Take Good Care of Yourself
courage is about doing what needs to be done, when it needs doing
It turns out that COVID-19 is a very selective killer virus. It’s racist, ageist, fattist, and discriminates against those who have cancer, diabetes, or a heart problem. Doesn’t much like men either. You are also far more likely to get seriously ill or die if you live in a big city and don’t get much exercise, fresh air, and sunshine. If you want to sail through a pandemic then you should be younger, fitter, and free from underlying health conditions and addictions.
There is a little evidence that smokers are less affected by the coronavirus than people who do not and have never smoked. If you’re a smoker don’t congratulate yourself because smoking will kill you faster and more certainly then COVID-19 ever would. Also, smokers tend to be unfit and have a host of chronic illnesses ~ like heart diseases. In fact, anyone with any addiction; booze, drugs of any kind, gambling, junk food, casual sex….. is far more likely to die from that addiction than from COVID-19, but this virus could well just push you over the edge.
As an example; working age men are twice as likely to die of COVID-19 than a similar woman. And, the 70 to 79 age group are 50 times more likely to die from catching the coronavirus than the under 40s. It’s complicated.
We do not know yet how to account for this. Socio-economic factors may be an influence….. There could be hidden genetic factors we do not yet understand. ~ Professor Karol Sikora.
We can’t alter our age or ethnicity, and it’s hard to change our socio-economic status, or where we live. But, how long is a piece of string? There is usually a big difference between someone’s chronological age than their physical age. Most chronic illnesses are caused by what we do and how we live; alcoholics will routinely suffer from liver and kidney diseases, heart diseases, cancers, and dementia ~ as well as having a strong chance of dying in an accident or committing suicide. Type 2 diabetes is all about lifestyle…..
So, to have a longer, healthier, and more rewarding life we need to be brave enough to change, have some self-discipline, stop being self-destructive, and just take good care of ourselves; physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
For a start, no matter what else you believe or have been told, get out there and get some fresh air and exercise. Stop drinking, smoking, hanging around in bars, and eating junk food.
Some say you are just as old as you feel. And that they’re not really an addict, they just smoke the occasional joint, and like a beer or two. All I know is that most of us were on the Road to Hell but we can get off any time we like.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
a glass of red a few times a week might be good for you
Random Jottings ~ Sucess
start each day badly, and you wave success goodbye
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to be fulfilled, turn work into play
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Expert: a complete drip under pressure
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never trust an expert who has never done a proper hard day’s work
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emotional intelligence is an essential ingredient of a balanced successful life
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to be successful, to stand out from the crowd, do the exact opposite of what most people are doing
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
getting drunk only turns you into an overnight success in your own eyes
When You Know You’re Ill But Don’t Know Why
today is ideal for those who wish to make it so
to see a fine sunrise would make my day
I know I’m poorly, but I don’t really know why. Here in England we can only have an on-line of telephone doctor’s appointment, but we have a National Health Service help line, and they play it safe, call them and the chances are they will say you most likely have the coronavirus….. there is no chance of being tested for COVID-19 unless you are a ‘key worker’.
They have told me that I need to self-isolate for another week, which is fine because just going down the 56 steps to the street door is difficult. Climbing back up again needs to be done in stages because I’m so breathless.
The symptoms I have make no sense, neither do the antibiotics I’ve been given ~ a placebo perhaps. I believe that the vitamin supplements are doing me more good; A, B, C, D, E, magnesium and zinc, iron, and cod liver oil. Being isolated and alone is most likely what is wrong with me. Solitary confinement is a cruel and unusual punishment, and I’ve had about 53 days of that.
I really, really, desperately want to be fit and well again.
Some say that illness is all in the mind. And that you are just as healthy as you want to be. All I know is that I’ve had some very bad days since my birthday on March 23rd.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
at least I have a friend to keep me company
Songs on Saturday ~ Enya
trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky
A week ago today I had a mystical awakening to who I am, my place in the world, who I want to become, and something of the meaning of the interconnectedness of all things. This track by Enya played a part in making me stronger, bolder, harder, wiser, caring, compassionate, more together, more grounded, more connected, and more capable of loving.
