Mark

Hi Gang,

Tonight makes six weeks since my last alcoholic drink :-)

I’ve been tempted a few evenings to have a beer, especially after a hard day, but have resisted so far. Last night was tough watching England beat Ukrain in the World Cup qualifier. Normally it’s a father son, beers and cheers evening. We still enjoyed the evening, son with a beer and dad with a soft drink. Seemed weird and I was tempted to say “sod it” and have a beer, but managed to hold off.

Currently feeling pretty strong and determined.

Chatting to you guys really helps. It’s good to have friends in your corner when going into a fight.

All the best,

Mark

I started around Christmas about 10 years ago by getting a cheap and cheerful star chart and going outside for an hour at a time.

To start with you’re probably better starting in an urban location where you can see a hundred or so stars. If you go somewhere really dark and clear, you’ll be amazed at the glory of the milky way, but there’ll be that many stars it’s easy to get lost and confused.

Give your eyes a few minutes and as they adapt to the dark you’ll see more and more stars.

A red light helps you to look at your chart without ruining your night vision. A bicycle back light is fine, or cover a torch (US=flashlight) with something red, maybe a sweety wrapper.

Star charts are usually marked for the month or season (as they obviously change over time). Work out your orientation (North, South…) and compare what you see with the chart.

Ursa Major (Big dipper) is obviously a good one to start with (assuming you’re in the Northern Hemisphere), as it’s so close to the North Pole it’s visible all year around. Imagine it’s a saucepan and look closely at the second star in the handle, where it “bends”. Notice anything unusual?

Yeah, there’s two stars. It’s a binary star called Mizor and Alcor (Horse and Rider in Arabic). Cool huh? If your eyes are not quite upto seeing them both, use a pair of binocculars.

Now follow the arc of the “handle” quite a way to a bright star. That’s Arcturus. (It arcs to Arcturus – geddit?)

Arcturus is at the “bottom” of a constellation called “Bootes” the heardsman. But I think it looks more like an icecream cone.

At the other side of the North Star from Ursa Major you’ll see a big “W” shape. That’s Casiopea and can usually be recognised.

During most winter months you should be able to find Orion (the hunter) in the South. He’s the one with the line of three stars as a belt. Look at your chart and check where the main stars are.

Now look at the top left star of Orion (Betelguese). Notice that it’s a different colour to most other stars? (A subtle red-orange colour). That’s because it’s a red giant. Yeah, look closely and you’ll see that not all stars are the same colours. There’s another (above right of Orion) called Aldeberan, but I’ll let you find that yourself.

When you’ve found the three stars across Orion’s belt, look below it at his “sword”. See a bit of haziness around there? That’s the Orion Nebula – a nursery where young stars are being born. Look at that area through a pair of binocculars or telescope and prepare to be blown away.

If you get the chance to go out maybe once a week for a month or two at the same time each night, you’ll notice the movement of the stars, Westward. This is due to the Earth’s orbit. Eventually you’ll lose sight of specific constellations for a few months of the year, but when they reappear next year they are like old friends!

One final thing: if you see a bright star or two that don’t appear on your charts, they are probably planets. Yeah, really! Depending on the time of year and where they are in their orbits, you’ll be able to see Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter.

Hope that’s encouraged you to take some time to have a look and enjoy the beauty of the heavens.

Cheers,

Mark

My life is a battleground between my long term goals and my impulsive behaviour. My finances are in a mess because I spend money on impulsive things and don’t plan for my future. I am overweight because I choose to eat more than I should. Despite knowing that it is bad for me, I drink too much. I goof off at work because I can get away with it. I fail to achieve my long term dreams because I get side-tracked onto things that don’t matter and fritter my time away on trivial things. No wonder my self-respect and integrity is shot to pieces.

All of these problems in my life, and more, have a single root cause: lack of self-control.

Impulsiveness and spontaneousness are part of being human, and whilst I do not wish to become a robot, I do wish to have self-control over chosen areas of my life.

I have heard it said that self-control is a skill that can be learned with practice, and that like muscles in the body, it will grow and become strong with use. It seems then, that I would benefit from some exercises in saying “no” to self.

For a week, I have set myself the following restraints:

- I will not surf the internet or do any personal tasks during working hours. None.
- I will neither drink alcohol or snack between meals. None.
- I will drive within the speed limits. Always.
- I will abstain from certain sexual practices. Completely.

After a week, I shall reassess my progress and set new goals for my continued journey into discovering self-control.

Thanks for reading. Your thoughts and comments are welcome.

Best regards,

Mark