Blog Archives - FordeFables

January 31st, 2015.

31/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Being the richest man in the cemetery and occupying the biggest plot wouldn't mean anything to me and those I leave behind. What matters more to them when I am dead is knowing that I did something with my life when I lived, and knowing that every now and then I made someone's day a bit happier and their life more meaningful.

Knowing that you have integrity matters, for if you have it, nothing else matters; and if you don't, nothing else matters! Everything else is just sprinkles on your cappuccino. Knowing that there are times to 'accept' and times to 'resist' matters to the preservation of emotional energy, as well as knowing that the only 'good fight' is when you fight for something other than your own emotions and self interest.

Learning early on in life that worry is a negative and wasteful form of energy that can only exist within currents of 'might-have-been dreams, will save you much heartache and hurt. Rivers of remorse can but overflow with ripples of regret and can never find the channel to happiness and contentment. While worry will never stop it raining tomorrow, it can keep one from feeling sunny today. Acquiring the approval of others is often made to matter too much in the satisfaction stakes of self-acceptance. At worst, this activity has the potential to denigrate truth and at at best it depletes our honest intent. It will always matters that people feel they can love and be loved in return. Know however, that their love for you will be more enduring when it is given, not for who you are, but how you make them feel.

It also matters that opposites can both attract and repel, if wider humanity and greater diversity is to be preserved. To be human infers that one is constantly in the grip of opposing emotions and is obliged daily to reconcile apparently conflicting tensions.

One is never too young to teach, too old to learn, too insensitive to care, too poor to give, too incapacitated to help, too ignorant to understand, too distant to feel, too deaf to hear, too blind to see or too insignificant to matter. However great or small the world seeks to make us, we all matter!

When all the water has been drained from the cooking pot, it is the substance that is left what matters most. You matter. I matter. We matter! Nature matters! Nuture matters! God matters! Every rabbit needs a hole, every person needs a home and every creature needs a hug." William Forde: January 31st, 2015.

January 30th, 2015.

30/1/2015

Thought for today:
"The 18th century, English lexicographer, critic and essayist, Dr. Samuel Johnson used to tell his readers that 'The love of life was a prerequisite to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking.' My late father used to say, 'If you do anything, son, always do it well or not at all and you will feel much better for it.'

I know for a fact that my dad who left school and started work at the age of 13 years in County Kilkenny, Ireland never did read Johnson and I doubt he even heard of the man, but it just goes to show that it doesn't take the wit of a scholar or the language of a wordsmith to say something plainly and say it well. It was as if he inwardly knew that simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication and that there was no point in using big words for small matters which could be plainly spoken.

My father was a modest man of quiet demenour who believed that in conversation, most folk could be better entertained by listening to them. I suppose that he discovered early on in his life that even a fish wouldn't show itself up if it kept its mouth shut. One of the few sayings I can recall is when he said,' Don't ever argue with a fool, son, and if you do, then make sure that they aren't doing the same thing as you!'

At the age of 11 years, I was a very good footballer who was in the adult team at 'St. Patrick's Roman Catholic School' in Heckmondwike, playing alongside boys who were three and four years older than me. To me, I was one of the most aspiring footballers on the planet who was soon to find himself in great demand by the professional clubs across the land. (Little did I know at the time, that six months later while playing football on the Third Avenue of Windybank Estate where I lived, I'd be run over by a large wagon, unable to walk for three years and never play football again).

Being the eldest of seven children from a materially poor family, we couldn't afford to buy the new green and white team shirt when it was offered for sale by the school for the price of two pounds and ten shillings. As I went out the door that morning, dad called me back and said,' Put this on son. It is green and white and although big, it is better than that black t-shirt you've got to wear.' That was the very first time I learned that in his early twenties, my father had played professional football for the county of Kilkenny where he was born as well as having played for the Irish National football squad and even captained it on a couple of occasions.

Although the shirt he had given me stretched all the way down past my knees, I was never as proud as I was that day to have played in my father's shirt in which he played for Ireland in. In the words of Aesop, 'When all is said and done, more is said than done!' and through his simple action, my father made me the happiest boy in the school football team that day and the proudest of sons. God bless you, Dad, I love you." William Forde: January 30th, 2015.

January 29th, 2015.

29/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Youth is never wasted on the young. While in many ways they tend to see things in simple black and white terms, it is only once they discover the many colours of the rainbow world they live in that they come into their own.

They only need to see a colour once before they feel it in their bones. Children nearly always prefer to say it in colour whenever provided with the opportunity. Their first form of expression is in crayons and coloured paints and plastercine. Then they dress in colour to suit their mood and personality and finally, they finish up speaking in colour.

