Are your new year´s resolutions beginning to teeter off the wagon a bit? - Try working backwards!

If your new year´s resolutions are doing wonderfully and you are still fully on track with all you resolved to do one whole week into the new year.  Great. Good work and read no further.

If you are teetering off the wagon however, consider working backwards.  That is to say, don´t worry too much about your resolutions for this new year, rather think backwards, looking back on the big picture of your life as lived.  Are you living your best life?

Oprah, Dr. Phil and myself are big into encouraging people to ´live their best lives´as Oprah so succinctly puts it - grant it Oprah and Dr. Phil have a tad more success at reaching the masses than I.

But, I will not be swayed from my task; Hausfrau Róisín is here at the start of 2014 to advise  Irish Stew for the Soul blog readers how to get back on that wagon -  to go out there and live the life they want to live.

Yes, I KNOW there are all sorts of reasons one can give for staying in a life situation you don´t like.  If none of them are around ´putting food on the table for my children´, then the reasons are NOT good enough for not going out there and living the life you want to live.  Even ´putting food on the table for the kids´ is not a deal breaker.
To find out the best way to live the life you want.  AND to find what it is you want to do in said life in the first place you can:

a) Watch a lot of re-runs of the Oprah Show or Dr. Phil´s shows

 -  not a bad option, but could be time consuming.

 b) Spend a fortune on self help books and tapes,

- not a great option, time consuming and expensive.

c) Become an expert in the major world religions and see what they have to say about living life.

- while a noble option, not ideal seeing as it would take more than one life time to really learn what the major religions of the world have to say on the subject. (Hindus have the advantage on the rest of us here what with reincarnation and all.)

The best way, to discover how to live the life you want, according to moi is: simply…

 d) Go back to Bed! - Definitely the best option. 

No, I am not telling you to go to bed to mope and feast on Smarties and drown one´s  sorrow´s in Barry´s tea.  (Full disclosure: One admit´s to having been known to resorting to this practice occasionally through out life -  but NEVER for more than 3 days.  Honest!)

Nor am I saying to go back to bed for a little private or shared hankie pankie.  - Nothing wrong with either I hasten to add, but another time please.

No, simply lie in bed and imagine ....... you are about to die.  

Ah ah caught you there did n´t I!  

 Once you have gotten over the discomfort of the idea that you are about to die, just lie there imagining you are on your death bed and let your thoughts flow and see what observations come up.  

 Review the life you have lived. What are you proud of in your life? What would you change?  What are your regrets?  What other questions and considerations pop up?

 And most importantly, for most of you reading this, (even moi admits reading this blog is not the most vital thing to be doing on death´s door); most, if not all of you dear readers are not going to die today. You have another chance …
SO GET UP OUT OF THAT BED AND START MAKING THE CHANGES - NOW.
Right now.  Get up and start to put yourself on track for living the life you want to live,  with no (further) regrets to be regretted when you  really are going to die. 

I know a lot of people are going to feel weird or creepy when pondering their own death.  Well work on that too.  It will come you know!   

It may take a couple of attempts to get your head around contemplating the whole ´dead´thing.  But if you really want to have a different way of living your life, it is worth the effort to ponder your death. 
This is real folks.  As far as we know we only live once, again the Hindus have an advantage.  But the rest of us really should not be waiting around to make those changes. 

To support my case further I am copying a piece here from a book by Bronnie Ware The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.* The English Guardian newspaper wrote an article based on the main theme of the book.  -  See the article and link at end of this blog posting.

So. Back to my first idea about your new year´s resolutions.. 

If you are having trouble sticking to your new year´s resolution, ask yourself:

`On my death bed would this new year´s resolution be at all relevant?´

If not, why the heck are you bothering?

If the resolution would be relevant on your death bed, then why can´t you stick to it?   You, gentle reader, have the rest of your life to answer.

