SHOPPING TROLLEY

THE VERDE WORD

Hunting and Gathering in the 21st Century

Life is like a supermarket, it is a constant state of change.  Like life, many new and different things are happening all the time.  There are new events, products and displays that are very tempting.  This is like life.  As constant change continues, we must adapt for survival.

The tools of hunter-gathers centuries ago were spears and, bows and arrows.  The hunter had to act fast or the game would bound away over the countryside never to be seen again.

In today's civilised world, the hunting and gathering tools are the shopping trolley and the flat piece of plastic in our wallets.

So, with the change and adaptation to our civilised modern world of hunter-gathering, lets take the challenge and view the opportunities for 'game' in the local supermarket.

Let's see what's on special, grab our trolley and tackle the shopping!

                                                       

Ok, as is customary, we start at the fruit and veggies...mmm..look at that delicious celery! and it is on special at 75cents a bunch!  Mmmmm..mmmmmmmmm.  Think I'll come back later.

Down past the smallgoods, the glorious smokey smell of the ham, continental sausages, cheese, olives and salami, love this great aroma!

Oh look, the fresh Atlantic salmon is on special..50% off...gosh, now that is a good buy, I'll come back to that as well the celery after I have all my other stuff.  Through the tinned goods, around to packaged cereals, no...too much sugar and salt,  I'd rather yoghurt and fruit for breakfast.

Down the next aisle full of personal items, soap, toothpaste, vitamins, deodorant yes, I need deodorant, into the trolley it goes.  Down to toilet paper wow, four dollars off, that will make some bum happy, I'll come back to that as well.

The freezer section, ice-cream, I have to avoid that, far, far too addictive for me.  Mind you, some French vanilla would be lovely.  Be strong, be strong, save my money for the specials, what were they?

Oh yes, Celery is on special, 50% off fresh Atlantic salmon and toilet paper only $3.50.  It is a rule of thumb with toilet paper isn't it?  No matter how much you have at home, if it is on special, buy it!

Bit like a tourist bus really.  If you see a toilet, you go regardless because you never know when the next opportunity will come.

Time passes and your trolley has most of the things you normally buy at normal prices.  The time has come to retrace your steps and pick up the 'on-special' toilet paper, Atlantic salmon and the luscious celery.  The hunter gatherer of the 21st century is on a roll with her tools of a trolley and a piece of plastic whilst taking advantage of opportunities of price drops and modern products.

However, while gathering we return to the toilet paper.  All that is left are the rolls at normal price, then to the fresh Atlantic salmon, all that that is left of that are the small and left-over pieces.  What of the celery?  It still looks fresh but there are now only smaller bunches that look a bit battered as they were squished under weight of the really good bunches.

  

So, in a manner of speaking, the hunter and gather's game or quarry had bounded away never to be seen again.

So the question is do you want:

• Celery at 75 cents or $1.25 a bunch
• Atlantic salmon at $6.00 or $12.00 a pound
• Toilet paper at $3.50 or $5.00

THE KEY

• Recognise opportunities when they arise
• Accept opportunities when they arise
• Allow for an opt-out option just in case

It is important to be able to recognise and act on opportunities when they arise.  If things you use are on special, put them in your trolley because as you come closer to the check-out if you decide you don't want them, you can always put them back.  However, without putting them in your trolley in the first place, there is no choice of keeping or disposing of the products.  The decision to not make a selection when the opportunity arises will prohibit your options.

THE PHILOSOPHY

Standing by the ocean, the cool icy water brushes against, over and under your feet. The water continually washes the sand away from under you.  Whilst standing still, it is not long before you are calve deep in the water.  Without moving your feet, you sink deeper and deeper.  Constant change to which we must adapt, this is life.  We must move our feet to the sands of time.

As humanity is undergoing continual and constant change, the best chance for survival is to recognise, accept, adapt, grow and move forward. Those who recognise, accept, adapt, grow and move forward are those who recognise opportunities and act upon them.  Those who act upon opportunities are those who hold the best chance for survival, positive progress and success.

Verde

I DON'T GET ANY

THE VERDE WORD

The article was driven by a piece of my sister's wisdom.

BACKGROUND

My sister lives in another state which is two flights of approx 3 hours away.  We, my son, his girlfriend and my sister and I met for lunch recently.  We had not seen my sister for approx five or six years.  So naturally, it was an absolute pleasure to see her again. 