Paradoxically, because of the difficulty they experience today in finding a job upon leaving school or university; of rarely being able to find the deposit to buy their own house or establish the financial means to leave home and set up in their own rented flat, the youth of the New Millenium often find their lives unexciting to look forward to. Hence their language invariably becomes as 'colourful' as it is ever likely to get as they explain their desperately drab situations to others.

However hard being young may be, prefer it always to attaining old age and seasoned wisdom. The most important thing to remember is never to leave your youth behind, however old you get. Never become too old or too tired with life to jump in puddles for no other reason than the sheer fun of doing so. It may get you wet, but it can bring you fun. We stay young in heart so long as we remember that youth is not a time of life, but rather a state of being. It is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips, countless freckles, supple knees and enough breath to raise a hot air balloon, but is more a quality of imagination that can take your body to new places and your mind to the twin towers of excitement and adventure.

Hold fast to your youth for it will sneak away as soon as you forget it, and never abandon it to the ravages of old age and rocking-chair contentment." William Forde: January 29th, 2015.

January 28th, 2015.

28/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Isn't it marvellous that given all of the beautiful and exotic flowers there are in the world to choose from, it is our most common species that are chosen to express our love between the years of child and adult. Flowers are words of love that even a child understands. To the child, the earth laughs in flowers. From the earliest of ages they pick flowers from the hedgerows and the fields for their mothers and no fair flower is ever left standing along the wayside long.

The first attraction all children find within the floral world is with the small white flowers that can be found in common grass, wild fields and meadowland in abundandance and which are fashioned into daisy chains with tiny hands of love. Such is often the very first gift of nature that is made by the fingers of a fascinated child and which is given to a loving mum. The best lesson that all children learn first is to give their mother flowers when she is able to smell them and not when she is dead. It is as if they can sense that every flower is but a soul blossoming in nature; a thing that smells far sweeter in its fragrance than when it is pressed between the pages of recollection.

The fashioning of daisy chains during early childhood is sequentially followed with the discovery of the buttercup that is placed beneath the chin to reflect one's character. Then in our years of growing passion, the dandelion becomes the determinant of all deciders to measure the likeihood that exists in the heart of another; 'He loves me...he loves me not....He loves me..........he loves me not......' It is as if it has taken half a lifetime to understand that just as a butterfly is a flying flower, the faded dandelion that blows in the breeze is nought but a tethered butterfly.

Then last, but not least, we should not forget the bloom that is probably the world's favourite and which is given in the most tender of moments to the ones we love; my mother's favourite, the red rose. Whereas a grown man seeking to impress his love may shower her in profusion, every smart child knows that one red rose says more than a dozen could ever say.

Being the world's greatest lover of the red rose my late mother frequently waxed lyrical about them. She would often quote a once-read phrase, 'A single rose can be my garden.....and a single friend my world,' but the saying I heard her tell me most was, 'Fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.'

Ah... how the simplicity of the common flowers shape our character and determine our fate." William Forde: January 28th, 2015.

January 27th, 2015.

27/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Never in my wildest imagination could I believe that I would ever see colour so resplendent in the branches of a tree or in any corner of the world..........that was until I saw two children merrily at play and who were wholly oblivious in their blind innocence of the discrimination of the civilised world and the dislike of certain colours within the human spectrum of bigotry." William Forde: January 27th, 2015.

January 26th, 2015.

26/1/2015

Thought for today:
"The young are always threathening to leave home as soon as they realise that there is a great big world out there beyond the garden wall where the grass will be greener. Young or old however, when we run away, we are usually running away from self and consequences.

I remember the first time I left home. I was five years old and had decided that three days at first school was long enough for me and that life was too short to be stuck in a stuffy classroom from 9am to 3pm. I managed to travel about three miles before some interferring adult turned me into the police. I was seven years old when I next packed my case and took off for the hills. I found running away to be easy, but it was not knowing what to do next that usually brought me home. I sneaked back upstairs and unpacked in the hope that my mother hadn't noticed me gone.

Paradoxically, the more I think about it, the more I realise that 'running away' is a kind of 'unhealthy stillness' and that it represents an unwillingness to move on with one's life.

In fact, it could be argued that writing is a form of 'running away' from the realities of life, and perhaps it is. Perhaps all authors are little more than experiential burglars; petty thieves with vivid imaginations who are unable to write more than half a dozen lines before starting to make things up.

As my dear mother used to tell me when I was a child, 'Billy, home is where the heart is. Your home resides in you and like a tortoise, you take it with you wherever you go. You can never run away from home because you can never run away from yourself.'" William Forde: January 26th, 2015.

January 25th, 2015.

25/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Abraham Lincoln, former President of the USA, was if nothing else, a man who remained true to himself. At the very start of his Presidency he told the people that he desired to conduct the affairs of his administration in such a manner that if at the end of it when he came to lay down the reins of power, even if he'd lost every friend on earth he'd ever had, he would be content in the knowledge that deep down inside, he would at least have one friend left; himself.

