Finding inner bliss that doesn't include white wine!

We don’t buy a daily newspaper during the week unless we’re away on holiday or at the airport.  On a Friday and Saturday I’ll get The Times and every Sunday we buy the Mail on Sunday and The Sunday Times.  Sunday papers are my favourites especially if I get to read them in bed with a nice mug of tea.  Sadly this opportunity doesn’t arise very often.  I suppose I’m like most people, I read the tabloids at the weekend then cut out various articles to pursue.  These can be features about diets, holidays, a new beauty product or a recipe.   You name it, I cut it out but not very often do I follow up.  However, when I was staying in Surrey on Monday morning I took my tea and the review magazine from Paul’s Saturday Telegraph and read this in bed.  I rarely read the Telegraph but one article in particular caught my attention.   It was an article about the new film starring Julia Roberts called ‘Eat, Pray Love’ based on a book written by Elizabeth Gilbert.  The book is about the authors own experiences in the pursuit of joy, happiness and finding a balance in life over a 12 month journey in Italy, India and Indonesia.   It was written in 2006 and apparently has sold over 8 million copies.  I’d never heard of it.

Every few years or so I go through a phase where I explore and flirt with inner peace and spirituality.   My last phase was in early 2006 when I met an Australian girl in India and she gave me a book called The Monk who sold his Ferrari written by a guy called Robin S. Sharma.   She said she thought it would help me, and well at the time, it did.  In fact, actually that is a bit of a under exaggeration, I read this book and it made me change the direction of my life.  I have loaned this book to a few of my friends and more recently I lent my copy to Alan.   It didn’t do very much for him, he’d read similar and better in the past but he passed it to Sue who liked it so much she ordered her own copy.  Anyway the newspaper article intrigued me and on Tuesday I headed straight to Waterstones to buy a copy of Gilbert’s book.  I am not sure how much ‘Eat Pray Love’ will differ from my Ferrari book but I am going to give it a go.  I’ll give anything a go, a bit of inner bliss would be rather nice at the moment.  Not everyone loved Gilbert’s book though.  There has apparently, been a backlash and she has been branded silly and self-indulgent.  The Telegraph story said that a parody was published last year called, 'Drink, Play, F@#k, One Man’s Search for Anything Across Ireland, Las Vegas and Thailand'.  Maybe to get a proper balance I should read that too?  

This week, so far, has been a gentle one.  Still on the speaking spiritual grounds, I think someone up there has been listening to my moans and groans about the weather, because finally, the rains have stopped and the sun has come out.  About time too, August has been awful and although June & July were good, we need to have the late Indian summer that the forecasters are predicting to make amends.  I am not ready for winter although my wardrobe certainly is.   I really need it to be hot on Saturday.  We are going to Ed & Sarah’s wedding and I am wearing a short sleeveless dress.  Thankfully, all my hard work with resistance training and weights has paid off and I my biceps are much firmer better.  Not totally flab free but certainly firmer than they were a month ago.  This means I don’t have to buy a new dress, it’s not the money but I can’t find anything in the shops that I like, plus the fact the I have only worn the stripy dress only once before. 

Monday was a mega session at the gym followed by shopping at ASDA then home for lunch.   In the afternoon I went to the council to see the planning officer and the remainder of the afternoon was spent cutting the grass and clearing leaves.  Poor Phil had a long day and didn’t get home until gone 7pm.  Harriet also was late back from work was early to bed after being woken a full hour and a half before she wanted.  Tuesday was back in the gym and then afterwards a trip to the sorting office to pick up the PO Box post.  Yesterday was another gym session and then after lunch I went to Willen Park to visit my friend Funmi as she is on holiday this week.  My visit was two fold, obviously I wanted to catch up with her life but also I needed to collect some stuff that I have had stored in her garden shed for nearly two years.  It was a bit embarrassing really because I should have picked this up months ago.  She was cool about it but I bet she’s glad she’s finally got shot of my rubbish!

This week I have flicked through screens and looked back at some of my summer posts.   It’s a nagging worry that I often repeat myself, use the same or similar blog titles but my biggest concern is that I am coming across as boring and predicable which is not really surprising when our weekly routine is much the same; Phil work, me gym, domestics on a daily basis, walks along the canal which sometimes involve the cinema, and very often the pub and for a pint or a bottle of wine or two.   I can only apologise for the repetitiveness, maybe when I read my new book, ‘Eat Pray Love’ my life course will change for the better.  Maybe.  For now, blogging is still my therapy and you are stuck with this mindless, middle age twitter-gossip-come-indulgent-daily diary for the foreseeable future.  There’s nothing I can say, but sorry. the Nake Blogger Reveals All!  Literally! Bottom line is that you don’t have to read it but if you are anything like me (I follow several blogs) then it’s addictive. I can only hope that my really good mates will have the strength and the courage to tell me, when the time comes, that enough is really ENOUGH.

Until then you're stuck with me and the occasional posting from my DH……..