Well after all that I think I need a good strong cup of Barrys tea - and whatever you´re having yourself!
                                 ------------------------------------------

*Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last weeks of their lives ... she put her observations into a book called   The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

Ms. Ware writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. "When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently," she says, "common themes surfaced again and again."

Here are the top five regrets of the dying, as witnessed by Ware:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

"This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it."

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

"This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

"Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying."

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."

This piece was originally printed in the Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying

To my millions of readers - give or take 999, 996 or so; 

May you experience peace, joy, laughter and love this Christmas time. 

May you all be here to read these wishes this time next year

(May I be around to write them.)   

May you be more certain on your own path through life in 2014

  -  and be at peace with yourself travelling it.

                                        

Nollaig shona dhaoibh agus Ath-bhilian faoi mhaise dhaoibh! (Irish) 

Frohe Weihnachten und ein schönes neues Jahr. (German)

Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.

 I am attaching photos, seen on this blog before, but timely for this time of year.  Please enjoy....

....a Christmas view around Allensbach.

My neighbour Bärbel´s crib

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela has died. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

My little blog is of too little consequence for me to write about a man of such immense consequence. 

I quote from a letter to the Irish Times, which sums up the man Nelson Mandela was.  

Sir, – He was a credit to his race, the human race. – Yours, etc,

                                            BRENDAN McMAHON,

                                            Naas, Co Kildare.

 

Sundown on a gentle amble on the eve of Advent

This early evening it was sunny.  And beautiful.

We are enjoying a gentle coming of winter.

These photos were taken on an easy amble down to the lake to see the sun going down.

Enjoy.....

 

And just when I thought it could not get more beautiful sitting on ´my´stone by the lake watching the sun go down, there did n´t it go and get even more beautiful....

Yep.  On cue, just as the sun went down over the brow of the hill, did n´t two swans glide gently by...

And then the next day....

The next two photos were not taken from my little spot sitting by the lake, but I could not resist including them; they were taking in the Alps a month ago by Romeo H.

So take your pick: sit by lake for a gentle moment, or´step´into the pictures below and enjoy a nice hearty walk through the Alps.

Is life not sweet bytimes.

Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip of the Day: How to make the bed linen `APPEAR´ ironed.

Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tips.  

If you have not been a regular ISFTS reader - and if not WHY not?  You may need an introduction to the Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip. 

A Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip could be anything pertaining to managing a home, be it cooking or cleaning etc. Indeed, on days I may be feeling a little bolder, I may even stretch to tips on managing one´s life, or one´s computer files etc.  But, all would be about running said home/life/computer a lá Hausfrau Róisín. 

The main characteristic of a Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip is that it would offer the best possible outcome with the least amount of effort/time/cost; and if Hausfrau Róisín gets a few brownie points after expending so little effort/time/cost for achieving said fabulous results - then so much the better!  Disclaimer:  Absolutely no cook, or medical professional anywhere has ever recommended any Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tip. Ever.

Hausfrau Róisín´s Housekeeping Tip of the Day:  
How to make the bed linen appear ironed on the bed.
Few things look as delightful in the home as a bed dressed with freshly ironed bed linen. -  Well except a gorgeous naked body lying on the self same bed on which said bed linen has been draped - but we won´t go there, this being a family friendly blog and all.  

On the other hand, few tasks can be as tedious to face into as a laundry basket full of crinkled wrinkled  bed linen.  And for the Martha Stuart types among my readers who LOVE LOVE LOVE  setting into ironing the bed linen needed for a family of 12 - well woop de doo for you, but I am not with you on that one.  So you guys can leave now, and go do some ironing or something.

(FYI: I DO actually have in my circle of friends a real live person who thinks there is absolutely nothing better to do on a Sunday morning than listening to Marian Finucane http://www.rte.ie/radio1/marian-finucane while ironing a basket full of bed linen.  - About listening to Marian, myself and just about the whole Irish radio listening population the world over could agree with that.  But, there is a heck of a lot of of things other than ironing I could think of doing while listening to said Ms. Finucane!)