With very warm feelings, I will forever remember the lunch and the love I felt between all four of us. Later on when my sister and I sat together on a seat outside the bookshop in the mall and talked, it may seem a simple thing, but it was painful as she spoke of her ill health but beautiful as she spoke of her music.

The memories of that and the lunch will stay with me forever.  And yes Ru, I have remembered the Bach concerto No. 5 in F minor - BWV 1056 for harpsichord, but does it really take eighteen months to get it up to professional standard?

My sister is a brilliant and well known musician.  She is an exponent of Baroque music and plays a number of instruments. However, I will also always remember the practical wisdom she passed to me.

I now share this wisdom with you.

MY SISTERS WISDOM 

During lunch my sister turned to me and whispered to me that I had put on weight.  I agreed 100%.

I replied "Yes I know, I don't get any exercise".  It was not an excuse, just a statement of fact.

And then she said valuable words I will forever remember.

She said "Oh look...you don't 'get' things by expecting them to come to you.  You have to go out and 'get' them yourself.  It is the same for everything, 'Get' does not bring it to you. If you want to 'get' something you have to go and 'get' it yourself."

I am very familiar with this concept and have achieved much by going out and getting things myself.   However, I did not realise that there are some things that we do not go out and 'get'.

We go to the shops and 'get' things, we think about ideas and concepts and we 'get' them but besides these, there are other things that we wait to come to us when in fact, we do indeed have to go out and take deliberate action to 'get' them.

So, what are some of these things I wonder.

MY IDEA

Looking at it from the concept of not getting any exercise I see that some others could be:

• Money - financial  rewards
• Sex - sexual health
• Recognition - artistic or other achievements
• Love - friends, partners, colleagues
• Satisfaction - personal recognition, self reward for a job well done
• Happiness - personal good feelings
• Peace - quietude

Now, here's the thing.

All of these things; money, sex, recognition, love, satisfaction, happiness and peace are things that we as individuals can not possibly expect to naturally come to us.  At the most, as my sister says, we have to go out and 'get' them.  At the very least, we have to make ourselves open to receiving and accepting them as gifts from the universe.

How do we make ourselves open to receiving them as wonderful gifts?

Firstly, we have to open our minds and heart in readiness and secondly, we have to encourage these gifts.

• Money - find a new job, ask for a raise, investigate new opportunities or, spend less
• Sex - take the initiative, find a partner
• Recognition - allow others to know of your work and achievements
• Love - we are all loved but sometimes need to show encouragement
• Satisfaction - this begins with enjoying what you do
• Happiness - mentally be grateful for your 'lot' and happiness will follow
• Inner peace - find a place of quietude and find time to walk and meditate

All of these things are up to you.  Think about it, If you feel you don't receive or 'get' things, it could be because you are consciously not encouraging, welcoming and accepting whatever you want into your life.  It is all in your own mind.  You can 'get' it all as long as you are open to receiving.

My sister is right, instead of waiting for things to 'get' or come to you, go out and 'get' them yourself.

Thanks Ru.

Verde

ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE

THE VERDE WORD

One of my passions is observation.  I love nothing better that sitting watching the ocean, rolling hills or the depth of the sky at night.  It is of constant fascination to me.  I am continually fascinated at the myriad of living things there are on our planet and beyond.  

Long gone are the days when we thought animals were dumb creatures totally devoid of all intelligent thought and feelings.  Thank heavens that science has proved this otherwise.

All animals are extremely intelligent however this intelligence can't be measured the same way as human intelligence is measured.  This is because all animals have different brains.

I contend that many animals are as intelligent as the human animal and it is human ego that may fail to see this.  Do animals have egos?  Sure they do, but it would be interesting to know if they thought they were more intelligent than humans.

What is animal intelligence.  Are animals actually intelligent at all or do they simply react according to a response driven by the need for food, shelter and reproduction?

THE OCTOPUS


Scientific research has revealed that the brain of an octopus has similarities with intelligent mammals.  An octopus brain is in the head, split into two halves and divided into lobes for various specialisations.  The distance between neurons is short and enables information to be processed faster. In comparison, a mollusk only have chains of nerve knots called ganglia.  Following, this means that information process is slower in a mollusk than an octopus.

