Andy Nyman - Diamond Thoughts

My Dad died 3 years ago today and as I write that it still seems unreal to me.

This morning I lit the traditional Jewish Jahrzeit candle, it’s a memorial candle that burns for 24 hours as a reminder of the deceased. Whilst I’m not religious or indeed a believer in God, there is a joy and comfort in following the tradition, the real surprise though, is that tiny flickering candle makes it somehow feel as though Dad is there in the room.

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 69 and died aged 73 having spent the final 2 years of his life in care. Alzheimer’s is a brutal condition that slowly chips away at the sufferers brain, first taking their personality then slowly eroding their ability to function, speak, move & interact. What I really learned during that time is how there is still joy in the tiniest of moments and that just being able to sit with someone you love is a gift never to be over looked.

There is a strong chance that someone who reads this will currently, or recently have been going through the grieving process and I wanted to share something that I read at my Dad’s memorial service. The author of this is unknown, but it is so simple and beautiful, that it really helped me, maybe it will help one of you.

You can shed tears that he is gone,

Or you can smile because he has lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that he’ll come back,

Or you can open your eyes and see all he’s left.

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him,

Or you can be full of the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,

Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember him and only that he’s gone,

Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind, be empty, and turn your back,

Or you can do what he’d want; Smile, Open your eyes, Love and go on.

If you’ve ever dieted, or on a diet now, or just want to change a couple of things, this is just brilliant. Even if you feel like you don’t need to lose weight, this ‘Stress-buster’ diet is just unbelievable. I swear by it, it requires little or no effort & yet you will feel the results after day 1.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

This is a specially formulated diet designed to help you cope with the
stress that builds during the day.

BREAKFAST
1/4 grapefruit
1 slice whole-wheat toast, dry
8oz cup skimmed milk

LUNCH
4oz small portion lean, steamed chicken or white fish

4oz steamed spinach
1 cup herbal tea
1 Chocolate digestive biscuit

MID-AFTERNOON TEA
The rest of the Chocolate digestives in the packet
1 tub of Hagen-Daaz ice cream with chocolate-chip topping

1 jar hot fudge sauce

Nuts, Cherries, 1 entire spray cream tube.

DINNER
2 loaves garlic bread with cheese
1 family-size Dominos pizza, thick crust

4 glasses of wine (red or white) or 4 cans of larger, or both.
3 Snickers or Milky Ways

LATE NIGHT SNACK
1 whole frozen cheesecake eaten directly from freezer.

RULES FOR DIETING

• If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.

• If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, the calories in the candy bar are cancelled out by the diet soda.

• When you eat with someone else, calories don’t count if you don’t eat more than they do.

• Food used for medicinal purposes NEVER count, such as hot chocolate, brandy, toast and Sara Lee Cheesecake.

• If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner.

• Movie related foods (Chocloate peanuts, Buttered Popcorn, Hot Dogs, Pick ‘n’ Mix, Nachos etc. do not have additional calories because they are part of the ‘entertainment package’ and not part of one’s personal fuel.

• Cookie pieces contain no fat — the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

• Things licked off knives and spoons have no calories if you are in the process of preparing something. Examples are peanut butter on a knife while making a sandwich and ice cream on a spoon while making a sundae.

• Foods that have the same colour have the same number of calories. Examples are: spinach and pistachio ice cream; mushrooms and white chocolate.
NOTE: Chocolate is a universal colour and may be substituted for any other food colour.

• Foods that are frozen have no calories because calories are units of heat. Examples are ice cream, frozen pies, and lolipops.

Ok, so you’re on your own, walking through a busy street and everyone bumping & jostling you is driving you crazy. How can you avoid this without simply resorting to looking like a nutter or a tramp?

Well here is a trick I have used for years and am sharing for the first time. This won’t irradicate all jostles, but without a doubt it cuts a path with noticeable effect.

When walking, look directly ahead of you with your eye-line held just ABOVE the heads of the oncoming crowds. Keep walking and imagine that people will move, guess what, they do. Noticeable jostle-reduction.

