Tuesday 26th May 2011 - Day 101 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Hi Friends,

Well, we're back in Australian waters, although still a fair bit away from home yet.  Nonetheless it's only a week and one day to go until we get home!  I've got to admit that I'm a bit excited about the whole affair.  It will only be a little under 4 months away by the time I get home, but I feel like a child on Christmas morning.

I'm still going strong with the no drinking or smoking, and have managed to get back into a bit of a fitness routine each day now that we're back at sea.  I've even managed to up my fitness routine a little.  Where I used to run 10 laps of the area that we can run, and then walk laps for the rest of my hour or so of exercise, I'm up to running 15 laps, walking 5, running 5, walking 5, running 5 and walking the remainder.  I feel like such a little fitness fanatic, and I've even managed to get rid of a bit of the paunch I'd developed :)

News from my world?  Well, I was thinking last night about the delicate mental state one of the people I work with.  While I don't judge this person for that, it got me thinking about why I think my life has been so charmed, and even though bad things have happened in my life, why I seem to be able to pick myself up, dust myself off and carry on with a positive outlook?

At first I thought that it was the fact that I've never really been able to hold a grudge and that would, by extension, mean that I tend to forget the negative things that happen in my life, and remember the positives.  While that is true, I worked out that this is actually just an extension of one other attitude that I have.  Acceptance.  By and large (with exceptions, obviously) I tend to accept almost any situation that I'm in through my life, and I think that this acceptance of my situation means that I'm not constantly questioning how much better someone else's life is, or de-valuing my own experience or life at any point.

This epiphany also came about from watching another of my work-mates who seems to me to be desperately trying to be seen.  He is at the core of (what I believe to be) himself a decent person, but he is constantly trying to be the funny guy, and always needs to be right.  His way of challenging the people around him is by putting himself above them and drawing attention to that fact.  It seems to me that these are the actions of someone who is not happy with their lot, and will therefore be constantly trying to convince themselves and others that they are better and better off.  This then led to the idea that if you just accept your current station, you will be a lot happier, and I have been called, by a number of people, the happiest guy in the ship, lately.

This is not to say that you shouldn't bother striving to be better or do more, but to be demanding about the desire to achieve more or be seen to achieve more is not a positive way to progress, and if you're not happy with your current station, chances are you won't be happy with any higher status that you achieve, but if you're happy with your current lot, you're going to be happy with whatever lot you finish up with, be it higher or lower than you currently are, and therein your life with have more value to you in the end.

I also found a great quote while looking for the definition of acceptance, which was:

"If i could define enlightenment briefly I would say it is "the quiet acceptance of what is." - Wayne Dyer.

I'm not sure who Wayne Dyer is, but I couldn't agree more with this sentiment.  Don't mistake me for thinking myself enlightened though.  That would be the ultimate in comic assumptions.  Maybe one day I'll be enlightened enough to accept everything, but for now, I'm happy with the majority of things that I'm able to accept, which make my life seem (to me) so much more enjoyable than others.

Have a great day Friends.