Interestingly, there is evidence that octopus are able to recognise the difference between themselves and others.  Current and recent research is trying to establish if one octopus can identify emotions in another octopus.  On a final note on the octopus, their eyes are large like humans and they have the most advanced brain of any invertebrate.  

Dr David Suzuki and his television program The Nature of Things and other film documented evidence based research has revealed that octopus are intelligent.

A very young octopus was placed in a glass tank next to another glass tank holding an adult octopus.  The baby octopus was watching the adult octopus.  A glass jar with a crab inside was placed in the adult tank.  The adult moved to the crab jar and using his tentacles unscrewed the jar and ate the crab.

The glass jar with another crab was placed in the baby octopus's tank.  The baby octopus copied the adult octopus and opened the jar in the same way.

Note:  The baby octopus was new from the ocean and had never been in a tank nor ever seen a glass jar opened.




THE POLAR BEAR

The British naturalist David Attenbrough made a documentary on the polar bear.  

The documentary was filmed over a year following the physical and maternalistic journey of a polar bear and her cubs.  The film recorded the most astonishing and highly intelligent thing I have ever seen.  

The bear, whilst hunting for food was on an ice floe.  A seal was on another piece of ice.  The bear knew she has to be very quiet leaving her ice otherwise the seal would hear her.  

Then, we observed the most incredible behaviour!


To avoid making any splashing noise while sneaking up on the seal she turned her body around and backwards, very slowly, rear feet first, gently easing her belly,slid off the ice floe into the water. Pure intelligence.  Would you think of doing that?

THE SNAKE - PYTHON



There is an island in a natural waterway in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney, Australia.  The waterway is called Pittwater.  Most of this area is national park and there is much flora and fauna, including a type of snake called a python. They are not poisonous.  They eat small animals such as marsupials.  

One day a woman ran out of her house because a well known python (named Syphon) who had been living next to the house and the bbq for many years had a small dog in his mouth.  The woman grabbed a stick, hit, kicked and stamped on the snake until Syphon released the dog.  The next day as the woman was walking past the snake, he lunged at her and bit her on the ankle.

So, I have three questions:

Was Syphon afraid he was going to be attacked by her again?

Was Syphon gaining retribution and getting back at her for not letting him have the dog?

Are snakes and other animals able to distinguish one human from another?

Yes, this indicates intelligence in snakes.

DOLPHINS AND WHALES

During winter, along the Eastern coast of Australia, it is normal to see a large number whales migrating from the Antarctic during winter. Then and at all other times there are many dolphins as well.

As you know they have a playful spirit but they also have a range of emotions as well.

Dolphins and whales, like many other mammals also have a strong sense of family and relationships.

If a fellow pod member is in distressed, other pod members appear stressed and swim erratically.
They have a hard time accepting death and will often stay with a deceased infant or pod member for days if not a week.  They can visually be seen mourning.  They stay with the deceased whilst nudging and caressing them and appear very reluctant to 'let them go'.  The body behaviour is  similar to humans.




BIRDS - MAGPIE


What about the Magpie and other similiar birds?  Besides other things, magpies enjoy eating nuts.  Whilst eating lunch on a pation at university, I saw a magpie with a nut in it's beak trying to break the shell by continually hitting it on the ground.  When that did not work the magpie went to a large rock and used the seemingly harder rock to break the nut shell.
That takes intelligence.





COWS



I saw a television news story about an English cow.  The farmer was mystified how every afternoon he would bolt all his cattle in the barn for the evening and yet, in the morning, all the cattle were in the farm yard.  He investigated  everything.  Other people not closing the barn properly, leaving it open, letting the cattle out early, or even a faulty bolt.  In the end, the farmer mounted CCTV cameras both inside and outside the barn.  What revealed itself was wonderful!


There was one cow who was the culprit. She had taught herself how to put her tongue through the gap in the bars, loop her tongue around the bolt, pull it back and push the door open!  Now, you try and tell me animals are not intelligent!




DOGS




Yes, we all know that our cats and dogs are smart.  But even better, Gregory Berns at Emory University in the USA conducted  research to determine how dogs' brains work.  Using MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), he proved that dogs experiecne emotions in a way that is comparable with humans. 






