at the hotel then take a taxi to the coach station with a few minutes to spare to buy a ticket to another town, arriving in time for a free open air concert.
Everything combined perfectly. Which happens sometimes. But my philosophy is not to expect perfection and to make the most of what life throws at me. If we'd missed the coach and the concert, we'd have come up with something else to do.
Part of the reason I gave up praying for things to work in my favour was I found it counterproductive. When things go wrong, is it because I did not pray sincerely enough? Is it because I have a lesson to learn? Is it because the alternative was what I really needed (often difficult to believe)? I realised it was better for me to pray for the strength and good humour to face whatever I have to face and not read too much into random effects as I am carried on the breeze of life.
The following week began well with the offer of a contract that would have doubled my income for the month. But rather than being confirmed the following day, the job was cancelled. It was a big disappointment.
I didn't view it as karma for my perfect weekend, but I felt better telling myself that in life: "you win some, you lose some".
Fortunately, the memory of my perfect weekend will be something I carry with me for years to come.
The weekend of 18-19 July 2015 is a recent example. My wife and I took a coach to town an hour away and stayed at a hotel I had booked on the internet. It turned out to be better than the description led me to believe. And the nearby square had a great little restaurant.
I was up early for a 10 km race that was a short warm-up run away. That went well and I made it back to the hotel in time to grab breakfast at the hotel then take a taxi to the coach station with a few minutes to spare to buy a ticket to another town, arriving in time for a free open air concert.
Everything combined perfectly. Which happens sometimes. But my philosophy is not to expect perfection and to make the most of what life throws at me. If we'd missed the coach and the concert, we'd have come up with something else to do.
Part of the reason I gave up praying for things to work in my favour was I found it counterproductive. When things go wrong, is it because I did not pray sincerely enough? Is it because I have a lesson to learn? Is it because the alternative was what I really needed (often difficult to believe)? I realised it was better for me to pray for the strength and good humour to face whatever I have to face and not read too much into random effects as I am carried on the breeze of life.
The following week began well with the offer of a contract that would have doubled my income for the month. But rather than being confirmed the following day, the job was cancelled. It was a big disappointment.
I didn't view it as karma for my perfect weekend, but I felt better telling myself that in life: "you win some, you lose some".
Fortunately, the memory of my perfect weekend will be something I carry with me for years to come.
