Birthday present to myself

My birthday has been a fairly quiet one - no drum rolls, no cresendos of excitement, no all night parties (even the cream cake and two kisses I got were on the other side of the Internet screen) .......and I only permitted one present from myself. Even this was something of an accident. It was a CD I ordered last week at Fopp Independent records and I was informed of its arrival yesterday and it so happened that I was passing by there today. So even its inclusion on this special day was not a planned occurance.

The band themselves, The Imagined Village, caught my interest by seeming chance. I seem to recall feeling a little bored a couple of months ago and whilst changing channels a band performing on BBC4 caught my attention. The purpose was apparently to get to the heart of the English folk tradition free from all sanitised versions. There was Martin and Eliza Carthy, folk doyons, the kind of people I respect rather than actually listen to purposefully, Billy Bragg, whose vocal delivery slightly irritates me, Paul Weller with whom his work with the Style Council is my favourite period, Benjamin Zephaniah, who is best known to me for his, witty, articulate, contemporary version of Rudyard Kipling's 'If'. But there is something about this combination that really appeals. So you've listened to and digested it I hear you assuming. Well actually...I did mentorship training today, saw some friends earlier this evening, thanked people for their birthday well wishing and am currently writing my blog.

Get a life I hear you say!

poem

This is a poem that I wrote just over a year ago.

Every Moment

Every moment has meaning, every second potential,
No sentence we utter is inconsequential,
We can choose our reaction to every event,
We are free to decide how each minute is spent,
We can embrace awe and wonder at every turn,
As a challenge to grow, to listen and learn,
Every person a haven of untapped fruition,
To the world's equation they're a valued addition.

Everyone has a vantage-point, all have their story,
Every soul yet conceived has their moment of glory,
Every birth it heralds a coming uniqueness,
That is ripened by love, dispels heartache and bleakness,
Small acts of kindness, however fleeting,
Bring hope to our lives, give purpose and drive,
A smile, a wave, an open door, a greeting,
Is food for our soul, helps our spirit survive.

Life is a gift to be treasured each day,
Each precious moment it comes only once,
Possibilities come in a massive array,
Eternity made in each chosen response,
We determine our destiny in the way we react,
We get what we give in the end - its a fact,
As our script is complete and death does descend,
Every chapter and twist will conclude at its end.

Patience

There was a postcard in friends house of a long time ago that contained the words 'Lord give me patience but hurry'. That fairly well describes my past and present state. The old adage 'all good things come to those who wait' is not completely adequate in my opinion but has a grain of truth to it. However, the words of a Queen song penned by Freddie Mercury 'I want it all and I want it now' are precariously close to the way I sometimes am. The lesson that I am trying to learn on the basis of past experience is that by showing impatience and trying to rush things along can only prolong them still further. Humility and patience can speed up the process.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a beautiful thing. Forgiving others can be extremely difficult and forgiving ourselves
even harder. Alot of people hold anger out of a desire to punish the person who has wronged them but for the most part the person is totally unaware of what they have done and go blindly on in blissful ignorance. Unforgiveness just churns the hurt person up and uses up countless energy that could be used for productive activity. The other factor is that churned up and hurting people tend not to be that popular because nobody wants to be around a churned up and hurting person.

Deceptions

I have learnt that things arn't always as they appear. It is so easy to draw conclusions on matters based on limited information. On Tuesday I felt dejected and low about something in my life but today I feel upbeat and positive about the same thing even though there were no major changes taking place in how people are. Emotions have a place but have a tendency go up and down. Facts never change and there is so much to be thankful for. Once I get over the guilt of not always being busy and rushing to and fro. There is the beauty of being silent and still for a short while. More can be achieved by 5 minutes of stillness than a whole week of rushing. That is the road less travelled but it is truly a wonderous and picturesque road Truth never changes and truth is precious.

Hi there. I would like to introduce a subject that is of vast importance to me which is my spiritual beliefs. I could and should use the term, Christian to describe them but experience has shown me that even the introduction of this word can cause some people either to switch off completely or to partially do so. One chap once asked me what type of Christian I was a methodist, baptist, anglican or catholic maybe? When I told him that I wasn't any of these I just had faith in God he appeared distinctly worried. The truth is that I have friends in all of these denominations and I myself have visited anglican, baptist and methodist churches before. I suppose I could say that I attend an international group of churches called New Frontiers, which are fairly lively and whose 'brand' of Christianity is closest to what I believe. But my real allegiance is to the person of Jesus Christ. The picture I have chosen is a relatively recent one (a few months old) of a small midweek group I attend which we sometimes refer to as a Growth Group (although the group has since got bigger and divided). I have known virtually all these people for at least many months and they are a normal, pleasant bunch. I would hope that people would find me normal and pleasant too!!!

This morning I woke up and fairly soon a poem came to me which I called Silence.

Silence

We avoid it as much as we can
Almost as we avoid thinking
Today it is increasingly rare
As noise in its various forms
Drown out thoughts and imagination.

Silence is neutral
It fails to push us in any direction
But doesn't distract from the truth.
It can lead us close to ourselves,
It can rekindle long lost memories.

Hi there, this is me with part of my family last Christmas. I am in the centre in the back. I am hoping to see them in to see them in the New Year. There are lots of babies. I am a great uncle in fact, a very young great uncle but one nonetheless.

It is a Sunday afternoon and I am in a reflective mood.

Thoughts for another day

This is a photo of me taken last Christmas with my family. I only have a small family but they are important to me.

Today I had my mate Kenton around helping with my computer. It has been an horrendous computer in many ways it has gone wrong so much. But it has taught me things about computers that I wouldn't otherwise know.

I felt really shattered tonight so after some Christmas present wrapping (yes already) it is to my blog and then eventually .....to bed.

My Journey

My name is Jeremy and I am just starting a blog. I am very fond of communication, enjoy reading, love writing and am very interested in people. I also have a passion to travel. (The photo is taken from a recent trip to Cyprus) My aim is to try and live life to the full and fulfill my potential.

I know the title of the blog 'My Journey' sounds very cliched. But I suppose I have to start somewhere and I hope that my individuality develops as time progresses. Today I have done quite a lot of reading inc. Chekhov, Raymond Carver and JI Packer, the first two are very interrelated as Carver admitted owing a great debt to Chekhov. I was introduced to Carver as a short story writer at University and greatly admired his ability to provoke thought using an economy of words. He had a great ability with a turn of phrase to create a response in the reader as well as a good grasp of common speech patterns. I am aware that I might be sounding pretentious here so I won't follow this particular train of thought any further at the present time.