I now lead a simple life and ‘upset’ is not something I encounter very often.  Large or small ‘upsets’ are not good for my heart so I try not to let them interfere.  A Consultant said to me recently “You know your body very well, listen to it and deal with situations in the correct way!”  When you live alone you have to.  Were I to panic every time my heart went into spasm, it would make things worse and I would spend half my life in A&E or worse…..

On the World scale I am surrounded with natural disaster, disease, famine, war and the effects of greed.  I am unable to solve these problems on my own, so I must step back and hope that those more talented, capable and with the expertise will provide the solutions necessary.

Since I am human, well…. I think I am, nature has a way of raising the hackles every now and then.  It is usually something that others decide I must do, think or feel.

When I have a problem niggling at me, I go quiet, working it through in my mind.

I remember Jack saying to me once “Your mother was right!”

“In what respect?” I asked.

“She told me before we married, that if you were very quiet, to leave you to your thoughts, as you were working through a problem!”

“Really!”  I said.

“Darling, you have hardly spoken for three days, and only now have you shared what was on your mind.”

So, as in the Reinhold Niebuhr prayer: I am accepting the things I cannot change and moving on.  I change the things I can, and hope I have enough wisdom to know the difference between the ‘can’ and the ‘cannot’!