Wednesday 18th September

Was busy this morning.   I knocked up a couple of chocolate cakes from packet mixes, then spent at least an hour and half making the filling and frosting.   It involved pouring melted butter into cocoa powder, then beating in confectioners sugar and evaporated milk until I decided it was sweet enough.

I filled them at home, then frosted and decorated the tops at Emmanuel.  I wish I'd taken a photo, but a little lad whose mother was helping with the meal, pulled up a stool and watched me, and I forgot about it.   I decorated one cake with shavings of milk chocolate, and the other with M&Ms, and this was all very fascinating to my little audience.

The chocolate cakes got rave reviews, people were stopping to tell me how good they were.  Obviously it was the very chocolaty frosting, I can't believe it was Betty Crocker's packet mix.

After the meal at Emmanuel I went water walking.   I totally forgot about it on Monday as I was watching the television coverage of the mass shooting, then last night, just as I was about to go, I heard thunder and I knew they would immediately close down the Pool.

I received the following from an old friend with whom I have been playing online chess since before  my theology degree, and I've lost count of how many years ago that was.   My ADHD diagnosis has been hard to take, it devastated me at first.   I grieved and wept for the person I could have been if it had been diagnosed and treated earlier, I've had it at least since I was 12 (it has to have been present in childhood, one can't get it as an adult) but 60, nearly 70 years ago, there just wasn't the knowledge there is now about mental health.   It was hard on my parents too; had it been recognised and treated I probably wouldn't have been the difficult, miserable child and teenager that I was.

Anyway, I think my friend Ken thought it was time I got over it and moved on, and sent me the following.

A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they'd be asked the "half... empty or half full" question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she enquired: "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralysed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

She continued, "The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralysed – incapable of doing anything."

Remember to put the glass down.

I thought you might like this analogy I thought it was very good

              Your old mate ken 

 

 

Thank you Ken, I will move on.