Category: That’s Life

Not so many years ago we only had the telephone to contact our friends.  Today, we can keep in constant communication with our so-called friends using modern technology. This doesn’t necessarily mean we have to talk to our friends at all.

For some, answering the phone is considered a stressful operation, especially when there is no indication as to who is making the call. This can cause a panic situation where we could worry about what we might be required to say or decisions we may be required to make.

Today’s technology enables us to type as we talk using a text message, email and other apps such as Facebook messenger or Wots App, to name just a couple. If we wish, this allows us to edit what we write so we get the message sent in a perfect form. When it is received, an immediate response is expected. All this without any face or voice contact.

With our head down constantly writing and replying to messages on our mobile phone with people, who may be perhaps in the same room, we allow life to pass us by and we can become oblivious to what is happening in the world around us.

When we verbally communicate there is so much we can learn about each other. Our voice can be a window to our emotions, and this can determine the depth of our responses. The best texting can do in this regard is to offer us emojis that may or may not be a suitable emotive gesture.

Obviously, a text reminding us of a future appointment can be beneficial but when we make eye contact with a friend and speak together, surely this is a more practical way of using the voice we have been gifted with.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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How easy it is for us to be caught up in the social whirlwind surrounding discrimination against an individual or a group of people. We don’t always find it easy to disagree, particularly when we are in a group of people whose thought processes are all leaning in the same direction.

Discriminating against someone’s colour, beliefs or preferences is sometimes based on an ingrained prejudice that restricts one’s objective understanding. These prejudices are often inherent in our individuality from a young age and tend to stick within our thinking and beliefs into our adulthood.

While it is easy to say we should have an open mind on life matters, this can sometimes be difficult to accomplish. However, to be fair in our assessment and understanding of others, we need to at least be prepared to listen without prejudice, to views which differ from our own.

Let’s try not to be judgemental and consider people’s achievements and the positive things they have done, or are doing, for humanity and our country and community. We need to accept people for who they are and not their beliefs.  And at the same time try and not be swayed by the bias and prejudicial thoughts of others trying to influence us.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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The daily doom and gloom sheets, and those people supposedly in the know, keep telling us about the weakening of the country’s economy and how pandemic viruses can be the cause of a world depression.

We often hear of small businesses, ‘going up the wall’ and large companies being placed, ‘in the hands of the receivers’.

While the so-called experts keep scratching their heads and searching for solutions, families, pensioners and the little Aussie battlers are the ones getting hurt.

It is generally accepted that many of the world’s financial problems have resulted from greed and over-ambitious individuals seeking power and personal wealth.  But sadly, there are also some among us who deliberately shy away from having to work. If they are forced into a job, they believe in performing a minimum amount of work for a maximum financial return.

It is time we all realised our responsibility toward each other.  This is the ‘Lucky Country’ and we should do the best we can to ensure it stays that way.

Let’s start by changing any short-sighted gloomy attitudes we might have and look with hope to our country’s future. In the meantime, let’s become a nation of optimistic doers, rather than one of pessimistic thinkers and knockers.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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It seems for many of us, Christmas is nothing more than a major buying spree.  We agonise over what type of present to buy for family members. We are exhorted to shop early, buy at never-to-be-repeated special prices and fill up our family’s stockings with everything from items in the junk mail catalogues to the latest electronic gadgetry.

For some, Christmas is a religious feast. For others it is just a chance to have some time off from work and enjoy the festivities of the season. Many in our world are not as fortunate as we are.  During this Christmas period some are exposed to hunger, war, death and having to flee from their homeland. Hopefully, in the midst of all our merriment, we can find time to perhaps offer some support to many of the local charities trying to make Christmas special for others. The homeless and people living alone can easily be forgotten.

It is this time of the year when natural and human caused disasters can strike even our lucky country. Road accidents, bushfires, cyclones, droughts and floods can exact their toll on our families and friends and make us more aware of how vulnerable we can be when we least expect it.

After the shopping, feasting and drinking are over, then come the holidays.  As the Christmas bells are drowned out by the hooters and fireworks of the New Year celebrations, Christmas gets forgotten for another year and hot cross buns appear on the supermarket shelves preparing us for Easter.

Let us use this Christmas to strengthen our family ties, to tell our kids and our partners we love them and even though, sometimes it can be difficult, enjoy being together as family.

The love we give one another is far more precious than all the gifts we can buy.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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Towards the end of each year it is a task, but always a good idea, to note on the next year’s calendar those family and friend’s special days. This allows us to make contact on that day which, in turn, makes the family member or friend feel special that you have remembered them.

It can also be helpful to include a number beside each entry. For example, the age that person will be on that date. If you were part of a couple’s special event, remembering it each year also helps maintain your friendship.

One event which tends to be forgotten, is the anniversary of the passing of a close family member or friend.  Contact on that anniversary not only shows your caring nature, but offers support, especially at a time when grieving might still be progressing.

Remembering and caring is important if we are to reach out with love to each other.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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According to The Beatles song. ‘There is nothing you can do that can’t be done’ and for a relationship to survive, ‘all you need is love’.

So often at wedding celebrations we hear the words “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”. However, it is not easy for couples today to survive a relationship with all the pressures of life that surrounds us. There seems to be a constant call for couples to sacrifice so much of their own personal needs and desires in order to maintain a loving relationship together.