Anyway, where was I... 

OH, yes, here´s how to have the ironed look without the actual ironing.

1)  When washing avoid using the ´wring out the water to death` cycle. 

Note:  If you have only the dryer option for drying clothes rather than being able to hang the sheets up somewhere, you may have to use the ´wring out water to death` cycle when washing, to avoid wasting money and energy at the dryer stage; even Hausfrau Róisín would accept that the ´wring out water to death´cycle is the better option here.  

However when using the dryer, it is important to note the cusp, just that moment when the bed linen is dry enough not to cause pneumonia -  but not even a little bit dryer.  Because, after that moment the wrinkling starts in earnest.

 But for those of us lucky enough to have a hang up option for wet clothes...... 

2) Take bed linen out of wash machine as soon as the wash cycle is finished and hang up straight away.    - Nice and orderly with a little tuck and pull here and there as you go to ease out any wrinkles in the linen.

3) When dry fold carefully.

Now here is the pièce de résistance:- if ironed looking sheets is your aim that is.

4)  After dressing the bed sparsely spray warm water on the areas of  bed linen and pillow covers that can be seen. 

That´s it!  That is the magic.  

Now I emphasize the word sparsely; you don´t want lots of water soaking into your €500 duck down duvet, causing all sorts problems with rotting duck feathers at a future - and at a not too distant future, date.

In addition I want to make clear, to avoid any litigious situations arising for me either at a later date: 
Do not apply the spray water technique just before bedtime.  All those soggy sheets and pillow cases won´t do your health an iota of good.   

So you should do the spray and ignore thing several hours before bed time to make sure the bed linen is well dried out before you hop in.
 
Plan B - if you forgot to put the fresh linen on the bed until just before bedtime.  
All is not lost.

1) Dress bed. Assuming you have followed instructions 1-4, the linen will be O.K. enough.

2) Turn on only the low light*.  
This will give enough light to show the bed linen has been changed. - Brownie points right there. But, not enough light to show any wrinkles. -  This really does work - especially if there is a distraction with the suggestion or even hint of nice and naughty fun things to come for other parties who have access to said bed.....

.....Ah yes, tried and true: a plate of ice cream in bed and NOT getting up to wash your teeth afterwards! The wild boldness and fun of it all will, with certainty, distract from any consideration or observation of wrinkled bed linen having been just put on the bed.

P.S. *Regarding the low light mentioned above.  This is one of those no brainers that some people actually need to be told I understand:   The naked truth is everything and everybody, the latter being much more to the point here, looks a lot better in low light.

If you don´t have low light in your bedroom. GET IT IN -  NOW.  

Hausfrau Róisín.        P.S.......................

a) If you found this tip absolutely thrilling (!) you can review the earlier HRT below.

The link to previously published  Hausfrau Róisín Housekeeping Tips from March 17th 2013 under the title: Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!
About how to cut down on cooking time and on time given to washing saucepans. 

b) For more on the topic of low light in the bedroom: http://irishstewforthesoul.blogspot.de/2012/09/i-dont-know-about-you-but-i-just-dont.html

An analysis of the financial state of affairs in Ireland - from a bar stool somewhere in Dublin

I have a friend Anthony, he  is great at summing up the state of affairs in Ireland.  He really does not appreciate how much we his friends enjoy and learn from his observations.  In spite of our pleas, he does think he should be writing a blog presenting his ruminations.  So,  I am putting his ruminations into MY blog!  For the second time too.  Read on and see if you agree that our man Antho hits the nail on the head with his observations.

Let me know, dear blog reader if you would like to hear more from our man Anto sitting on a bar stool somewhere in Dublin......

And so an analysis of the financial state of affairs in Ireland from a bar stool somewhere in Dublin.  A la Anthony

…..Yes, I do have a problem with the idea that every Irish person must pay €8,900 towards private bank debt whereas the norm is €191.  So what, a property boom happened here.  But I have no property - not even a car!  All we ended up with was higher rents. 

