J W Nottage

Time for a new way of thinking. Use all our assets and not just focus on money. the human race has so much potential. Find it and use it wisely listening to the masters who guide us. #money #thinking

It’s not easy to maintain that tranquil, holiday feeling when you step back into everyday life. Best way is to allow 10 mins a day to transport yourself back to a time when you felt truly at peace with yourself, then commit to memory every detail, the sights, smells, sounds and feeling of that scene. Practise everyday and soon you’ll be able to conjure up the feeling of peace in times of stress and improve your health and well-being.

Am sitting in my rented cottage in Brixham, Devon. There are window seats in both the living room and the bedroom areas that look down to the harbour and right out across the sea. It is quiet, restful and very peaceful, just what I need after too much stress and hard work. Am only here for a couple of days so have to go soon but hope to return very soon. It has made me realise that I need a change in lifestyle. I need to reconnect with nature and with scenes of beauty and places of peace. May I find my place of peace very soon. And may you all find yours.  The answer to our constant quests for our roots and our true homes comes from listening to your soul and expecting the answer to come quite unexpectedly into your mind when you are least expecting it. Just recognise the answer when it comes.

My submissions today. Writer and the Enviroment. Have become very concerned with the environment. More the natural world than the urban world but we do need to preserve the planet. It is precious. It nurtures us. It is home. Think what you can do for the environment and how you can help to preserve the planet’s resources. It’s a real feel good thing to do. Believe me. Best ideas get a signed copy of my book The Legacy of Wisdom.

Amongst all the doom and gloom of economic disaster and generally inadequacy of the world’s leaders, arrived a moment of hope. The Olympic Torch arrived in Cirencester yesterday. Hot, sunny day and crowds of happy people lining the streets. We are still a tribe of people who need symbols of hope to encourage us to achieve our own dreams and the Olympic Torch is just such a symbol - a symbol of athletes striving to be the best. Even though commercialism has now got a slice of the action, the Olympics still hold a certain mystique and purity of purpose that inspires us all to stretch ourselves body and soul to do our very best.

The world’s leaders seem to have lost their mojos. What a sad bunch of indecisive shadows they are, come on boys and girls have the balls to do something really extraordinary and stand up for what you believe in. We need strong but fair leaders who will reward hard work and responsible values and protect the weak and vulnerable. We need to focus on a healthy economy, a fully functioning National Health Service and an upstanding and efficient police force.

Is it really that complicated?

All suggestions gratefully received!

Oh well, here we all are. Greece about to go - well who knows where? but out of the Euro and back to the drachma, and then what? Well, it will probably be for the best. You see the problem with the whole Europe thing is that Europe is not the USA. We do not have a common goal, culture or aspirations. We are all different, which is great so why not celebrate it and let The Italians, Spaniards, Germans, Greeks, Brits, Irish, French etc be themselves, pay for themselves and trade in their own way? 

I guess that would not be good for the greedy politicians who live the high life off our money. So why don’t we just turf them out of Brussels and return to living a good, honest, hard working but also fun life without being told what to do by a bunch of money grabbing bureaucrats? People power, people, use it!

Today was the final class in Writer and The Environment for my MA Creative Writing Course at Bath Spa. Felt sad. It has been an intense Course packed into a year. We still have the final term to come when we work on our manuscripts but today was the last part of the formal teaching and workshopping in this module. Wednesday will be the final class in my prose workshop.

Writer and The Environment has surprised me. I thought it would be full of woolly headed left wing, bearded gentlemen, clutching copies of The Guardian and recycling their entire household. It has been anything but. Our tutor Richard Kerridge is very gifted and has led the Course in such a way that we have learned and debated, agreed and disagreed and have been enriched by his gentle and sometimes not so gentle cajoling. I have always loved nature, it soothes me in times of stress and has proved a far more reliable inspirer than most people. 

Just because we live in the 21st Century doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy and indeed relish some of the great lyrical romantic nature writers - William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Hardy, those people who sought to express themselves via intuition rather than reason. Sometimes it is, indeed, wonderful to be taken unawares by the sublime and find ourselves transported by an overwhelming feeing that is beyond our control. I have been part of a group of people gathered on a Mexican beach who each fell silent as a magnificent setting sun fell gently into the western sky followed by a small burst of dazzling green light, which appeared to us to be other worldly - an indication to each of us that our unsettled world could be infused, even if only for a short time, by a shot of magic.