No wonder our lives as couples sometimes gets to the point where we are even contemplating giving up on the relationship. While we sometimes might feel we dislike things about our partner’s habits or actions, this does not have to affect the love we have for each other. For it is said that love is not a feeling, it goes much deeper than feelings which can change like the weather. Love is a decision made together.

When life deals us a hard blow it is so much easier to be able to face the situation together. When the kids get sick or there is a death in the family or one of our adolescents tangle with the law, it is then that our love for each other can unite us and help us jointly to handle the situation.

Arguments might separate us, but none of us know what the future holds.  To support and care for each other and accept each other’s differences will enable us to face the future together, for The Beatles tell us, ‘All we need is love’ and I think they might be right.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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I think Maurice Chevalier hit it on the head when he said that he preferred old age to the alternative.

Ageing is not an illness it is a natural process of maturing. How we approach those latter years depends entirely on how we ourselves see this process. There are many useful ways we can enjoy this period of our lives or we can just assume we are of no value to society anymore and disappear into our little shell to await the inevitable. We have a choice!

It is said we can all learn something new every day by keeping our minds and our bodies active. We can use the facilities available to us by the U3A or University of the third age. This concept is brilliant, as it caters for so many different tastes and activities. The simple learning programmes are delivered by volunteers in the community with the knowledge and experience to enable all seniors to continue learning and striving towards new, yet simple goals.

Charitable organisations in our community can always do with extra pairs of helping hands and generally it doesn’t matter if those hands might have wrinkles or tend to shake a bit.

When the kids, or grand kids, point out you are old because you have wrinkles and grey hair, your response should be that grey hair is great, ask anyone who is bald! Mark Twain had the answer for wrinkles. He said wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

We should never see ageing as a downward slope towards the end of life. Age is only a number and not important unless you are a bottle of Penfolds Grange or a cheese.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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It seems our brains are activated from an early age by the sounds we hear. Soft lullabies are used by parents to help calm babies into sleep. Singing nursery rhymes together with our kids helps support their early learning and as our brains develop, the emotional power of music becomes more evident.

We soon learn that our feelings and even attitudes are affected by what we hear. This is evident when we attend movies and realise the musical score supports and highlights each scene.

Quite often our mood determines our choice of music. Sounds and rhythms can stimulate our thinking and behaviour, particularly when we hear songs from our past that trigger sometimes forgotten memories.

Commercial music choices used in retail stores is specifically designed to influence our purchasing and can vary depending on the environment, customers ages and even the time of day. Music and songs used in our TV and radio advertising are chosen to compliment the product being promoted and the target market.

Music can be used to lift our mood, inspire us, get us dancing or put us to sleep. The language of music communicates life, love, pathos and joy. It is used as a medication to improve our mental wellbeing, to relieve anxiety and depression and has proven to have positive therapeutic effects.

Realistically, our hills really are alive with the sound of music. If we sit quietly out in the Aussie bush, we are actually surrounded by the rhythm of life that pulsates within this beautiful natural environment. Whatever our location, let us try and allow the music we choose to speak to both our body and our soul.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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Have you ever had to replace the operating system in your computer?  To put it mildly, the exercise can be a pain in the proverbial unless you take the necessary preparatory steps. You know when this problem is becoming imminent because, like a sick car battery, your PC starts actin’ up ‘ornery. It’s a sure sign that something within is corrupted and needs either repair or replacement.

Before attempting such a major procedure, it is wise to ensure you save copies of your documents, photos, emails and contacts lists so after the system has been replaced you can continue using your PC as before.

Sometimes we might feel like we would like to wipe clean our inner slate and start life anew. Like our computer, there are many parts to our past life we don’t want to wipe, but we can easily become aware our personal operating system needs some attention.

It is good occasionally to take time out to closely examine how well we are leading the life given to us on this earth. Are we using the talents with which we have been gifted to help others, or are we only interested in using them to promote ourselves? What ideas have we learn’t from other sources that would improve the way we live and how can we adapt them for our personal use? Have we ever given ourselves time to consider where our life might be leading us?

Giving ourselves the time and opportunity to review how our own personal operating system is performing can improve our effectiveness and help us maintain optimum performance in the future.

Most times we will find we don’t need to download a whole new lifestyle. We just need to get the life we’ve got into a more balanced perspective. Just like we would do if we defragmented our computer.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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Within the shadow of the Statue of Liberty we all watched our TVs in horror while two of the world’s largest buildings disintegrated as a result of a terrorist attack.

The resultant enormous loss of life and mounting injury toll left us numb and questioning how and why any person or group could engineer such a catastrophic scenario.

Here in Australia many of us tend to feel we are relatively free from terrorist activity.  We certainly are grateful being removed from warring countries and the major civilisation centres of the world. 

The events of the eleventh of September 2001 should make us become more aware of how fortunate we are. However, let us not be complacent but become ever vigilant, because, whether we are prepared to accept it or not, our country is already another terrorist target.

Anti-terrorist police raids are happening here in Australia and people are being arrested for indulging in terrorist activities. Hopefully, many terrorist plans to wreck havoc in this country have been stopped, but the organisation behind these activists may well still be in existence.

Recent events can certainly make us realise how fragile life is.  Perhaps we should choose to spend more time loving those who love us and enjoy the simple things in life while fortunately, we still have these pleasures available to us.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.