Playing the aces.

Lovely little analogy here courtesy of Dr John Ticknell.

Life is like …. no, not a box of chocolates. No, life is like a game of cards. You need all four aces to be happy. (Not to win, Dr John? Well, that would be expecting too much, wouldn’t it? Afterall, what is winning in life? Oh, he has an answer for this. Being happy is winning.)

Anyway, back to Dr John’s analogy (and you can see how you’re doing, self assess, if you like) one Ace is not enough.

You need the Ace of Diamonds – the drive for wealth. But if that is your only ace, you may be wealthy but not happy. I have to say, without money, stress is high but I agree, if you are financially wealthy but without friends and family who love and want to be with you, you have nothing.

You need the Ace of Hearts. This one is crucial. This one represents family, relationships, spirituality, belief systems and compassion. Without this one, you WON’T find happiness.

You need the Ace of Spades. This one symbolises work ethic, doing something, getting stuck in and having a purpose. Not just a job, but learning something and getting better at it through slogging away.

Finally, you need the Ace of Clubs which, as obvious as the others are, represents clubs, OK, any form of social contact, although Dr John does make reference to going down to the local club and having a beer and a chat with mates. (For those outside Australia, every suburb and town has its club, be it the RSL club, Footy club, community club. These can be small or massive structures, dominated by pokies in NSW which subsidise the bar prices.)

Throw in the Joker card to present having a laugh and you have a winning hand.

So how did you go? Leave a comment and let me know.

I think I have all Aces but need to work on the Ace of Clubs. Now my children don’t need me, I have more time for this one which is the weakest one in my hand.

Now time for today’s log:

1. Did I have a laugh today?

Yes, but many may not like what I laughed at. Gallows humour. Wish I could share but professional responsibility precludes me from doing do. I’ll add it to my “I will write a book one day” list. Let me just say, there’s nowt queer as folk.

2. Did I give someone a hug today?

Not yet. Maybe after a few medicinal reds I will have a cuddle, maybe by then I won’t care for one. Too busy dominating any conversation going.

3. Did I go some deep breathing?

No, actually I don’t care for this. I don’t like meditating. Get the giggles or wish I was doing something, as getting things off my “To do list” stops more stress than any meditation will do when I have a hundred jobs to do. So I will drop this off list. Don’t want to bloody well do any deep breathing anyway. Why think it will make me cope more? I have never enjoyed it.

4. Did I do a relaxation activity, such as read a book, have a bath, light a candle, dream, call someone and have a chat, sit in the sun?

Yes, got tipsy! (I know! How mature! But I am an Aussie and sometimes you just have to sink a few. And nothing gives that tingly feeling and not-caring-about-anything than altering your state with alcohol.)

5. Did I do something good for someone else or be nice to someone?

Yes, pretended tobe interested and listened to people’s stories and laughed at their jokes.

Today’s decluttered item = nothing. No time and my back has been too bad todo anything around the house. Unless you count opening a bottle of red that was cluttering up my house as decluttering? If so, I have decluttered half a bottle. There goes my one thing a day. My bad.