There is one vocal refrain, a leitmotif, Be Yourself. That said so much to me when I was searching for my true identity. Before a man can try to improve and be better, he must first of all learn how to be himself.
Please listen thoughtfully.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
every leaf is a memory
Spiritual Survival Skills
this moment is all there is
we were born with wings, why crawl through life?
We all live within ourselves. All of our interactions with people, places, and things are shaped by our innermost beliefs ~ our internal programming held deep down in our subconsciousness. We don’t experience reality, we know the Cosmos only after it’s been filtered through our own preconceptions. This is both a good and a bad thing. On the downside, perhaps we can never truly understand how another person understands reality. Yet if we look at this whole subconscious filter in a good light, it means that we can fundamentally change our entire universe by changing our internal filters.
We can give true meaning to others, (especially the other sex), we can understand different beliefs, we can accept, value, and give meaning to all people, places, creatures, situations, things, and moments in time.
The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it. ~ Carl Jung
Perhaps this is what is known as being mindful; paying the fullest attention to the present moment, and doing it intentionally and non-judgementally. Nobody, and certainly no real male, can naturally be mindful nor naturally spiritual. Men think in straight lines and are entirely goal-oriented. The above-average man might set aside, say, 30 minutes a day to develop the skills to be mindful, spiritual, empathetic, accepting, and understanding. The rest of the day he will be just as competitive and goal-oriented as his peers. Trying to be mindful and spiritual is not the path to mindfulness and spirituality.
Spirituality is a brave search for the truth about existence, fearlessly peering into the mysterious nature of Life. ~ Elizabeth Lesser.
For anyone, a man especially, to be mindful, empathetic, and spiritual, you have to learn to live in mindfulness, empathy, and spirituality. That’s not a ‘how to be spiritual,’ it’s a ‘how to live in spirituality’. You don’t learn this stuff in 30 minutes a day, you learn this stuff by living a spiritual, emotional, mindful, accepting, understanding life every minute of the day, seven days a week, every week of the year.
The cynical, especially the average cynical, goal-oriented, male who thinks in straight lines is going to ask; ‘So WTF is in it for me?’ If you are in emotional pain, if you are drinking too much, taking drugs of any kind, gambling, are depressed, suicidal, suffering from a personality disorder, suffering from abuse such as Gaslighting, then living a spiritual and mindful life will not only help you to cope, it will help you to recover.
And, being a spiritual, emotive, mindful, accepting, and understanding person will naturally attract other good people to you. Women especially like strong men with these qualities: and trust me, only a truly strong man can have these qualities.
Some say that spirituality and mindfulness is for Buddhist monks. And that all this emotional stuff gets in the way of getting ahead in life. All I know is that if you want to be truly happy in life, then maybe develop some spiritual and emotional strategies to become grounded and take steps to move forward.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
perhaps Marmaduke is meditating
Making Changes
change your beliefs and you change your world
My life has suddenly changed, except change doesn’t happen overnight, sometimes, overnight changes take years of hard work.
March the 1st is a good day to see that my life has changed. Today is a good day to begin to be happy. Today my life is sweet.
Please listen thoughtfully.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
this is a little picture of a truly sweet life
Outside Of My Comfort Zone
success is born out of discomfort, uncertainty, and risk
When I look back at the times when I have succeeded in life, and believe it or not there have been a few, one thing strikes me as germane ~ I wasn’t sitting in a comfy chair pondering the sharp changes in the price of booze since 1970. Whenever I achieved something important and worthwhile I was uncomfortable, I wasn’t living in the humdrum of my everyday existence, I was operating well outside of my comfort zone.
When we take risks we feel nervous and uncertain, afraid and uncomfortable. If it’s taking risks with our career, leaving a shitty and dysfunctional relationship, going all-in on a game of cards, or trying to run our first half-marathon, our biggest wins are always born out of discomfort, uncertainty, and risks.
Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, and difficulty. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Usually the more uncomfortable I felt, the greater the risks I took, the harder something was to do, when it was almost impossible, then the bigger the success I achieved, the more self-confident I became, and the greater sense of achievement I felt at the end.
And that’s why true success is so rare, why so few people accomplish anything important, and why so few people ever do anything different ~ most people don’t like effort, pain, and difficulty. Most people don’t even like hard work.
Anytime you try to do something important you will be swimming against the tide. The people around you; family, friends, co-workers, your partner, will all tell you that what you want to do is stupid, impossible, and wrong. The more challenging, unique, and off the wall your project is, the stronger the criticism and negative judgementalism will be. All the people who think they know you will not like you doing something different. You are not only challenging yourself, you are also challenging their cosy little worlds too.
Ignore the critics, the Job’s comforters, the gainsayers, and the judgemental; you get on and do what you want to do to achieve your dreams, have your hearts desires, or just escape the shit life you are living right now.
There will be setbacks, things will go wrong, you will think you have bitten off more than you can chew, you will wonder WTF made to think you could dream the impossible dream, and then make it happen. Ignore all that and just keep on keeping on. It might be hell, but keep on going.
Learn how to be determined, learn how to adapt your plans and schemes to meet changing circumstances, learn how to ignore the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, learn how to be fucking relentless.
Some say that it’s better to stay safe than to take any risks at all. And that it’s all just too difficult, and I want to watch my soaps instead. All I know is that faint heart never won fair lady ~ and you can trust me on that one.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
there was a time when Churchill stood alone against the might of Nazi Germany
What Do You Want In your Life?
life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all
look towards the far horizons
Might I suggest that you take some time out to be with yourself, find a time and space where you can be alone with your thoughts, an hour and a place where you will be certain of just a little privacy, and ask yourself some simple questions.
- What do I need?
- What makes me happy?
- What is it in my life that’s making me unhappy?
- What and who am I afraid of, and why is that?
- Where and when do I feel safe and comfortable?
- What is happening to my health, why am I tired all the time?
- When and how can I make some time for myself?
- Who are my friends, and who can I really trust?
- How can I spend more time with my real friends?
- How can I express myself, how do I show the real me to the world?
- How can I connect with the people I love and care about?
- How can I pay all the bills this month, what about the mortgage?
- How do I find the time to do the shopping, and how do I pay for it?
- If I leave, who is going to do everything that needs doing around here?
- How can I ever show my face in that bar, ever again?
Some of these are big important questions, and some may seem more trivial, but if you ask yourself any of these questions, then the answers are very important to you. If you try to look at the big and very important questions first, then you may become discouraged because they are just too difficult to answer. So maybe don’t look for any answers at all just now. Just for now concentrate on the questions, write them down in your journal, or notebook, but for Gods sakes don’t leave your jottings anywhere where anyone else has the slightest chance in Hades of finding them.
If all that seems to difficult, then make the questions simpler, like;
- How do I feel today?
- What excites me?
- Who has captured my heart?
- What I want is…..
- My heart longs for…..
Or perhaps write all this stuff down, and then burn it, and flush the ashes down the toilet to join your failed marriage / relationship / friendship / love / partnership / shitty job.
Only by knowing what it is that we really want, need, and desire ~ and what we don’t want in our life under any circumstances can we move on in any constructive and positive way.
Some say that we have to understand what our needs are, first and foremost. And that if you don’t know what your needs are how can you ever satisfy them. All I know is that the more you are forced to give to others, the more you need to give to yourself.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
give yourself a wonderful sunrise,
enjoy the peace of the natural world
Unfuck Your Life
you can start with nothing,
and out of nothing and nowhere, you will find a way
if you sink low enough you could live in a building like this
Although I have been putting them on this blog for ages, I never understood quotations like the one at the top of this page, probably because I didn’t read them properly, and never took the time to think about them carefully enough. The little bit I thought I understood about self-help, self-development, self-denial, and spirituality I found to be rather twee, overly religious, and happy clappy churchy. How pretentious of me.
The modern church is producing passionate people with empty heads who love the Jesus they don’t know very well. ~ Voddie Baucham.