 Berns  concluded that 'Dogs are people too' but also have: 'The ability to experience positive emotions, like love and attchment, would meand that dogs have a level of sentience comparable to that of a human child...'  'And this ability suggests a rethinking of how we treat dogs.'  


The related news article is available from the New York Times http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/dogs-have-capacity-for-emotion-study-finds
Copywrite Emory University

I think this pretty much proves that animals are much smarter than many folks think.


VERDE

ALL THAT YOU WANT

THE VERDE WORD

The end of the year and the holiday season has passed and with new year and the change of weather this is the time we have leaned back in our chairs, glass of brandy in hand and considered the past year's events and achievements.  Following, our planning is in hand for this year as well.

FIRST WEEK OF JANUARY

During this first week of January, our planning is in hand.  We have thought about giving up smoking or imbibing other toxins.  We have thought how we should be eating more healthy foods, getting more exercise, spending more time with those we love, not being late for appointments, enjoying nature more and mine is, eating less ice-cream.

We may have expressed our resolutions or ideas by using wording such as: 'I want to...', 'I'll try to...', 'I'll just...', 'I'd love to...' or 'I want ...'etc.  However, using these expressions are not resolutions as such, they are either a 'want' or 'wish' list.  These words are not even a 'do' list and more importantly, they do not particularly lead us on the path of achievement or self improvement and, they do not speak of belief of committment.

The things we want for ourselves during 2014 have more chance of happening if we couch our wants and needs in a more positive framework.  For example, there is a greater chance of success if our wants and needs are phrased: 'I am', 'I am going to...', 'I will...', 'I know...', 'I am going to love doing...' or, 'I am going to get...' etc.  This type of language is much more positive and heralds a greater chance of success.

If we couch the words with the mindset of commitment and see them as already happening, there is far more likelihood of not only maintaining what we want, but can result in some wonderful achievements.

'WHEN WE CHANGE THE WAY WE LOOK AT THINGS, THE THINGS WE LOOK AT CHANGE'  (Dr Wayne Dyer).

NEW YEARS SPECIAL - EVERYTHING FREE!

Everything you want for yourself for 2014 is totally free.  Everything is Yours, Everything has always been Yours.  All that is needed is to look inward and accept that everything you want and need to succeed is inside yourself.  It is in your head, heart and imagination.  All you have to do is open all three, head, heart and imagination and with focus, it will miraculously occur.

The path to success is driven by by your own unique inner self.  You can have it all!

You may feel that an opportunity is too good to refuse but if not accepted, the chance will pass.  But tell you what friends, no matter what opportunities are missed or delays made, everything needed for success will always be waiting for you.

I have found that if opportunities are not accepted when they appear, those same opportunities happen again but in a different guise.  Once you take up an offer or opportunity you will be surprised at the degree of positivity of the outcome.  Then, as more opportunities are accepted, the more will be offered.

The thing is, you have to be able to picture what you want and live with it in your life now.
By continually living now with what you want, you have the strongest power and you will be living your life accordingly.  Your world will totally change for the best!

I'll tell you what folks, I achieve some miraculous things in my life.  How?  Simply by tackling what I want from the end.  I drive to the shops or anywhere and I picture a car parking space and it happens.  I have been doing this for years.

I create positive things in my mind and they happen.

I see what I want and design a plan from the end result.  Going backwards from my goal, I work out what I have to do to reach that goal and mentally walk the path from the beginning towards that wonderful end and achievement.

THE KEY

Every day, hour, minute and second, I mentally and physically see and place myself at my destination. Without that, I would not have come nearly half as far as I have.

In effect, I changed the way I looked at things and I continually saw and acted as the outcome had already happened.  I can have all I want and need and you can as well.

To obtain all that you want or ever dreamed of, is very very real and very easy if you see yourself now at your end goal. 

You can achieve anything you want it is all yours for the taking regardless of who you are or what you do, but it is a good thing to give back and help people and the universe as a way of saying thanks.

Verde.

NATURAL ELEMENTS - WATER

THE VERDE WORD

This article on Water is the fourth in the series of Natural Elements and follows the same principle of displaying the use of natural elements of fire, earth, wind and water terminologies in our everyday language.

The elements are also used to promote personal thought whilst proposing an alternative philosophical viewpoint to display the relationship between natural elements and human behaviour.