When I am out of sorts and distressed I walk across hills and through the green fields of the English Countryside. If I am very lucky I find myself in Scotland and then I will walk through the golf courses of The Gleneagles Hotel and gaze at Glen Devon and be soothes and uplifted by the sight of the stunning beauty of the hills that change colour throughout the day. Or I will walk way up above Loch Tay and gaze across to the hills where I can see the figure of the ancient dragon who protects this area. It is said that dragons once lived in the hills and mountains and their presence still exists. I am certain I can see this dragon’s head, body and haunches quite clearly and feel this valley is blessed. I look down to Loch Tay and feel my anxieties quietly disappear as I experience a higher power - a power that doesn’t worry about irrelevant things like idle gossip but who rises above the mundane to encourage the human race to fulfil its destiny here on Earth.

It is these moments which sustain me in times of difficulty and distress. I believe in God so my higher power is God, but if you don’t believe in God the higher power can still exist as a pure benevolent force of supernatural being. 

But it isn’t only the sublime which sustains. Today we have an ever increasing urgent need to consider the planet and how we can stop our relentless use of its resources and our damage of it. A new kind of nature writing has developed through writers like Kathleen Jamie who rather than stand back and observe, write about nature as an intrinsic part of themselves. And that’s what we are an intrinsic part of the world and each other. Let’s not waste it but embrace the future for it is our gift to live it in the best way possible, for ourselves and for future generations.

We seem to all rush around achieving I’m not sure what, except often taking on things that aren’t going to bring either internal happiness or material reward. STOP. Think about what you really want to do in life, what beat your soul dances to and then devise a plan to make your dream come true. If we follow our true path then all the rest will fall into place. 

Watched The State Opening of Parliament this morning. It was a lovely step away from routine and the constant bombardment of information that hits my brain every few seconds. Made me think. Am off to Barcelona this afternoon as I work in Formula One. Is it fulfilling? No. Why am I doing it? To earn money. What do I really want to do? Write. So I reckon my time would be better spent using my brain power to make that happen rather than chasing my tail or in this case income for the mortgage. Sometimes, we get stuck in a groove that we feel we have to stay in as it pays the bills, when really we need to leap out of the groove and find a destination that leads to fulfilment. We all have different qualities and we have so much to give ourselves, our friends and families and the world. Enjoy the Ride, and if you aren’t then change your horse and find one which has the right feel! 

A simple question but a complex answer. Is it a physical location, like I’m in London? or where am I in life? which is a lot more confusing as I don’t really know. I knew more about life, or thought I did, when I was 18 years old! or is it where am I in relation to other people, in which case how do you measure where they might be? 

Where am I? Well, I guess I am somewhere along the line in my life journey and trying to fumble around finding my path of destiny and hoping I’ll find it before I move on from planet earth, and not only find it but fulfil it. But there again it’s not all about me. We all need to find our paths of destiny and fulfil them to ensure that we are all going to remain on planet earth.

Happy Sunday evening, World.

I think true friends are a great blessing, but I do feel that we miss out on friendship due to busy lives, stressful lives, working hard lives. But remember very few people regret spending a day in the office, most regrets are linked to loss of friends either physical loss or the loss of the close bond that was once there and then gets drained in the melee of daily life. I have a few very close friends, those types who will listen to drunken rants and comfort in times of loss and who simply enrich my life.

A new friend is Jordan, who has quietly gone about giving me all the support I need to promote my book The Legacy of Wisdom. The Legacy of Wisdom has been a tough journey. I’ve really tried to think about life and how the human race can fulfill its destiny, and exit from the mess we find ourselves in today. Jordan is my new agent and also one of the people I really trust and trust is very important. Think about it. Think about how many people you can really trust with your deepest thoughts, hopes and dreams and who will support and encourage you with no hidden agenda of their own. If you have more than five you are lucky and probably a very special person yourself. Enjoy the weekend.