Try it, see if it works for you.

Scare-mongering doesn’t get much better than this, especially when it comes to the dread fear of cancer. Rather than publishing the inspiring reality of how much progress is made in curing and dealing with the disease, or the facts of how many people survive, the Daily Mail chooses to constantly bombard us with this instead. This staggering list is comprises of all the different things the Daily Mail has reported cause cancer. Visit this brilliant Facebook group to see all the links and published stories http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=269512464297&ref=nf

ABORTION
AGE AIR POLLUTION

AIR TRAVEL
ALCOHOL
ALLERGIES
ARTIFICIAL FLAVOURS
ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
ASBESTOS
ASPIRIN
BABIES
BABY BOTTLES

BABY FOOD
BACON
BARBEQUES
BATH WATER
BEEF
BEER
BEING A BLACK PERSON
BEING A WOMAN
BEING A MAN
BEING A SKINNY GIRL
BEING SOUTHERN
BISCUITS
BLOWJOBS
BRAS
BREAD
BREAST FEEDING
BREAST IMPLANTS
BROKEN HEARTS
BUBBLE BATH
BURGERS
CAFFINE
CALCUIM
CANDLE-LIT DINNERS
CANNED FOOD
CARBOHYDRATES
CARS
CEREAL
CEREAL BOXES
CHEESE
CHICKEN
CHILDLESSNESS
CHILDREN
CHILDREN’S FOOD
CHILLIS
CHINESE MEDICINE
CHIPS
CHLORINE
CHOCOLATE
CITY LIVING
CLIMATE CHANGE
COCA COLA
COD LIVER OIL
COLD TEMPERATURES & LACK OF SUNLIGHT
COFFEE
CONSTAPATION
CONTRACEPTIVE PILLS
COOKING
CORDLESS PHONES
CRAYONS
CURRY
DENTAL X-RAYS
DEODRANT
DIETING
DOGS
EGGS
EGGS (free range)
ELECTRICITY
ENGLISH BREAKFAST
FACEBOOK
FALSE NAILS
FATHERHOOD
FIBRE
FINGER LENGTH
FISH
FIZZY DRINKS
FLIP FLOPS
FLY SPRAY
FRUIT
FRUIT JUICE

GARDENS
GRAPEFRUIT
HAIR DYE
HAM

HEIGHT
HONEY
HOT DRINKS h
HOUSEPRIDE
HRT
HUGGING
HULA HOOPS
INTERNET
IVF
KIDNEY TRANSPLATS
LAMB
LARGE HEADS
LEFT-HANDEDNESS
LIPSTICK
LIVER TRANSPLANTS
LONG RING FINGER
MENOPAUSE
MENSTRUATION
METAL
MILK
MOBILE PHONES
MODERN LIVING
MONEY
MORPHINE
MOUTHWASH
NUCLEAR POWER
OBESITY
OESTROGEN
OLDER FATHERS
PASTRY
PEANUT BUTTER
PERFUME
PICKLES
PIZZA
PLASTIC BAGS
PORK
POTATOES
POVERTY
PREGNANCY
PRINCE CHARLES ORGANIC CRISPS
PRINGLES
RADIOACTIVITY
RICE
SAUSAGES

RETIREMENT

SEX
SHAVING
SKIING
SOUP
SPACE TRAVEL
SUN CREAM
TALCUM POWDER
TEA
TEEN SEX
THIRD HAND SMOKE (read article and you’ll understand)
TILL RECEIPTS
TURNING ON THE LIGHTS AT NIGHT TO GO TO THE LOO
VITAMINS
WAR IN IRAQ
WATER
WELL-DONE MEAT
WI-FI
WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE
WORKING
X-RAYS

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE- SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF- IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Now count the F’s in that sentence. Count them ONLY ONCE! Then see below…

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ANSWER:

There are six F’s in the sentence.

About 70% of people only see 3, this is because you dismiss the ‘f’ in the word ‘of’, it becomes psychologically invisible.

If you spotted more than three ‘f’s, congratulations, you are in the super-smart minority.