The same dismissive attitude applied if ever I attended a self-help group, but in all honesty I put that down to the fact that I dislike intensely all clubs, groups, associations….. In fact I don’t much like being any place with a bunch of weirdos who have a committee and a ‘chair’ because I very quickly get totally unimpressed.
And yet, I always felt that I was drifting through my dysfunctional life, with just the occasional passage of being; a very cool guy, living a really great life to keep me sane and interested. I was a mess, and the worst part was that I knew I had it in me to be a far, far better man than I had ever been before. Some things I had already accomplished, I still have a cool roof over my head living in the garret, I have money in the bank, and generally speaking I’m pretty fit, strong and healthy. (Admittedly I only just got of hospital, where they said I looked like a bad advertisement for death.) But, generally, as my school reports and annual reviews at work usually read; He could do better if he tried.
As you’ve sought out my blog, then maybe you think there are some parts of your life that aren’t looking so good either. And, that you could do a whole lot better if you tried.
The place to start is to stop doing all those things that completely fuck up your life.
- stop lurching from one disastrous relationship after another
- stop all that promiscuous casual sex that makes everyone with even an ounce of morality think you’re a cheap slut
- stop the drunkeness, drug taking, smoking, smoking pot
- give up the gambling, the impulsive buying of things you don’t need or want, spending and wasting a shit load of money you don’t have
- stop driving that junker of a car that gets you a ticket every time a cop can be bothered to pull you over
- stop getting yourself fired, or walking out on jobs you can’t afford to lose
- stop alienating your family and true friends, just because they might tell you the brutal truth about yourself
- stop being a total fucked-up jerk
Some say that there is a little good in all of us. And, that if you dig deep enough you will always find a treasure. All I know is that when I stopped being a total fucked-up jerk my life suddenly got much better.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
selling yourself and your self-respect isn’t a good way to escape your fucked-up life
Living Alone With Dignity
Life is a pigsty, and if you don’t know this, then what do you know?
I was just 18 when I first left home. I bought myself a slightly neglected bungalow. (In England a bungalow is a single-story dwelling, (it helps when your first job is being a banker)). Hallway, reception room, 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen ~ and every room needed redecorating. The kitchen especially looked like something from the WWII era. In fact the kitchen looked like WWII had been fought in there.
There was central heating that didn’t work, and an Edison-vintage electrical system that did, although technically the lights were so dim they were darks. I had my clothes, two pieces of furniture that I stole from my folk’s place, (a beach chair and a mattress), my music, a tin plate and some cutlery.
The bungalow was close enough to the bank that I could walk in about 45 minutes. I sold my sports car, an Austin-Healey Sprite, bought a Reliant Robin three-wheeler van, and tried to work out what else I needed to buy with my sudden small stash of cash.
With cash burning a hole in your pocket there is always the temptation to buy things that will give you instant gratification, more records for example….. Well I gave in to a little of that and got myself a TV. The rest of the stuff I bought was more practical; a washer / dryer, some tools, an oven, bed linen, brushes and paint, cleaning cloths….. stuff like that.
Ripping out the entire kitchen was messy but satisfying ~ and the little van was useful for taking all the wreckage to the city dump. That thing did hundreds of miles on a teaspoon of petrol, (gas), and all the time I had it I never even opened the hood ~ of course eventually the poor thing fell apart. Later I learned about car mechanics, regular maintenance, giving love, care, and attention to everyone and everything in my life.
My life was pretty good until I had almost finished my professional examinations ~ then I experimented with dating. My first girl was older, curvy, blonde, great legs, and before I knew where I was she was leaving her stuff at my place and taking over. That first time living alone taught me three great lessons;
- Don’t spend money you haven’t got.
- Nobody is allowed into my place.
- Do everything for yourself.
As well as building a new kitchen I made all the furniture for that place. I still have some of it; decades later.
Some say you should never wrestle with an amoral woman. And, that if you do, you will get dirty. All I know is that she will like it.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Reliant Robin
one of the worst cars in the world
JackCollier7 
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