The Circular Traveller: Out of the slump

It is difficult when the world just isn't working like it should. I hit a brick wall and collapsed into bed around New Year. It was coming ever since the gun incident. That gun became a beacon which lit up the potholes in this part of the road. I have to get on the roundabout and find an exit.

The more you change the more you remain the same. I went for long walk the other day ostensibly to bank the first Phoenix paycheck but mostly to try and end the funk. I passed a sign that said "Metamorphosis" and it got me thinking. We are born not so much a blank slate to be written on by life but more like a pencil sketch upon which life fills in details. As the years roll by and the events and experiences pile on smudges and lines we either become a filled out portrait of ourselves or we become masked by the times we have endured. No matter the result the sketch is still there and it is our choice to celebrate the change or to peel back the mask. I have been peering beneath the surface and I think it is time to get some input from the sisters.

I am happy to know that since this was taken I have lost 20 lbs. It is amazing how lost one can become languishing in an unhappy marriage. The most productive part of the journey so far has been the discovery of two books, one about deliberate happiness and the other about the connecton between stress and being overweight.

Deliberate happiness is not about walking around with a meaningless grin on your face and doing the Pollyanna dance, it is deliberately focusing on the people, places and things that one associates with happy, contented, satisfied times. In so doing you can beef up the positive effects of one's life. In essence, turn on the light to end the darkness instead of poking around in the dark. The other day a wonderful friend asked me what did I like about Australia. For the next three days I found endless opportunities to think and talk about gum trees, cockatoos and galahs. Sorry Tan but nothing beats a gum tree.