Why do H, A, N and myself owe €36,000 when not one of us has ever borrowed from a bank... have limited enough savings that have yielded only minimum interest payments?  My sister, likewise has never borrowed from a bank, nor indeed has my mother, unless you include her as part of the deal back in 1971 when my Dad - and it really was only a male matter back then - purchased the house. 

The Irish did not print money... the money that fueled the boom did not originate solely in Ireland.  Much of it emerged from banks in Germany and France... and the UK.  In other words, from other private investors.  Why are the Irish only responsible for those 'bad bank debts'?  The bankers took the risk... and the risk wasn't worth it.  Weren't they able to see that the whole thing was a house of cards.  The whole thing collapsed.  Under capitalism, therefore, they 'lost'.  Ahem... not so... the Irish tax payer - and that includes all residents, regardless of where they came from - must 'pay' instead. How are we more responsible than anyone else?  A lot of people here believe that it was to save the euro and to save French and German banks.  Maybe so.  I don't know.

The taxpayers here would also include you and H in Germany, if ye ever decided to move over here to Ireland.  The debts of 2008 have simply been transferred elsewhere... to other people in another time.  I still find this perplexing.  Can you justify it to me?  Please do.   Even if I had bought a home at an exorbitant rate - we'll say €500,000, which was not 'unreasonable'  back in 2007, I'd still have to pay a mortgage on that... and still pay the €8,900 to cover the banks' losses.  How is that anyway fair?  The banks have been 'bailed out', but Joe and Jo Soap have not.

It's been the biggest bank robbery ever - except, this time, the Banks are the robbers.

Clearly, I now need to take a break... from the meanderings of a mad man.  I still haven't lost faith in the European 'dream' but increasingly; I think that there are fewer and fewer of us about.  I honestly think that if the UK leaves the EU, there'll be a hell of a lot of people here clamoring to follow.  Sad, sad days... and just months after the EU obtained the Nobel Peace Prize... for actually managing to achieve peace between the former enemies.  Is it from this that the European goals of the past half century die?

Thanks Anthony, came it coming.  You really do make your case.  Roisín Hausfrau.

I am having a bad hair day for more than 3 weeks now...

Yes.  I am having a bad hair day for more than 3 weeks now, that and a huge big fat cold sore under my nose for almost as long.  For me `bad`  anything does not lend itself to www - writing with wit. See I told you I could not write with wit.

I just cannot understand those creative types who when they are so depressed, they cannot get themselves out of bed, and when they finally do, they create epoch changing literature/ art/ music.  HOW does anyone do that? When I am feeling even the littlest bit bla, all I can do is drag myself through the day popping Smarites - the Cadbury variety, not the ´other kind´I hasten to add, and hope the blues lift before anyone notices I am not ´myself´as they say.

Re. Smarties Wikipedia says of them:

Smarties are oblate spheroids with a minor axis of about 5 mm (0.2 in) and a major axis of about 15 mm (0.6 in). They come in eight colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, mauve,^[2] pink and brown, although the blue variety was temporarily replaced by a white variety in some countries, while an alternative natural colouring dye of the blue colour was being researched.

Imagine, Smarties have their very own Wikipedia page - who knew!  Anyway, here´s the link for more on these oblate spheriodal yummies:      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarties

Anyway to give us all a smile, I am sending links to smile worthy web postings. The first comes from Louie who must get credit for consistently sending smile worthy links.  Tell me this one does n´t make you smile regardless of what your life is about today:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/V_gOZDWQj3Q?rel=0

And this link reminds one we should not think because kids are ´just´ kids that they don´t know what is what!

http://dailynewsdig.com/how-do-you-decide-who-to-marry-written-by-kids/

May your day be wonderful!

Hausfrau Róisín.