From the language perspective, we use phrases such as 'it rolls like water off the ducks back', 'still waters run deep', 'being as calm as the ice on a frozen pond', 'rolling with the flow' or, 'being weak as water'.  However I believe the analogies drawn below can be used for empowerment.

Throughout our lives we may strive to survive, or achieve and tackle obstacles head on.

This can become a rather exhausting and sometimes fruitless.
No matter how hard we battle through, becoming exhausted with the effort, we sometimes get nowhere.

To go from nowhere to nowhere, with force, what is that about?
Can we achieve better outcomes by focussing on the path rather than forcing a path?
Equally important, why does everything have to be done now, immediately?
What would happen if we paused and waited?
Is it a matter of timing that dictates whether or not we are successful?

Constant striving and achieving  can be a battle unless we change our ways of being.
Why not naturally follow the nature of water?

Whilst standing at the edge of the river, we debate whether and when to cross and what route to take.

The river is more of a stream about twenty feet across, shallow with some rocks.
Do we use the rocks as stepping stones, or is it be better to simply walk through the water after pulling up our trouser legs.

Perhaps we should take off our shoes?  If we do, our feet could be cut on the sharpness of the rocks, stones and pebbles.  Then again, if we keep our shoes on, the rest of the walk will be with soggy shoes and feet.

Perhaps we should wait til the water level drops, then again, it could rise instead.  Perhaps we could progress up or downstream where the water may be more shallow and flowing less rapidly.
Regardless, whether we proceed we still have to be careful as flash floods can occur at any time even if we are half across standing on a rock.

This is life.  No matter how well prepared we are we remain subject to the whim of nature and natural elements.  We are also subject to other variables whether they be people, money, laws and regulations, friends and relatives, personal preferences and responsibilities to ourselves and others.

"The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men oft go astray"

Robert Burns (1795)

.  

From the poem 'To a Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest  With the Plough'.

The key to handling the variables of life lay in nature and this particular example is the nature of water.

Water is life, water is the life of life.

Water has it's own flow and finds it's own level.  Rain falls onto plants and the water rivulets makes its own way via the easiest path.  Water does not stop to think and decide which way to go, whether down this leaf of that.  Water simply does what water does, it flows down and along the easiest and most natural path finally to or forming a puddle or pool that gives life to plant or animal organisms.

The puddle or pool may turn into or flow to a river.  The river water flows along naturally doing what water does, simply being what it is and what nature intended.  It flows deep, shallow, by the riverbank or mid-stream, over, around, through or under soil, sand, sticks, logs, pebbles or rocks.
Water continues the flow regardless whilst paying no heed to any forces placed upon it.

People and other animals swim in the river, buckets of water taken out, the hole formed by the bucket is immediately replaced by more water, animals and organisms imbibe the water, yet the water still remains and continues to flow.

Is it not easier to continue through our lives and our never ending events if we followed the nature of water?  There is no obstacle that water is unable to overcome, and all with it's natural flow.

Our human drama, troubles, sadness, are easier to handle if we follow the nature of water.
Instead of finding obstacles to achieve what you want in your life, be like water, simply follow your own personal flow.

Don't accept others' opinion or negative comments and thoughts, they are the same obstacle as a rock in the river, and guess what?  The river water simply flows around the rock.  The rock, the obstacle is of no consequence to the water.  Water simply keeps on flowing it's natural course regardless.

Be like the river water, follow your dream, tackle your life issues and problems like water.
Simply flow.  Because if the nature of water is followed your human life issues and problems are indeed the rock.  What happens to the rock after you (being the water) has transversed over, around or under the rock and solved your problems and achieved your dreams?

That same old rock in many centuries will still be sitting there (like your old problems and life issues), for a very very long time.  Leave it all behind,  be as the water, and flow.

Conduct your life fluidly and calmly whilst allowing your inner being to guide your path of the flow be it stepping stones, rivers, floods, beach sand and waves, rain, mist, fog, waterfalls.  Let nature be your guide.

Verde.

Extract from Robert Burns poem extracted from http://www.robertburns.org/works/75.shtml <Viewed 31st December 2013>.

NATURAL ELEMENTS - WIND

THE VERDE WORD

Wind is the subject of this week's Verdeword.  It is the third in the series on the natural elements of nature being: Fire Earth Wind and Water.

My philosophy on Wind is not about what we see, rather, what we do NOT see.  That is, cause and effect.  We do not see wind but instead we see it's effect and the effect can last forever.

