And yet … how many of us are caught up in some sort of Puritan work ethic that means we must not enjoy ourselves?

That enjoying ourselves is somehow self-serving?

How many times have you watched a tv detective, or read a detective story, where the detective is convinced from the start who the guilty person is?

He then works through the whole book or play fitting the evidence to the person!

Why?

Because your brain is lying!

Listen to what it’s saying and scrutinise the statement before swallowing it whole.

Whyever not? BECAUSE!

Because they don’t work. Because they’re just wishes, not based in any reality. They’re an empty hope, waiting for the Wish Fairy to wave her magic wand.

We are reared as nice, polite, little girls and boys.

We are taught to ASK before doing things.

“Don’t just dive in!” we’re told. “Ask nicely and wait your turn …”

And that’s all good and well for bringing children up to be well-mannered, and not grabby hooligans!

Isn’t that what we all yearn for? To be able to do what we love, all day long?

I guess it’s the reason so many people look forward to retirement - so they can leave the hateful or boring day job and enjoy endless gardening, or travelling, or reading, or …

Our daily habits make our life what it is. What we can achieve every day is entirely down to how we spend our time. And that’s often governed by habit!

As a busy friend of mine once put it, talking about running her farm and her young family, “Some days I meet myself coming back!”

“Oh my gosh! Does that mean we are predestined to live life as dictated by whoever set up our belief system in the first place?”

What I’d like you to look at today is what we can control, and what we can’t.

And how to tell the difference!

What I’d like you to look at today is what we can control, and what we can’t.

And how to tell the difference

We live in a time of unprecedented knowledge about, and care for, our health.

And after centuries of considering women a poor copy of men, the health professional world now sees women as separate entities with a totally different make-up!

According to a recent YouGov poll - YouGov is a British data analytics company - 57% of British workers want to be able to work from home after the pandemic.

You have everything in place. Really, you do.

You KNOW what you want to do with your life … you just don’t seem to be able to kickstart it into action. Doubts and other things are always getting in the way.

Goals are the beacons we drive towards in our lives. And we need to adjust our course as we learn more and find what works and what doesn’t.

I got great at setting out my goals at the beginning of the year. Over Christmas I would spend time reflecting and laying out my plans for the year.

You may feel that you are powerless.

You may think you’re a victim of your circumstance. And that nobody understands just how difficult it is for you to shake free and do what you want.

One of the biggest logjams in people’s lives is caused by the feeling that they can’t stop.

They think they can’t afford to stop.

They are convinced that stopping what they’re currently doing will result in a total loss of income and that they’ll end up living in a van under a bridge.

“I’m waiting for something better to turn up.”

“I’ll just hang on for a bit longer, till an opportunity presents itself.”

“The perfect job for me must be out there …”

I hear people say this, and I think - “but what else have you tried?”

You see, you are more than you think - wayyyy more!

And limiting your possibilities to what you’ve tried before is never going to open the door to anything new.