Miles Of Smiles And Good Things For 2016

With another year upon us I like to look forward but, at the same time, I think it's natural to think about the past as well - unless you are young, of course,

Sometimes I feel that we make life difficult, when really it's quite simple. What is life if we haven't smiled ... or laughed. As my dear old dad told me: "You have to smile," and he wrote this in my autograph book when I was seven - as per the picture above.

At the time I preferred the funny autograph entries but his simple words are still with me - and the same also goes for what my mother wrote:

Give to the world the best you have

and the best will come back to you.

Yes, very simple but smiles and words we give out do come back to us and they can create a chain reaction. If we smile, it gets passed on - as does a grumpy or bad tempered remark, of course.

I remember writing a story, a long time ago, about a boss who got angry with an employee. She went home that night and, as she was upset, had a go at her husband over something quite trivial ... he stormed out down the pub where he met a woman ... they had an affair ... and consequently thousands of lives had been touched upon - and all because of a few angry words. In my story the reaction rebounded back to the boss, who set the whole thing in motion.

I believe everything we say and do has a knock on effect - a bit like that story about how the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil can set off a storm in Texas - though that is probably a little far fetched.

Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. Hope you create miles of smiles in 2016 and the best comes back to you.

ARAB PROVERB

The spoken word is soon forgot,

by thee - but it has perished not.

In other hearts 'tis living still,

And doing work for good or ill.