Like the other elements of fire and earth, we use terminology in our everyday language.  We may use phrases such as 'winds of change', 'an ill wind blows no good', or 'being a big wind' referring to someone with the attribute of being a big talker.  We also use the analogy of bending in the wind like a tropical palm, boughs on a willow etc. meaning to be flexible.  Then we have the poetical 'winds of change' as we face our destiny.

At times we innocently say things that have an effect that is not only unseen but can also have a enormous affect on people around us.

There are times we may not realise the greatness of what we have said, nor the impact, but like the wind, it blows and flows freely whenever and wherever and it can create an unexpected impact which is so far-reaching it is almost not even imaginable.

In 1973 the United States via NASA launched it's first space station named Skylab. Skylab was used for science experiments, photography and communications.  Unfortunately Skylab was damaged during the launch and this shortened it's life and was brought back to Earth in 1979.

To decommission and dispose of Skylab, NASA's plan was to destroy Skylab by setting a trajectory into Earth's atmosphere to ensure the craft would either totally disintegrate and/or crash into the desert of Western Australia.

Naturally, both the United States and Australian Governments worked in tandem on this project in the same way as they worked together on the Lunar Landing.

As an important part of the decommissioning, the United States were to download all the data, including current and past recordings of communications stored in the on-board computers.

Because of the shape of the Earth, the downloaded data was first heard by the Australian Government telecommunications technicians who then relayed it to the United States Government (the same as the Lunar Landing [which means that Australian scientists were the first people on planet Earth to hear the famous words "The Eagle has landed"]).

As the communications data was being downloaded from Skylab, the Australian technicians found they were listening to Morse code, aircraft communications, two way radio voice messages and phone conversations to and from ships.  Often the ship and plane names and identification codes were mentioned at the beginning and end of the communications. One particular technician had a 'gut' feeling that these transmissions did not sound like normal transmissions of 'the day'.

The data download was slow and the technician decided to investigate what he was hearing. His investigations revealed that the Morse code and voice communications was from World War aircraft and other Morse code and two way radio (ship to shore) and some phone conversations came from merchant and passenger ships that were very old and no longer existed. The technician had also historic shipping records.

However, what does this have to do with wind and what we say?

Every word we say, utter, mumble, shout, sing, cry etc. keeps on going forever.  All threats, abuse, words in anger, war cries, gun shots, bomb explosions, expressions of pain, love, prayers, song, music, television commercials, the X-Factor  and that golden oldie Days of our Lives tv show all continue to exist forever as does the effect of the sound of wind.

Can you still hear in your mind the sound of the wind brushing the willow boughs at the bottom of grandmas garden when you were a kid?  It is not only a memory as the sound of the wind from those days is still circulating, it may not be heard, but it still exists in our atmosphere.

As I said before, there are times where we may not realise the impact of our words.
Remember the wind, and the science of communications, the wind blows whenever and wherever, sound does not die, it continues on for eternity.  Thus, the impact of our voice and words are so far-reaching it is almost not even imaginable.

The next time you feel like saying something judgemental, nasty or angry to get back at someone or make a speech, think carefully about your words and language because whatever you say, it will indeed last forever.

Verde.

Check out the Australian movie 'The Dish'.

NATURAL ELEMENTS - EARTH

THE VERDE WORD

Earth is the second in the series on the four natural elements of Fire, Earth, Wind and Water.

What do we mean by the word 'Earth'.  Do we mean planet Earth or the earth in which we plant our flowers and veggies or perhaps we mean the language we speak such as 'she is earthy', 'the salt of the earth', 'what on earth are you talking about', 'where the earth is he?',  or maybe being an 'earth mother', coming down to earth' or even 'Mars, this is Earth calling, are you receiving me? Over'.

In this article, the use of the word 'Earth' has two themes.  The first is on planet Earth and the second is on the earth, or soil we walk upon and sow plants.

As with the first element of fire, earth has many uses besides being used in our common language vernacular to refer to people and other animals and their behaviour.

In line with the previous article on Natural Elements - Fire, this is a brief description of what earth is, does and, demonstrates how we can use the same natural earth behaviour to adapt our human behaviour to improve our life, health and well being.

