Something that has been very real to me of late is letting go.
Some things I reckon are really easy to let go of.   It makes sense to me .  It may be a destructive habit.   It may be overeating.  It may be having too much of something that, while ok in moderation, is not good when it is done or taken in excess.  There are many things it makes sense to let go of.
Also I find bitterness and resentment is best let go if.  That one can be harder.  I admit I was feeling resentful of a neighbour who was using our fence as the support for the roof for his chooks.  Not only did the structure extend into our place it was sending water into our place.  I had asked him to deal with it, but nothing had happened for going on four weeks. 
I would let go and take it back again.  I was ready to say that I was going to deal with it from our side.  But low and behold yesterday it was removed.  I feel a bit of a goose.  But I am a happy goose.
Something I really like is that in letting go of things I need to deal with, I face them in “increments of difficulty.”  By that I mean the battles I face I always have enough to have a win.  I don’t always feel like I have enough, but my perception of what I can and can’t do is not necessarily the way it is.  Sometimes I am stronger than what I give myself credit for.
To me that is a real common issue.  So often some say they can’t, when they can.  The basis of the can’t is self-perception rather than the way it is.  But for sure my perception of my abilities affects the outcome.  I remember hearing a saying that I reckon is pretty right.  “believe you can, believe you can’t - either way you will be right.”
The hardest thing for me is letting go of what is ok in itself, but represents a hinderance for what I want to do.  I have used the illustration before, but it is like an athlete who forgoes say chocolate or pizzas for a time.  There is noting wrong with either in moderation but they are counter-productive to certain achievements
This letting go thing is a bottom line thing for me.  There was a saying popular several decades ago that said something like, “let it go, if it comes back to you, it is yours, and if not it was never meant to be.”  It is not about my plans for me, but someone who knows me “better than I know myself ,“ plans for me. 

Yesterday was quiet a day for a number of reasons.
For a start it was really hot.  I heard it described as furnace like.  Whie the maximum did not climb as high as predicted the minimum was high and it was really humid.  So it felt even warmer.  The day ended with storms in the area.  One looked like it was coming our way, and it sounded terrible but it dissipated before it got here.  I was relieved.
Merril and I had determined that we were going to work in the yard.  We had decided we would start and finish early to escape the worst of the heat.  That is what we did, and I was pleased. 
We worked on the front from 7am to about 10 am.  We got heaps of weeding, mowing and cutting back done.  It was really part one as there is other stuff we would like to do, and will do another day.
One thing we want to do is make the top of the drive wider so someone could park their car up higher and avoid the walk up the slope to the Cabin.  There is an area we will pave for that.  I have lots of pavers but they will need to be collected and they are each 60 x 60 centimetres.  They are really quite large and heavy.
We also want to put a secure delivery box for parcel deliveries.  Again we will need a couple of pavers for that as well as screwing it to our current letter box.  That is the plan anyway.  We have the letter box.  We will see what happens.
Originally I did what I did to eliminate the need to mow.   Best laid plans.  It is more work now than mowing.  One thing I have had to learn is not to crowd.  I did have too much planted, but we are coming back to a more open plan.  In my mind it is getting better and better.
It is just that right now if it is neglected it looks terrible.  Merril went for a walk the other day and people were sitting on their porch opposite.  Merril apologised for the way it looked, and a visitor commented that as long as they could see Santa, they were happy.  We had a metal Santa in the front yard.
Anyway phase one is done.  Phase two is next.  Sometime.  Soon.

It seems to me that sometimes it is good to be reminded of the things that really matter.  In the James Clear email this week he had this statement, “"You can't make a comeback if you don't start."
I was reminded of a speech by Sam to Frodo in “Lord of the Rings,” “It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something. FRODO: What are we holding on to, Sam? “
The question that Frodo asks is pertinent to me.  What am I holding on to?  If it is what matters than a comeback is always a good thing.  It seems to me that so often people give up.  Been there, done that.  Who I am is not perfect, but it is hungry.  Giving up means I will never find food.  Pressing in when things are tough is so often the way to find a feast.
It seems to me that often what is worthwhile is not easy.  It takes work and application.  It often takes making mistakes and learning from them.  It takes admitting I am wrong.  It takes acknowledging I am not the be all and end all.  Life went on before me and it will go on after me.
As they would say in Mission Impossible, ‘My role (which I have chosen to accept) is to be the best of what I am meant to be.”  It may be someone with a high profile, or it may be someone with no profile.  I remember hearing someone who was incredibly successful say that when they started out it was cleaning toilets.  But their thinking at that time was “I am going to be the best toilet cleaner ever.”
That to me says heaps.  I know perfection in what I do may be a step too far.  But perfection in who I am is a goal worth working towards.  All too often I blow it but a come back is on the cards.  Having the best mentor ever helps.