This expression by Lincoln brought to mind a saying that my mother frequently espoused amidst her pearls of wisdom when she would often remind me, 'Whoever you fall out with Billy, never fall out with yourself. That way you'll always have someone to fall back on who's dependable!'

Mum was born on this day, the 25th of January, 1922 although throughout her life she frequently told us that it was the 24th of January which was on her birth certificate. It is my guess that nothing suspicious lay behind this mystery; merely the desire to have two birthdays! She died at the early age of 64 years on the 26th April, 1986 at peace with her Maker, family, friends and with herself. God bless you Mum."William Forde: January 25th, 2015.

January 23rd, 2015.

23/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Once I feared horses until I learned to ride. Then I found out that I was born in the Chinese year of the horse. I have feared many things in my life, but fortunately, I have been able to face my fears and eventually conquer them.

Having worked with countless people with high fear levels for over forty years that have led to immobilisation of their actions, I can tell you unequivocally that if you continue to do the thing you fear, the eventual death of that fear is certain to occur. First, it is natural and healthy to have some fear of many things, but is most unhealthy and unhelpful to have too much fear of anything!

It is healthy and purposeful to have 'rational' fears and potentially unhealthy and non-productive to hold 'irrational' fears. A 'rational' fear might involve getting run down by a passing car if one crosses a busy road in rush hour traffic without exercising care whilst an 'irrational' fear could be getting killed by a lion when one is never likely to be in the presence of one.

It is unhealthy however, to allow either rational or irrational fears to immobilise you. All problem fears are invariably 'irrational fears.' It often requires courage to face one's fear, but only through facing fear can fear be mastered and brought under control. It takes true courage to face one's fears and not repress them, but it takes control to be able to manage and master them.

Each time a fear is faced, its impact on you is lessened. Each time a fear is avoided, the fear level is increased. There is but one road towards conquering one's fear level and that is to recognise it, face it, learn to manage it and thereby dispel it from all serious consideration.

The most effective fear reduction method I have ever encountered is one that depends upon the trainee being familiar with the discipline of relaxation training. The method is called, 'Systematic Desensitisation' and it involves approaching one's fear in a step-by-step manner, first by learning to vividly imagine yourself doing it while in a state of 'relaxation' and then actually doing it in the outside world to reinforce the experience in one's memory bank. As far as body function is concerned, the brain is unable to distinguish between the 'real' and the 'imagined'; 'the inner and outer body experience.'

It is the presence and the degree of fear that matters and not whether it be from an inner or outer body experience. It is its excessive degree which takes it beyond one's immediate control and effectively immobilises and freezes one's actions. Hence the need to approach the problem by the twin means of imagination techniques and practical ones." William Forde: January 23rd, 2015.

January 22nd, 2015.

22/1/2015

Thought for today:
"I know that you shouldn't take sweets from strangers or let them kiss you, but just this once make an exception and put it there Buster!" William Forde January 22nd, 2015.

January 21st, 2015.

21/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Thoughout our lives we will find ourselves faced with dilemmas and embarassing problems and how we respond to our predicament will indicate the nature of the person we are and the one we will become.

The nature of our dilemma can either be practical or moral. For my part, I rarely let any practical decision in my life clutter my youthful dreams because I know that once I let go of the child in me, I will lose the man. No, the answer to most of life's dilemmas is invariably closer than you think. When you are in a fix, you could do much worse than rely upon your past experience, as I usually find that if you trust your own good judgement, you will usually find that the fix is in you.

Often I feel that life is made up of moral dilemmas that have been placed before us to test our values and absorb our minds. As growing children, we quickly learn that we have options on every step of life's journey and if we wish to get what we want out of life, we will need to make the correct choice at the right time.

Hence; making the correct choice assumes greater importance if we wish to avoid a hard landing. Everyone understands that it is impossible to make an omelet without cracking eggs. Why then is it harder to see that there is no gain without some pain in this life and and that what we most want, we will have to work for.

If you seek fun along with a free spirit however, never let go of the child in you. It is the child in us that is a constant reminder that jumping in puddles for the sheer hell of it can be magic and result in you getting more fun, more often out of life.

Oten when we are too adult, we seem to throw all of our learning overboard at a stage in our life and years of maturity when we ought to know better. Will we never learn to always hold something back in reserve and that we need to exercise some discretion in order to maintain a necessary level of decency in our person instead of revealing all at the first opportunity?

Nobody enters life's wash house without carrying some dirty laundry in their basket. Hence, all the more reason not to wash it in full view of public gaze. When we chose to wash our dirty laundry in public (and especially on the social media) whatever our motives happen to be, it will invariably prove to have been the wrong choice and we will never emerge from the process without some degree of embarassment exposing us for the fools we are!" William Forde: January 21st, 2015.

January 20th, 2015.

