Grateful for

I have had a horrible day today - well a fair bit of it was horrible.

So here are a bunch of things (totally at random) that I am thankful for. I've heard that when you're feeling really rubbish, it helps to list things you're grateful for. There are two reasons for this. 1. It helps shift the focus to the positive. 2. It engages the pre-frontal cortex part of the brain, which when more active gives less room for the amygdala (the part that lights up during times of anxiety/anger/fear) to reign freely.

So, here goes. I am going to time myself (because I am a geek)....in no specific order Phil, your 3 minutes begins now, and you have to keep typing. Are you ready? Yes Phil, you are ready. OK. Go!

OK.....I am thankful for lovely Twitter people that have tried to keep me relatively sane. I am thankful for the SatNav that helped us find where we were going today. I'm thankful for my lovely parents (who really should've had me adopted years ago!). I'm thankful for whatssnapchatapp, or whatever it's called. I'm thankful fooooorrrrrrrrrrr ahhhhh, I can't think....I'm thankful for Mark Knopfler (woah that was random). I'm thankful for the internet. I am thankful for my fingers which allow me to type this. I'm thankful for my knowledge about the pre-frontal cortex, which I learned at work (I think that's where I learned it). I'm thankful forrrrr, come on surely my time is nearly up, it's gotta be 3 mins. OK, it pretty much is....I am thankful fooorrrrrrrrrrrrr, ok one last one, I'm thankful for baby meerkats.

OK. Publish!

(I still feel crappy, but that was a good thing to do)

Food Aid Packages.....for my neighbours

I read a blog post the other day, which described how the British Red Cross has launched a campaign to help those in the UK with food aid -- essentially those that are struggling so much with money that they are no longer able to find the funds to purchase food for themselves and their families. This got me thinking. Why don't I donate some? So, today I did.

I don't really want to get into the reasons behind this current poverty situation in this post, or whether it's the current government's policies that have caused this. My overall, personal view is that money was probably mankind's worst invention, or at least that we invented something that we applied to *everything*, including health. I'm fine with money relating to who has the nicest car, or who has a conservatory or stayed in a 5 star hotel, but I am not fine with money being the key factor in whether a person can be healthy in life. Anyway, that's all I'm prepared to rant about.

The reality is that at the moment, there are people in my own country -- a developed country that are going hungry. Regardless of the reasons, I would like to do something about it, even if it's a small gesture. I would like to invite you to do the same, if you're in the fortunate position to do so. I'm not a rich man. I highly doubt I ever will be. However, at the moment, I'm in the very lucky position where it doesn't affect my own abilities to eat/clothe/warm myself if I give a little back. Maybe one day (though I hope to God not!), that won't be the case, but for now, as I can, I plan to follow my belief that a lot can be achieved by those that can give, giving, even if it's just a little (obviously the ideal situation is that a lot of people can do this simultaneously).

As someone that has experienced battles with mental health issues (in my case anxiety and depression) that caused me to eat very poorly for unhealthily long periods of time, I appreciate that access to basic nourishment is vital for good health. So, on the basis that I want everyone to be happy and well in their lives, I wanted to give something. My plan, while ever I can (which I hope will be for the rest of my time on this Earth!), is that each week when I do my weekly shop, I will order £2-3 worth of extra tinned food, and at the end of the month, go up to the local food bank. I hope it helps. Maybe you could do the same?