26 Feb - 4 Mar 2018
Car Swaps
This week started saying goodbye to our trusty Santa Fe which I’d had on lease for the last 3 years. I felt sorry for the local mobile valet I used to clean it before returning it as it was a bitterly cold morning. He spent 4 hours giving the inside and outside a thorough clean. I was very impressed and shall certainly be using Shaun at Definitive Shine again. I was swapping it for a BMW as we didn’t really need a 4x4 90% of the time and it came with a hefty fuel bill.
F-f-f-freezing
As is the wont of Sods Law, the week that I chose to swap the very practical 4x4 for a more sporty number is obviously when it chucks it down with heavy snow. Much of the country was heavily affected by snow. Here in Tamworth we certainly got some — and it was quite heavy at times but it didn’t last all that long although many schools stayed closed. Fortunately our children’s schools were made of hardier stuff and remained open. The kids and I had fun walking to school although I had to carry the sledge home. The high winds were the most dangerous part and the sledge was almost a kite several times, narrowly missing hitting a few pedestrians in the face! ☃️
It was so cold that our normally boiling office was freezing!
600 day streak of meditation
Whilst I’m trying to be careful not to place too much emphasis on streaks I’m quite proud that this week I hit a 600 day meditation streak in Headspace. It is a helpful stoic reminder to be indifferent to it, enjoy it while it’s lasting but if I happen to break it to not be disappointed and stop the excellent habit that mediation has become for me.
Th week ended with a day out to the National Space Centre in Leicester for the Brickish LEGO weekend. We went for the LEGO but I’m looking forward to returning to see more of the space exhibitions.
A week in Stoicism
Cultivate indifference. Much of what we desire and avoid are beyond our control. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the constant cycle, instead train yourself to be indifferent. Enjoy yourself when you are able, but don’t let it go to your head or become a habit of hedonistic tendencies. Similarly don’t let bad things take over your life, accept things will not go your way, often the obstacle becomes the way.
“My reasoned choice is as indifferent to the reasoned choice of my neighbour, as to his breath and body. However much we’re been made for cooperation, the ruling reason in each of us is master of his own affairs. If this weren’t the case, the evil in someone else could become my harm, and God didn’t mean for someone else to control my misfortune.” Marcus Aurelius
weeknotes