But first, we hark back to Fire and volcanoes.  Magma is forced above ground and the name becomes Lava, same stuff, different name. From lava to rocks that finally fall apart and becomes soil, or earth.

On the surface of our planet, rocks are slowly pressured by winds and minuscule pieces of grit are loosened and spread across the land.  Following, those individual pieces of grit may end up helping to form deserts, mountains and even make a contribution to the floor of lakes and oceans.

Change happens naturally and as nature intends.  Everything adapts to constant change which is often driven by other things.  For example, the aforementioned grit is blown from a rock, it may land in a lake.  The lake dries up, sand dunes form, deserts form and towns are covered over.  Besides that, a rock has vanished, or, changed form. It only takes one small change to have a domino effect.

Land or undersea earthquakes happen regularly and each time there is even a small tremor the earth moves.  Our planet is in a constant state of change.  We know that continents, islands and lands on our planet are not at the same location they were millions and billions of years ago.

Think about this.  Where would the American, African, Australian, the Arctic and Antarctic continents be and what physical condition would they be if they had not moved and rolled with the natural flow and movements of the Earth?  Would they be at the bottom of the ocean, or perhaps be covered by other land masses because they did not move whilst other natural cataclysmic events overtook them?  

However, the continents and land masses did roll with the flow.  Whether it was because of volcanic eruption, earthquakes or whatever, they simply allowed nature to form them into whatever and wherever they are supposed to be.

Not only is our planet in a state of change but the whole universe is as well because it is continually expanding.  Everything is constantly on the move whether it be in sub-atomic form or much larger.  In billions of years, the map our planet will be unrecognisable because of these constant changes regardless of the size.

We humans are constructed of the same stuff as the rest of the planet, water, minerals, chemicals and, neutrons, protons and electrons.  Therefore, as our planet, our individual human lives continue and very slowly we change.  Wrinkles appear, our body shape changes, our hair turns grey and we tend to shrink.  Even our mental attitudes alter. These things will happen as surely as the earth is in a constant state of change as well.   This is how life is, ever changing.

So what does this mean to you?  

Because everything is in a state of change, the trick to survival is physical and mental adaptability.

If we take heed from our planet and nature, there will be less of a battle for our personal psychological health if we do as nature does and adapt to change and let things happen, naturally.

Forget the dramas of last year's holiday celebratory period, snow, ice, traffic, flights grounded, accidents, deaths, family arguments, disappointments with gifts, food 'not quite right'  etc.

Accept it, forget it and move on.  All things will be different tomorrow, next week, next month and next year.  I guarantee it.  Why?  Because like our planet and nature, people change.  They change their minds, their likes and dislikes during a day far more often than they change their underwear. 

Life without change can be so darned boring, would you like to live today exactly the same tomorrow, the day after, the day after that, and the day after that...again and again and again?

Look at the tree outside, the leaves are facing a different direction, look at the cat...another rich long whisker, look at the baby...the smile is becoming wider, look at the ocean, gosh wasn't it a different shade a few minutes ago?  Look at the veggie patch soil, is it lighter than it was this morning?

Who put that ding in my car?  "Johnny!!!!!!!!  You used my car last!!!! That ding was not there yesterday!!!!!"   "You want me to relish the change to the shape of my car?????" I hear you say.  "Ok, but I would also relish the shape being changed again to how it was before you drove it"  (So sayeth Mum).

Take time to see things slowly change, enjoy it because in change, what you see now, you will never see again.  Why?  Because everything, absolutely everything in the universe is constantly changing!  In order to survive, we need to open our minds and become adaptable to anything that comes along or, stay stuck in the present.

Look at it this way, if nothing changed, our body would never die and we live forever with each day the same as today.  Forever!!!!!!!!

Like, how many times can you wake up on the 9th December 2013 and live the same day over, for ever!!!!  No way Jose!  Welcome change.  Love change, relish each and every moment, hour, day, week month and year being different!

To welcome and adapt to change, this is how we learn, develop and grow.  The added bonus is we increase our spirituality.  When the time comes and we leave this physical life and go onto another as a better person, there is change in that re-newness of life.  Change is exciting!

Is it preferable to have an eternal life or an infernal life where everything stays the same?

Enjoy each and every moment, every instant of your life.  Adaptability, is the key.  Be prepared to embrace change and be prepared to reap the rewards.

So Says...

VERDE