Shut up and listen

Sometimes we all may need to shoosh up a bit, and properly listen to others. I, and I'm sure many other people, assume I know what that person sitting near me is going to say next. But that isn't always so. If we never listen properly, we'll never find out whether or not this is true.

If you ask them most people will probably say they listen when others talk. But do they really listen? Do they listen properly?


You can't listen properly with your mouth open!


So many people only listen long enough to catch their breathe before speaking again. These people are not listening properly. Waiting until you can say your next thing isn't listening. To listen properly entails giving your full attention to the person speaking.


To listen properly, giving someone else the respect of paying attention to what they're saying is a gift, sadly a rare gift. The next time someone you know speaks to you, try listening to them properly listening to them. They, and you, may be surprised at what you hear.


Do you listen properly?

My symptoms caused by Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

My life has changed a lot since I became ill with MS, but I’m working hard at keeping positive. Stress makes MS symptoms worse, and I certainly don’t want to make myself sicker. Life is still good.

Weakness in the arms or legs

Loss of balance

Tendency to drag one foot

Loss of coordination

Extreme fatigue

Continence problems

Loss of mobility

Problems with or changes in memory functioning

Muscle spasms

I began putting this list together using information from this website http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Multiple_sclerosis_explained

Different people have different symptoms caused by MS. It depends on which part of their Central Nervous System (CNS) is damaged. That’s what MS is, damage caused to the myelin that coats and protects the nerve fibres of the CNS.

So I’m dealing with the symptoms as listed above. Some of my symptoms are dealt with using medicines, some are being dealt with by having a healthy lifestyle and diet.

Some of my symptoms though aren’t being helped at all, and I’m still affected in some way by most of the symptoms. There is no cure for MS yet, though lots of people are trying to find one. The problem in finding a cure is that the scientists and medical people don’t really know what causes MS.

There are some theories, but none of them have been properly proven to be true. There are also some treatments that are supposed to cure a person with MS, but again, none of these have been proven to work, not sufficiently anyway.

Most people with MS use treatments that can help to reduce the effects of the disease. The treatments tend to be injections, given daily, every other day or weekly, depending on which treatment is used. Up until now, there hasn’t been a tablet that helps fix the symptoms. Now there is one. It’s been available overseas for about five years, now it’s available on the PBS in Australia.

The idea of taking a daily tablet instead of giving having an injection appeals to a lot of people with MS, as you can imagine. The new treatment comes with some risks though, as do many treatments for many diseases. Some people have received excellent effects from this treatment, so others are happy to take the risk of using the tablet.

I’m going to begin taking this new tablet, Gilenya on Wednesday next week. I hope it will work as well for me as it has for other people. 

How To Live a Good Life

The past has been, but it's gone, the future isn't here yet and I can't know what will actually happen.

The present is right here, right now, and that's the only part I'm living in.

If your past is still troubling you, have you considered trying to ignore it? I realise that can be difficult for many people, but what I wrote at the beginning here is true.

The past is gone. Think perhaps about why the past is causing you so much pain. Are you trying to live with decisions made before that no longer fit into your life? That can be painful. 

Write down what troubles you, and then look at each item in your list, one item at a time. Can you think of ways to help with that particular item. If not, go to the next item. Again, think of ways to help. 

Work through your list, and if you can't think of anything you could change that are in your list, it might be time to speak to someone who is trained to help people deal with the issues that are causing them pain.

If you've managed to find a way to change one of your items, so that it no longer causes you trouble, well done. If you've solved one problem, maybe you can solve more. 

It may not always be possible to solve your problems, but working and winning at this can bring you hope for better things in the future.

If you can find ways to look at the good things happening in your life right now, sometimes the bad things don't look so bad. If you wake up in the morning, and can get out of bed, that's the first good thing that's happened in your life. 

Enjoy yourself!

What is Good Luck? What is Bad?

Luck is neither good nor bad. Things happen, we deal with them. It’s the way we deal with our luck that can be either good or bad.

The answer may be a long time coming, and good or bad, there are always choices and decisions to be made. 

Until the end, who can really tell which it was, good or bad luck? What seems to be good luck to one, may seem bad luck to another. 

After luck is decided on, there are always more things that can occur to change the way one looks on life's events. 

Book review John Birmingham's Angels of Vengeance

I've recently read the final book in John Birmingham's most recent trilogy. Here'e my thoughts on it:

There aren’t many authors who grab the reader by the scruff of the neck, threaten them with extreme violence and then keep them racing along with them at top speed.

John Birmingham in his recent trilogy does all of these things and more. He creates action, places and people you truly believe in. Reading the first two books in the trilogy was a gut wrenching race to the end of each book, and then an agonising wait for the final book to arrive.

The unspoken question was always there – could John Birmingham pull this whole thing off? Really, think about it – some mysterious thing goes wrong in the world, and suddenly the whole world gets turned upside down. Mankind remains the same, some good people, some bad. The stakes are high – who will be the ultimate ruler? And the pressure mounts and mounts and mounts.

There is a broad range of characters here – fuelled by religion, hunger for power, people seeking revenge. And revenge is there in plenty, the ending gives visceral knowledge that revenge sought and gained is a sweet thing indeed.

Another great read from Mr Birmingham, a man who gives his readers what they want, blood, guts and plenty of things that go BANG! in a big way.