20/1/2015

Thought for today:
"A true friend is the greatest of life's assets that will come your way. Never underestimate their value in your life and the part they play in your overall sense of wellbeing and happiness.

A true friend will never abandon you in a storm nor shelter from your upset, for friendship is to understand as it is to be understood. Not everyone can be a true friend. This relationship can only be enjoyed by those who are great of heart, for the mean and cowardly will never know.

True friends will never conceal what one truly thinks. Knowing and understanding what makes your heart tick and excites or pains you, they will be prepared to tell you in a matter of moments what is the matter with you, though they may not always seem so good a friend after the telling.

True friendship is no easy thing to understand as only a true friend has the courage to tell you when to talk, shut up or listen. True friendship needs not idle words of platitudes and false praise to keep it going. Its language is not words, but understanding and its presence is more recognisable when the silence between two people is comfortable and their sounds more meaningful.

Though I may be strong, I will be stronger by having a true friend by my side when I am cold and cheerless, knowing that they will hug me and share their coat without my request for such. I don't need a friend to falsely flatter or fawn my affection. I don't need a carbon copy of me to reinforce my substance of being; by doing what I do whenever I choose to do it: my shadow does that well enough.

What I need in a true friend is all you are when you are at your best." William Forde: January 20th, 2015.

January 19th, 2015.

19/1/2015

Thought for today:
"'Get me out of here, Nigel. This place is a mad house if ever I saw one. Cat and dog ignore their differences and pretend to be equal. They all dance to the same tune. It's not the house that I was born into.'

I want to find a place where I feel I belong once more; a country where I can be myself in comfort and contentment. I need to live in a place where every home, however humble it may be, is one's castle; a home above which flies 'one flag only' that clearly identifies who I am and where I come from. I want to be me. I want the freedom to believe in my God. I want to marry the person of my choosing. I want to be free to think my own thoughts and express them fearlessly within the law of the land. I want to be brave enough to say what I truly feel and know that I will not be arrested, imprisoned or killed for having appropriately voiced such views.

And therein lies the greatest problem with the experience and social engineering experiment of 'multiculturism' within any democratic society.

Though some people would like to believe that we were all born equal and therefore we are all equal in today's world, anyone with a functional brain and who isn't blind to the wide disparity between the rich and the poor, the governing and the governed and the powerful and the powerless will know that to be untrue. I fear that it is 'only in the eyes of God is this sentiment true.'

The truth is that we are all born 'different' and are blessed with diversity of traits, characteristics, cultural, religious and ethnic preferences. No country, culture, religion, race or sex is superior in merit to another. From the moment we are born, nature and nurture teaches us all to 'discriminate'.The best that mankind can strive towards is to make 'access to equality of all opportunity' as realistic a prospect as is possible." William Forde: January 19th, 2015.

January 18th, 2015.

18/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Whom among us can seriously doubt the existence of a God or supernatural being when one gazes upon the splendour and magic of yet another morning sunrise that beckons the birth of another beautiful day?

One of the very first lessons I learned as a child from my mother was the importance of 'giving' as a means of character development. She taught me that it is only through the act of giving freely to others; the giving of ourselves, our love and compassion, our assets, our time and our talents that we each can become the good person that God meant us to be.

As a child, my life was spared following a very bad traffic accident, after which I vowed to devote any future good works of mine to my Maker. While it took many failed attempts during my teenage years to eventually transform my behaviour from that of 'bad' to 'good,' along with the help of many others I think that I finally succeeded in this task. Since that day of reformation, I have genuinely tried to be just and do good towards my fellow man in both my thoughts and actions although I have often fallen short of the mark. Any success I have experienced, I have always shared wherever possible with others who were less fortunate than myself.

During the course of my life so far, I have been blessed to have met so many good people and done so many things that would have one time seemed impossible. And without doubt, my greatest blessing has been meeting my wife Sheila four years ago.

Over the past four years, Sheila has spent many thousands of hours ensuring that as my life has had meaning, so shall my death and the years thereafter. She has designed for me an extentive website which not only doubles as a biography of my life; dealing with places of interest I've been, unusual events I've seen, famous people I've met and things I've done, but also enables me to continue freely 'giving' when I leave this life. This is a website that includes details of all the books I've ever had published (sixty one), musical plays, songs, poetry, hymns I've written, recorded radio interviews I've given and miscellaneous writings I've penned; along with my unbroken daily thoughts over the past three years. This website is accessed by www.fordefables.co.uk

There are also a dozen short romantic stories which I have written since I've met my wife Sheila which can be freely read in my 'Tales from Portlaw' section, accompanied by illustrations. In the section marked 'audio,' there are over a dozen children's stories I wrote which can be freely 'listened' to by the 5-11 year old. These stories have been recorded by famous people, and when she was alive and her children were aged 7 and 9 years old, the late Princess Diana used to read some of them to her sons, Princes Harry and William. Among the many books I have had published are a couple that the late Nelson Mandela praised when he once phoned me, a series of stories that the late Dame Catherine Cookson paid to have published and a story of the Second World War that Dame Vera Lynn praised and read from to a school in her area of Ditchling, Sussex, along with many more of my publications for children that 850 celebrities and famous names have publically read in Yorkshire schools, assemblies and libraries between 1990 and 2002.

Between 1990 and 2003, I gave every penny of profit from my book sales to charity. This amount came to over £200,000. Since my wife Sheila persuaded me to recommence writing books, all profit from their sales has also gone to charity and she will ensure that when I am no longer alive that all profit from future sales of my books shall continue to go to charity in perpetuity.

All of my books are now avilable to be purchased in either hard copy or can be obtained in e-book format if preferred. The hard copies can be bought from www.amazon.com, www.lulu.com, www.barnesandnoble.com and all e-books can be purchased from www.smashwords.com. Enjoy.

Of all the sayings that I most admire and one of the most difficult lessons I have needed to learn in the past is the one that distinguishes 'importance' from being 'nice.' Often in life, folk can be easily filled with a disproportionate sense of their own 'importance' which makes them lose sight of their essential 'niceness.' as a human being. Never forget that while it's nice to feel important, it is far more important to be nice and that doing good makes one feel much better than doing bad." William Forde: January 18th, 2015.

" William Forde: January 20th, 2015.

January 17th, 2015.

17/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Was not the first Christmas tree you ever saw the most magical of Nature's gifts that ever graced the month of December or the first birthday-cake candle you ever blew out the start of life's wishing well?

Did not the first puddle you ever splashed in contain that embryo of 'dare devil' and 'couldn't care less' attitude that has followed you through life ever since?

Did not your first kiss spring from the warmest lips you ever touched, the one pair of lips you'll not forget; your mother's?

Do you recall that happy moment of finding first-love-true and discovering that feeling of specialness that made you know that you were treasured above all others? Can you remember as you walked down the aisle on your wedding day and were gently passed from the arm of the first man in your life to the last, how you silently vowed there and then that this would be the only occasion that you would ever come between them?

Such wonderful experiences for you to treasure, but great as they be, none are ever as memorable as the sight of your first-born's smile and the knowledge that as its mother, you are the most important person in their life. Isn't all this joy not worth every ounce of suffering that life implies in the rearing of them?" William Forde: January 17th, 2015.

January 16th, 2015.

16/1/2015

Thought for today:
"However old I get, I never enter the month of January without thoughts of my first bicycle. At the time the weather was too bad to start learning to ride it, and it being second hand and in much need of repair to make it roadworthy, I accepted that spring would come before I could have my first lesson.

I can still remember every detail of that first bicycle my father bought me. It was second-hand and came in rusty black and was without mudguards; the frame was black, the wheels spokes were rusty and about a third of them bent. It was bought from Cleckheaton Market Place late one Saturday morning in the cold month of January for the princely sum of ten bob. This represented a significant knockdown from the original twelve and sixpence asking price because it was punctured both back and front, had no front brake and the pedals were damaged. Hence, until my dad got it back home and fully stripped down, there was simply no way of knowing whether the inner tubes were of decent quality or ressembled a patch-work quilt. I was 10 years old at the time, the year was 1953, the number one hit was 'How much is that doggie in the window' and although the Second World War had been ended over six years, I'd never experienced the luxury of eating a bannana.

It was spring before I got that bicycle back on the road. Over the next six months, I learned to ride on this trusty charger and rode it everywhere I could; often without the benefit of workable brakes. One of our more popular games of the time was to arm oneself with mum's sweeping brush and with the brush end wedged firmly beneath one's preferred armpit and the narrow handle pointing outwards, ride headlong towards another armed bicycle-rider charging in the opposite direction with the sole purpose of dismounting him.

Then, during my 11th year of life, I incurred a bad traffic accident when a wagon ran over me and mangled my body and legs around its drive shaft. I was on the hospital danger list for over two months and received the Last Sacraments many times. When the doctors told my parents that I wouldn't live, my father promised to buy me a brand new bicycle if I did. I did live, but then was told that I wouldn't walk again.

I didn't walk for three years, but being a man of his word, my father nevertheless kept his promise and still bought me a brand new Raleigh bicycle with a three-speed Sturmey-Archer gear-shift cable that enabled one to change gears. This was 'state of the art' for its time and certainly not the type of bicycle that a child from a poor household ever owned brand new.

The bicycle was bought on the 'never never' and cost dad a total of £16, including interest. This amount that was duely paid off in seven and sixpence per-week instalments from dad's £11 per week wage, from which he received ten-bob-per-week spending allowance. No wonder he never drank or smoked!

