Day 388: What?

More than one

Something as simple as a commitment to another person is enough to get me out of bed at pretty much any time. I was awake way before, but the room was just toooo cold to get up into. So cold! But I did get up and I did land in Mel's living room for a yoga session just after 7am. Good. And then a swim. Good too. No showers this morning. I think I actually felt warmer afterwards thanks to that. 

I'm in Brighton, staying with a lovely woman who rents out a room and has two four-year-old boys. They are very funny, and completely identical. Luckily, one of them likes blue very much, and has a thing about wearing a bow tie around his neck. Both of them seem to have a thing for hiding under a blanket and pretending to be a monster. I'm glad about that, of course. They're very articulate and very sweet to each other. 

What?

I met a man on the train with a massive dog, like a cross between a teddybear and a wolf. Huge, but harmless. Sweet. Better shaved, as always. Great big furry things don't really do it for me. All that lovely shape to them and you don't get to see it for all that fur. We chatted for ages and he told me all about the dog and a little bit about his life. He had love/hate tattoos. He was evidently well hard. He loved his dog.

I did a comedy fall as I got up to get off the train. I had a very heavy backpack on and it kind of fell off towards my head as I stood up, so I grabbed the armrest, which wasn't really there, so I tipped over on top of the dog. Saved myself, just, but with no grace at all. Thank god I'm not a teenager any more. In my own head, I'd never have lived that down. There are so many things that I love about getting older. 

I like getting older, but I've never really known what to do with a birthday. Now I tend to ignore it, or try to, though it nags like a needy child. Perhaps this year, I shall meditate upon it, listen to the little nagger and see what, specifically, it needs. I'm working that day, a long day with lots of travel, so that should put paid to the 'what to do' bit, but I suppose it's an opportunity to go deeper and to find something out. It's not a complete mystery. I do know some of the reasons why it's uncomfortable. Maybe I should meditate on what to do about them, or just on accepting them. 

Om cake

I do celebrate in March. Every year, I celebrate the anniversary of finally stopping drinking alcohol. It'll be thirteen years this year. In Brighton, I was. I'd already taken the first steps by getting some help from a cantankerous old hypnotherapist in Shoreham, but the day I actually stopped (about 5 days after my first meeting with him), I went to the first of the only two AA meetings I've ever attended just round the corner from where I am right now. Almost on the same street. Really very not far at all. I found it draining and exhausting - just not really for me. I went to a second in a different place and found it the same and I vowed then that if I ever seriously considered drinking again, I'd have to go back. AA's not for me, but I think their work is brilliant and I am glad for it being there, doing what it does, so that I can not go there and feel happy about it. That cantankerous old git and his stories worked wonders. That was for me and I am still inspired by that man and his work now. I wonder if I can remember his name. 

Arty bud

I have heard that a really good hypnotherapist often hears people say 'Oh, I went to a hypnotherapist and it didn't really make any difference. The problem went away on its own'. That makes it harder for them to market themselves. This guy was great. He told his clients that he had enough clients and he didn't need any more, but that if they knew someone who was really determined to change something in their life and were really desperate to work with someone, they could pass on his details if they really wanted to. Ha. I was hooked and committed before I even met the man. He was amazing. Through his down-to-earth grump and straight-talking, curly-talking magic, he worked wonders.

Perfunctory blossom

Anyway, all that to say that I celebrate that birthday and I always feel good about it, so roll on March. Once we're through the first week, there's no stopping us!

I saw blossoms for the first time yesterday and then a rash of them today. There are buds. Spring is happening. This is good.