When desire comes calling

lead us not

The word ‘temptation’ is heavily loaded.  The OED definition is “the desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise”.   The word ‘tempt’ is equally loaded, defined as “entice or try to entice someone to do something that they find attractive but know to be wrong or unwise”

If you are an open-minded curious type, there are going to be lot’s of times when you will be enticed and tempted into actions and activities that you know to be wrong or unwise or both.  Tempters have a radar that seeks out people who give off a curiosity signal.   They open a door that we can slip through to see what lies in the forbidden zone.   In the forbidden zone we can either stretch the boundaries of our experience or suffer the consequences of a poor decision.

made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

Heart to heart

heart to heart

Have you ever experienced that thing where you are sitting opposite someone who is talking to you but you are not really hearing them because you are distracted by something going on behind their eyes?

made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

Life and friends

life and friends

Is a ‘friend’ just a person who you like and who likes you back or is a friend someone special.  Someone you can be yourself with. Someone you can trust with your inner thoughts. Someone who will share your silence as happily as your banter. Are friends the people who you trust to influence the decisions you make in life?

made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

Let us play

let us play

If you are wondering about the truth of this statement, try playing a couple of games of chess with your Grandpa.

made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

Incomplete idiots

idiots

There are usually a few bits missing: knowledge about the dietary needs of our partners, any scrap of empathy for the ageing process, a memory capable of retaining information about birthdays, anniversaries or conversations.

I am sure you will have your own list of missing components…

made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

After you

after you

Taking care of yourself is no selfish act – it is the priority which keeps you fit to help others.

made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

 

Dogs and cats

cats and dogs

I know that there are friendly cats and unfriendly dogs.  But I don’t get dogs wandering around my garden with their noses and tails in the air and I don’t get cats charging across the lawn shouting “I love you – chase me”.  I guess the point is that not everyone will show you love, affection or friendship as a right.  We just have to learn to work with that.

made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

 

Broken bones and broken hearts

broken bones and broken hearts

You can live a full life and not suffer a broken bone, but you are unlikely to live a full life and not suffer a broken heart.
A broken bone is a broken bone and relatively simple to fix.  A broken heart is a broken spirit – the sum of the emotional turbulence that follows the loss or rejection of a friend, a lover, a relationship.
Complex emotional turbulence including depression, anxiety, embarrassment, humiliation, confusion, distress, grief, sadness, apprehension, stress.  Fixing a broken heart requires a change of emotional perspective to calm  the turbulence:  a friend was devastated when the guy she was seeing dumped her. Then her mother kindly pointed out how everyone thought he was way too short for her anyway.  He was…

made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

 

Love and applied friction

love and applied friction

We pursue relationships to satisfy some need and we pursue close relationships in search of love, passion and happiness.  Close relationships generate friction and friction erodes our willingness to forgive the stuff that generates the friction: disputes, disharmony, disunity, conflict, hostility, rivalry, animosity, resentment and jealousy.
So maintaining close relationships requires knowledge of the limits of tolerance in ourselves and those around us when we do the stuff that creates the friction. Unfortunately tolerance can be pushed beyond its elastic limit…

made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson