Category Archives: Short Stories

©GeraldineBanksAug2024

What Motivates You?

The root of what motivates me does not come from external forces. I don’t give a hoot about how much money I make, whether I’m famous or not if I had academic degrees coming out of my ears or if I have the mind and body of a superstar athlete. It won’t get me out of bed.

What will get me out of bed is the prospect of enjoying what is my life. There are plenty of forces to make sure that you do not enjoy life. Just ignore them. You are the life ,are and you are it’s very spirit, it’s fire .The life force you enjoy does not depend on your looks your intelligence or even your attitude, it depends on you.

You can choose to listen to the external forces telling you what you should be doing or you can listen to what they are recommending and figure out what’s best for you. We are sold to on a daily basis , but we can choose not to buy, but to consider what we really do want in life and work towards that.

For example, there’s a voice inside my head constantly telling me I’m no good. I never really believed it , I know there are people much better at doing certain things than I am, but I always figured that was a good thing, because even if I wasn’t talented and able to do what they were doing , well there was probably something I could do that they couldn’t and that was how the World worked. There is a place for everyone and a role for everyone and without each other , well things would not work.

The calculable and quantifiable characteristics of human achievement are over analysed; and dare I say it ;over judged. Get out of bed and do the things you enjoy doing, that make a difference to you and others around you. Maybe you do have to spend some time doing stuff you don’t want to do to, but that doesn’t define you or indeed turn into your reason to be.

There are plenty of users in this World , but they are the losers, because the winners spend time avoiding them and in truth the users end up in uncomfortable beds that they made from stealing the pillows, sheets and duvets from other people. No one finds them interesting because they’ve just damaged their surroundings and all they’ve got left is an unmade bed.

Yes, the Life Force does exist and it motivates me to get out of bed (metaphorically speaking) every day and make the most of my Life. May your Life Force be With You too.

I’m the one at the Party when your favourite film question comes up that looks blank while other party attendees and lovers of a good quiz with an encyclopaedic memory rattle off their favourite films with me in the background saying to myself.

” Yeah , that was a good one!”

I can’t help myself , I don’t categorise things I like , I enjoy them at the time and move on. Is that wrong? Should I gather all my likes and dislikes and like a good librarian file them away so I can pass them on to the next person.

Or at a Party is it just friendly banter , to show your love and knowledge of all these wonderful and not so wonderful creative projects by discussing and grading with others ,what , could be, for someone their lifetime’s work.

The number of films produced in numeric terms, today , is almost infinite. I spend at least half an hour browsing through Amazon Prime, Apple, Channel 4 and BBC I player before even making a choice. I very often find a gem and it’s a delight to watch something that you didn’t even know idea existed until it turned up on one of the above platforms .

There are at least a 100 films I could watch again and again, some are old and some are current. It’s a good feeling when you experience a good film, one that makes you think differently or laugh out loud.

That is why there is so much creative effort and indeed money put into making movies that we watch. The makers probably don’t care if they make my top 10, they have their eyes on the bigger prize of entertaining or educating me.

No I suppose you’re not suppose to love Hellish Village, but I do. The neighbours aren’t friendly and the pubs and restaurants are closing down as no one has any money to eat out. There are a few independent shops run by people with more money than sense and there’s a Library run by volunteers.

A list the things that a good village should have would include, a good interactive social life ,a friendly atmosphere, happy people and contented children who go to school regularly.

Hellish has none of those.

Firstly, the primary school is well attended and supported by the local parents. However, once the children reach twelve or thirteen things tend to change. The good parents make a decision to move out of the area in order for the children to have a decent chance of life. Most children however stay, as not many can afford the move.

The resident children go to the secondary school , Hellish High, which a long time ago gave up trying to get any sort of “satisfactory ” report on it’s role as an education facility. It’s been in special measures a number of times and the discipline and attendance records make embarrassing reading for those who are responsible within the school. The Head of School changes at least once a year, and Hellish High holds the record for most Heads in a term , five at the last count.

This means we have quite a high rate of delinquent behaviour, as the young people argue that they have nothing to do apart from hang around “Hellish Offsales” and shoplift the reduced alcohol it sells. The young girls will sell their bodies to the local men for a bottle of vodka from the shop. Underage pregnancy is rife and the Community Police Officer hasn’t been seen on the streets for almost a decade.

I don’t own a car so I don’t worry about it being vandalised or it’s tyres being slashed just because “they can”. I don’t like it when they steal cars and then race them down the street in broad daylight , because frankly it’s very dangerous.

Best to stay indoors on days like that.

Fortunately, three of our neighbours are really good shots, so they tend to scare off any delinquents. I suppose that’s why I’m quite happy, we’ve got protection in the street we live. Strangers are spotted very quickly and if it looks like trouble well, our rough neighbours will sort them out.

Still, despite the problems we have our Mayor and Council Leaders who like to try and make out that Hellish Village is a good place to live. They certainly are good at increasing the taxes to pay for their fancy meetings and so called security. Not to mention the current MP who has been known to attend some local shindigs courtesy of the Council. There’s much talk about what goes on at those “celebrations”. Needless to say some of the village girls are involved.

Why do I love Hellish Village, well it survives that’s why I love it. Day to Day it’s hell, it has no future , and a rather dismal past, but it’s my home and in truth it’s no worse or better than a lot of places.

The End.

What positive emotion do you feel most often?

I would never push this onto people,there isn’t always hope,but I’m a pretty hopeful person.I will wiggle and wriggle to find hope and it’s worked for me so far. Not to clarify;  in a everything is resolve-able way;just in keeping looking for that little bit of light sort of way.

Create an emergency preparedness plan.

Whatever the Emergency ….follow these three steps and you will be fine.

Qualify- what exactly is the emergency and how is it going to affect your daily routine

Quantify-Analyse numerically the possible solutions and their probability of success.

Quickly Run as you’ve wasted time analysing and being indecisive.

What is a word you feel that too many people use?

At the moment in the not so United Kingdom “Riot” is an overly used word.

There are Riots on the Street our Newspapers and Media Outlets  tell us with glee.

Yet life goes on, a few dustbins are thrown across the street and a 12 year old boy is arrested for “insurrection”(ten years ago the papers would have called him A S.B.O boy)

The Riots can spring up anywhere anytime and the Police must be ready with their Riot Shields to protect themselves and their employers property.

It’s a lost cause,because the Peaceful protestors have far outweighed those who were determined to flaunt authority and create disorder for whatever purpose they had in mind.

Stand easy, Authorities .Peaceful Protests are not Riots.

What brings you peace?

What brings me Peace is when I see the World behaving with compassion.That is what underlies our progress and survival.

There are arguments and discussions at all levels and at all  times,but without compassion,they are irrelevant and misguided.