I loved that Raleigh bike and rode it daily once I got feelings back below the waist in my thirteenth year. I remember only being able to bend one knee at the time during the years I couldn't walk, due to over fifty operations I had in straightening the most damaged leg. However, I still rode my bicycle daily without fail. I needed to be lifted on the bicycle to start with and if I had to stop peddling for any reason, I fell off and just used to lay there on the road until a stranger came along and lifted me back on the bicycle. Because I could only bend one knee, my father turned the bicycle into a fixed-gear riding model and that device enabled me to turn both pedals with one good leg only.

I have no doubt that in today's health and safety world of 'dos and don'ts', that our bicycle tournaments armed with mum's long-handled brush would have been deemed a criminal act under some obscure duelling law and that my parents would have been arrested for negligence and I would have been taken into care. Thank God that I lived in different times and had parents who loved me more than they feared the law or the consequences of me falling off a bicycle, breaking a leg again or being poked by a brush! Oh, how I loved riding my bicycles, both old and new!" William Forde: January 16th, 2015.

January 15th, 2015.

15/1/2015

Thought for today:

"Sorry, but forget my walk today. I'll manage somehow without a lamp post to pee on. Wake me up at tea time and meanwhile just stir the suds around a bit while you're at it, Buster. I'm fed up of being told by every bitch I meet on the street corner that I look like a dog Today I feel like a bit of pampering." William Forde:January 15th, 2015.

January 14th, 2015.

14/1/2015

Thought for today:
"A few days ago while I was in hospital receiving my regular three-weekly blood transfusion, a dear person with whom I have become a friend over the past two years called Anne visited at my house and left me a pot of her jam which she knows I love. The fact that she did this kind act on the very same day that her own husband was undergoing a serious operation of uncertain outcome made her thoughtfulness more magnificent to behold. It also made her deed an unquestionable act of love. To display the capacity to place the thoughts of another above that of oneself during a time of personal turmoil is to witness a compassion extraordinary and rare. Indeed, it is to experience an all-embracing act of love which would place the entire world at peace were it ever bottled and freely distributed to warring nations. While I regret not having been at home at the time of her visit, she knows that she will always have a home in my heart.

Cherish your friends and bind them close to your heart. We are all travellers in the wilderness of this world and the best treasure we will ever unearth during our journey is an honest friend. A real friend will walk into your life when the rest of the world walks by or out. Under the magnetism of friendship, attraction towards the opposites are made possible; the modest becomes bold, the shy, more confident and the impetuous prudent and discerning. It is only through the meeting and bonding with a special friend that a new world is born; that similarities between friends appear in abundance and opposite traits become complimentary and attractive to the friendship forged.

A true friend is not an ephemeral acquaintance with transient meaning and purpose. They are a person of eternal blessing that is as lifelong as the day your friendship was born; and they know how to make the best of jams!" William Forde: January 14th, 2015.

January 13th, 2015.

13/1/2015

Thought for today:

"You have no doubt heard the American phrase, 'Talk to the hand' which is simply a way of Jeremy Kyle devotees saying, 'Don't talk to me because I'm not listening to what you say.'

Well the 'Bronte Way' is to look people in the eye when we talk to them as it places them at their ease in our company. Or as we in Haworth say, 'Speak to the eye', which means, 'I am listening, because what you have to say matters to me, because you matter.'

During my many years as a Relaxation Trainer and group worker, whenever attempting to coach the improvement of one's social skills and reduce the stress level in any interpersonal situation, my advice was always to look the other person straight in the eye when talking to them. Indeed, the more delicate, embarrassing or fearful the communication was I would tell them, the more important it was to maintain eye contact. This simple act makes it more difficult (not impossible, but infinitely more difficult) to tell a lie and it makes it harder to evade the situation altogether without being visibly seen to 'bottle out' of the intended act.

So the very next time your partner asks, "Did you like that pie I baked you for tea, Darling?', if you can simply look her straight in the eye and say without choking, 'I loved it, sweetheart. It was the best pie I ever had,' then you know you've cracked it!" William Forde: January 13th, 2015.

January 12th, 2015.

12/1/2015

Thought for today:
"As it has been three weeks since my last blood transfusion, the time has come around once again for me to spend another day in hospital receiving one.

Had anyone told me years ago when I still sensed an immortality of presence and purpose that my days would soon be numbered, I would have probably told them to stop speaking nonsense and to fly their kite elsewhere; anywhere instead of my back yard.

When I first learned that I had a terminal illness, I must confess that part of me was inwardly angry as I'd only remarried the love of my life, Sheila, some four or five months earlier. I won't pretend that it was the easiest of experiences to get my head around, but once I had managed to accept the inevitability of my departure from this life and the uncertainty of my remaining length of time here on earth, I was eventually able to come to terms with the reality and implications of my condition. This knowledge produced in me a type of freedom hitherto unexperienced. Never forget that there is every chance that the best of days are still to come; not that they have been and gone!

