Wisdom

When desire comes calling

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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.

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made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

Where is heaven?

where-is-heaven

Maybe not everyone can look out of their window and see a heaven on earth.  Maybe not everyone is free to travel a short way to see a heaven on earth.  Maybe those of us who can do these things should feel a little more empathy for those of who can’t.

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made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

Life and friends

cartoon suggesting that life is partly influenced by the friends we choose

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?

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made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

Get some style

Cartoon defining style as knowing who you are, then dressing appropriately.

get some style

If you are a Goth, dress like a Goth.  If you are a Vicar, dress like a Vicar.  If you are a Goth Vicar – well, don’t ask me.   Maybe ‘style’ is about those embellishments that add some individuality to our uniformity:  Jeans that are slashed at the knees, daffodils hanging limply from a back pocket, a tee with pretend pockets, eyebrows that look like stiff hairy caterpillars, a cap worn upside down, a wig like a dead blackbird, glow in the dark shoes, jewellery made from beach stuff.

We don’t have to comply absolutely with our chosen style stereotype.  We can decorate it so it says something about who we are.

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made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

Internal conflict

hard-battles

Anxiety is the internal voice that questions our actions past, present and future. It’s not usually concerned with trivia but with the important stuff that can have significant consequences: relationships, health, work and the environments we live in. Anxiety tempers and constrains the decisions we make and the actions we take for good or ill.

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made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson

When opportunity knocks

Cartoon about how easy it is to let oportunites slip away

It’s important to pursue opportunities in life.  It’s how we discover who we are.  Start a business, go on a jungle adventure, change career, start a new relationship, learn to juggle, eat Sushi.

Following opportunities is how we find our place in life.  Some people have opportunity radar to seek out new ventures.  The rest of us just bump into opportunities when they pop-up.   Opportunities come and go.  They can be elusive and uncertain, risky or trivial.

When faced with uncertain opportunities, we rate our personal aptitude for risk somewhere on a scale between the gung-ho and the hyper-cautious.  The former will leap onto opportunities with little concern, while the latter will stand back and ponder the consequences to infinity and beyond.

We’re all different and the differences are unimportant.  What is important is that when your opportunities knock, pursue the ones that you want, take as much care as you need and apply as much enthusiasm as you can muster.

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made in the Moorlands     design and images ©Tom Tomkinson