Wimbledon

One of the things I thought would be fun to do while in London, is to see Wimbledon.  It is a bit away from the heart of the city, so a nice change from being around so many touristas.  One takes the Tube to near the very last stop.  We got off at Wimbledon Park Station.  From there we walked across a large park that has soccer fields, tennis courts(not part of the tennis club), a lake and a golf course.  There is also childrens playground equipment.  Once across we walked up the street to the Club.  It's quite large 45 hectares and has many facilities for club members, players and sports media. 

We took the tour for 18 GBP each.  It's more tennis than most people would want to hear about.  But you go inside court 1 and also Centre Court.  You also get to go into the interview room where the players are interviewed after their matches.  If you like, you can take each others photograph.  Everone did.

There is a museum you may visit after the tour and a store.  Across the way is a cafe which didn't look too good for us.  The two of us walked up to the village of  Southfields.  We exchanged some money at the Post Office there and ate dinner at The Old Garage Pub.  We boarded the train there and returned to our stop, Aldgate East. 

There are a lot more details of course, but if you find yourself in London it's a nice little trip to take
to break things up a little.  Now when I see someone being interviewed after a match I'll yell out, "I sat in that very seat!"  I can hardly wait.

Trip to England

Hi All.  I was just reading about all of the problems caused by the snow and wind storm in the north east(of the USA), 2010.  Jake and I have it good compared to those problems.  My age is really showing by my attitude for travel.  So, that may exagerate my comments on this subject.  I'm not used to life in a big city.  You must be able to use the public transit(so far subway and busses).  It's not really that difficult, but it was for me.  Jake thought it was kinda fun.  Thank God I had him for a son.  He's been planning our routes.  When the subway(the Tube over her) was shut down, we switched to busses.  Everyone else did too.  Do you like jammed busses or trains?  Then this is for you. 

When travelling the luggage may get lost.  Slight inconvenience? Well, don't let it ruin your vacation.
Be a good sport.  You may not be able to use your credit card as you have planned.  Minor.

Many things went right!

Jake had only one pair of underwear and socks. Christmas morning, we opened gifts my wife had sent. One pair boxer shorts(marvelous) two t-shirts(wonderful) two pair socks(perfect).  My, how one appreciates the little things when in need.

The apartment(flat here) had no coffe maker that we had noticed.  Emma sent along a gift of coffee.
Jake found a french press. Yeah, we now have coffee.

I saw some genuine London Fog tonight.  We ate dinner with Ricky and Rowan, old camp friends of Jakes.  No problems tonight. 

Last Chance

So many hypnotists have made the point that many of their clients have come to them only after trying everything else.  Nothing else worked, so they desperately tried hypnosis.  I've been told that great success is achieved when the person is sick and tired of their problem.  Desperation is their motivation.  I find myself heading for this situation.
I want to achieve certain goals but my motivation isn't quite there yet. 

I've had two open heart surgeries this year to replace a valve.  I may have used this as an excuse to let other areas of my life stagnate.  We will be happier if we are looking forward to a better future. Some things we can change and some we can't. 

Many years ago I was struggling with weight control.  I saw an ad in a magazine for a hypnotic weight loss cassette.  I ordered it and listened to it quite a few times.  It was quite well done.  One side was progressive relaxation, which is okay but old fashioned, and then the deepening and finally the suggestions.  I didn't agree with all the suggestions.
I know now that with suggestions, your mind will reject the ones it doesn't like, and accept the ones it does like.  You don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.  I was thinking maybe it ruined the whole thing if it wasn't all tailored to me.  The other side of the tape was supposedly music with the suggestions recorded in a subaudible range that your subconscious would pick up and be changed by.  Why? Good question.  Well this is the area of subliminal advertising and the like.  At the time I just thought it was interesting and kind of cool.  I don't think it is necessary or really works.  Buy Coke!

Where does this leave us?  Well, for one thing, don't doubt your minds abilities.  You can learn, remember and change.  One of the rules of the mind is that every thought causes a physical change in the body.  You may disagree with this, of course but consider it.  

Also, don't be afraid to learn about hypnosis.  It's just a method to communicate with your subconscious mind without the interference of your conscious mind.  And please remember as a parent, what you say to your children can bypass their conscious mind easily. So, if you say,"You're a bad boy."  That goes straight in to their subconscious belief about themselves.  Their Mother or Father said it, so it must be true.  They may have to come to a hypnotist to get straightened out at some point.

That's it for now, Ken. 

Learning Guitar...continued

I love guitar music.  Classic Rock and Blues and Classical even some other categories.  I have taken guitar lessons twice in the past.  Neither time took.  My second instructor told me,"At this rate you'll be pretty good when you're 106."  Why is this such a chore for me?  It reminds me of having to sit down to do my homework.  I could find many things to do other than homework.  I decided to try guitar lessons again though.  It really doesn't matter if I fail and I'm not going to an instructor.  I bought a guitar course that has DVD's and a lesson book.  It looks to be very thorough and has many good comments on the internet.  One negative comment was that you have to learn to read music.  Many guitar players don't read music.  There are other musical notations for the guitar.  I'm okay with learning music.  I played trombone as a young boy, so I have some experience with reading music.  Anyway,  I should be practicing right now,  but I need to finish this blog.  Also, my guitar isn't set up very well, so maybe I will wait until I get it set up, then I'll start practicing so I can be successful as a guitarist.  I'm 66 right now, so I want to be pretty good by the time I'm 70 or so. 

I went in to help a friend with a ceiling problem yesterday.  We made progress on the project.  I just like to get away from the house and it's fun to have something to do rather than just visit.  I found out though that my car's heater isn't working.  I'm waiting to hear from the garage right now to see if it will be ready today or tomorrow. 

How's the shopping going?  I don't know why, but since we put up some Christmas decorations about a week ago, I'm feeling more positive. 

Hi, How are you?

Hope I haven't used that title before.  I was going to use Who are you, but that was a blog I didn't write. 
I've been wondering lately about all of the unhappiness I've seen in the lives of people near me.  Even in myself.  Where do we learn happiness?  How do we achieve it and is it something we should expect to have all the time or some percentage of the time?  One of my fondest memories of childhood was learning that our nation was founded on the principal that some of man's inalienable rights were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  I wish you happiness whatever that might be for you.

There was a sign in front of a local restaurant at Thanksgiving saying,"Be thankful ."  I know it is meant well, but I thought that just shows what's wrong with our thinking.  Tell others how to be; what to do; what to think.  The sign would be better with a message like,"Thanks to all our customers."

There was a TV program on Public TV last night during a pledge drive.  It was about the human mind and recent discoveries in how the mind can heal itself.  One of the examples was a man who suffered a stroke that left him unable to walk.  His son worked with him and over time he redeveloped in a stepwise fashion, his lost abilities.  He started by learning to crawl.  It was explained that the damaged area of his brain was not healed, other paths were used.  I had recently received information on a hypnosis seminar for learning techniques for helping stroke victims through hypnosis.  It would be great if hypnosis could speed up this healing process.  At any rate, it's good to know there are wonderful possibilities out there for learning and healing the mind.

If you've read to this point, I thank you.


I say we are better off to boldly go forth in the area of learning and improving ourselves.  Trust in your minds ability.  The expectation that you will succeed is half the battle.  I will continue to practice the guitar.