Not being sure of one's future can sometimes be difficult to cope with, yet being certain can hold out the prospect of better enjoying the pleasures that you meet today and tomorrow. The obvious implication of my condition is 'not knowing' if I will still be alive in three months' time or three years or when to stay at home or risk going out, depending on the amount of oxygen in my blood or the clemancy or cold of the weather.

'Not knowing' is the greatest uncertainty that I now have to cope with for as long as I live. 'Not knowing' if the mere contact caused by caressing a child who has just developed a bug or giving them an innocent kiss or harmless hug will represent 'hello' or 'farewell'. 'Not knowing' when I stretch out my hand to another in friendship if the exchange of greeting carries within it the received and hidden germ that is passed from the shaken palm of another. 'Not knowing' how near or far to stand next to another with whom I am engaged in conversation; whether to risk their displeasure through my distance or jeopardise my continued well being by consuming their breath in too close a proximity to that of my own. 'Not knowing' if catching the mere blast of a chilled wind represents the travelling of a deadly bullet coming my way is now the life sentence that hangs over me for the rest of my days.

Living and walking around without the protection of an effective immune system with which to fend off even the mildest of illness is akin to walking the remainder of one's life on the edge of a steep cliff, as the absence of any effective immune system in my body plays Russian Roulette with each of my actions and everyday decisions that I make. And yet, if my illness has taught me one thing worthy of learning, it is that it's far, far better to die living than it is to live dying; that giving begets more pleasure than receiving and that the ugliest thing imaginable on the face of the earth is a human being without compassion.

As an author over the past twenty five years with over sixty published books to my name, I find the penning of a new story that I'm currently writing for publication a complete new experience. Whenever I have sat down to write a story in the past, I have never truly known 'where' and 'how' it will end. Last week, when I started to write my next story, the question wasn't 'where' or 'how' it would end, but 'if?'

It may seem a strange thing to hear me say, but there exists for me today an excitement to living my life on the edge of a cliff; not knowing when the ground upon which I walk will collapse beneath my feet and will swallow me up. Overall, I feel a heightened sense of exhilaration that can only be matched I suspect by the gambler's throw of the dice when all is at stake.

I was recently thanking God for having given me another day of life and this got me thinking about past sayings I'd heard from my dear old mum. I recalled something my mother once told me when she said, 'God hasn't added another day to your life for your benefit, Billy. He added it because there is someone out there who needs you. Now get a move on and fetch that washing in off the line or it'll never get ironed!'

I will end for now folks as I'm off out for a few pints!" William Forde: January 12th, 2015.

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January 12th, 2018.

12/1/2015

Thought for today:
"One of the most common, yet futile things that most young men and women do as they are growing up is to find love; common because we all need it and futile because we all possess it.

Please note I am not talking of marriage; important matrimony is to most. No, contrary to what they say, it isn't marriage that changes one; but being in love does and it most certainly changed me!

Being in love is like being in heaven on a rainy day. I love that uncontrollable emotion of 'being in love'; the effect of having butterflies when you wake up every morning and that feeling of warmth and smug satisfaction when you cuddle up in bed each night. It is the strongest emotion I have ever known. As an author, it informs my writing and as a man, it contents me enormously and settles my soul.

Where is it that we humans tend to go wrong than when seeking this experience? I know that we will not find love in good looks. Being attractive of body and face may initially excite you, but will not sustain you. Besides, the problem with human attraction is not knowing if it will be returned. Far, far better to give out love because one loves; not so that it be given back in equal measure.

One of my favourite authors Victor Hugo once expressed the sentiment that it was a grand thing to be loved, but a grander thing still, to love. So first find the love in yourself before seeking it in others and you shall start to love yourself once more and become in love with life itself.

I started my life and my search for love many decades ago and found my truest and most constant love in not my first sweetheart, but my last. I am myself, I am what I am, Sheila, but I am my best self when I am with you." William Forde: January 12th, 2018.

January 11th, 2015

11/1/2015

Thought for today:
"We can all benefit enormously from learning to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. A little bit of role reversal is no bad thing, particularly when it comes to trying to understand our fellow creatures a bit better than we did before.

I recall my twenty five years experience as a Probation Officer serving in West Yorkshire. Part of my job involved regularly visiting inmates inside prison, trying to understand their attitudes and personal circumstances and in particular, what had brought them to a life of crime and how could I help them change their ways for the better.

Like the proverbial addict to any form of behaviour, I quickly learned that change would only come about at a time in their lives when they were ready to change and not a moment sooner. When eventually most of them did change for the better, it warmed one's heart like no fire in the cold of winter could ever do; especially when you knew that you had helped that life change in some small measure to come about.

For over twenty years I examined and evaluated the behaviour patterns of different offending types as I developed and extended my 'Anger Management' programmes throughout society. Whatever the nature of their crime or offending pattern, at the root of their problem behaviour which had brought them into conflict with the law and society in general, often lay their overall belief that they felt unloved, undervalued and impotent to effect positive change around themselves.

While over the years I was to achieve many accolades in my field of work, I was never left in the slightest doubt as to the way I best helped. I accepted more than anything else that I had become a 'Hope Giver' who constantly sought to fill up their leaking buckets at a faster rate than their bucket of hope emptied. I quickly realised that without 'hope' we are all lost and that only through the ability and faith to see a more positive future can we each be saved and become happier, healthier and more hopeful individuals. From that moment on, the nature of my work with people dramatically changed and instead of focussing on 'What they had done to find themselves behind bars' I began to think of more effective ways of getting them to 'look in' at themselves and the nature of their own responses to stressful situations instead of 'look out' at the actions of others whom they often blamed for their imprisonment.

By teaching my clients how to become happier, healthier and more hopeful in their lives I was better able to assist in helping to change many of their lives as the overwhelming majority of all offenders I worked with wanted to change, but either didn't know 'how to change' or didn't have the support structures and wherewithall around them to do so.

I inform you of these facts in my 'Thought for today', because the very principles behind their efficacy helped to put me on the straight and narrow path also after a number of rebellious years which might easily have placed me at the other side of the bars, had I been caught in my transgressions." William Forde: January 11th, 2015.

January 10th, 2015.

10/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Often the hustle and bustle of our stress-fuelled lives send us swivel-eyed; leaving us unable to see things in their proper perspective. Unlike the barn owl, for whom this condition is more normal to experience, like Lot's wife, we humans may find it extremely difficult to 'turn back' our heads once they've been turned in the wrong direction.

Owls have fixed eyes which cannot move in any direction so they rely on rotating their heads as much as 270 degrees to see their surroundings. It is very rare that they are seen with their heads fully turned and on the few occasions it occurs, like the wolf-whistling bricklayers spotting a street beauty pass by, their gaze remains fixed until the object of their attention has disappeared from sight.

What is it in today's world that is capable of turning your head? An innocent child playing merrily, some cat or dog being rescued from danger by a fearless human being, a stunning-looking woman or muscular man passing by or perhaps three nuns who are the worse for wear after celebrating their Mother Superior's fiftieth birthday with a night out on the town where they saw the film 'Fifty Shades of Grey' before sleeping it off by the duck pond? Each to their own is what I say! " William Forde: January 10th, 2015.

January 9th, 2015

9/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Never forget that your present situation is not your final destination. Large oaks from small acorns grow. We must first sow the seed before the plant begins to grow and then keep it nourished and well watered if we want the growth to thrive. The harshest of winters in which the snow rests upon the ground for many months before penetrating the earth below often produces the most considered of springs and the most luxuriant of summers.

We must first think before our thought is converted into relevant feeling and concrete action. A thought can remain unexpressed so long as it is but fleeting, whereas a feeling cannot stay unmoved as its sole purpose for existence is to stir the body into action. Therefore think long and hard before you act and your feelings shall act as an accurate barometer of your thoughts." William Forde : January 9th, 2015.

January 8th, 2015.

8/1/2015

Thought for today:
"For the young and inquisitive mind, books are magic to behold. They are the child's best window to the world of mystery, adventure and character formation. They show the child reader a land of fantasy where dreams materialise in the light of day. Books enable the child to escape through the mere act of witnessing the words and pictures of the printed page transform themselves into the most magical of imaginings and happenings where all is possible and the cruel sting of harsh reality, although often present is kept firmly at bay.

For those young ones who cannot yet read, but love to listen to stories, there are a number of recorded stories in the audio section on my website that can be listened to for free. One is about a dragon, another is about a fox, another is about a horse and another is about a very small boy who stops growing which is recorded by the magician Paul Daniels. There are four stories about a girl called Annie who is always getting into trouble which were recorded by the television actress Brigit Forsyth. Some of the stories were read by famous people and even the late Princess Diana used to read 'Douglas the Dragon' and the 'Sleezy the Fox' stories to her seven and eight year old sons, Princes William and Harry when they were children." William Forde: January 8th, 2015.
http://www.fordefables.co.uk/audio-stories.html

January 7th, 2015.

7/1/2015

Thought for today:
"Having driven through the streets of Paris during their 'rush hour' and considering their roads extremely dangerous to drive on, I was frightened out of my wits by the way that coach drivers drove their vehicles around the hair-pin mountain-top bends during a recent Italian holiday three years ago. However, when I look at this photograph of Himachel, Pradesh, India which my friend Savi Sachdev posted on face book, there is simple no way that you would ever catch me riding in one of these buses. I'd sooner walk the fifty miles or crawl up the Kyber Pass!" William Forde: January 7th, 2015.