Life is really not about so many of the external factors that affect us, each of us, every single day. With out thinking about it much we seem to have a gut feeling that some, often superficial things, are what really make things good or bad for us. The ultimate problem for all of us is setting priorities and without emotion and the hype of our own excitement determine what we really really want. For me that problem is one of survival and I know I am not alone with this issue but what I really really want is to have blood glucose numbers of between 5.5 and 7.0 everything else is pretty meaningless.

The other day I was buying a 6/49 ticket and the clerk remarked that she hoped I won as it would make me happy. I smiled at that and told straight out that I am pretty happy as it is and there is a good likelihood that winning the lottery might make my life miserable. She countered by saying that at least it would make things easier. I have thought about that discussion, particularly since the 6/49 on Saturday is a whopping $41,000,000. Would winning that make you happy or make life easier?

Being the optimist that I am I went shopping online for motor homes and was shocked to discover that even if I won the 6/49 I couldn't afford the ownership and upkeep of the modified bus conversions that are the ultimate motor homes. Now that sucks. But it also brings one to one's senses. No amount of money is going to change the way we are in our most basic and fundamental selves. Winning the 6/49 would not reduce my blood sugars to a non-diabetic state. Winning the lottery would not make be a better person and it sure would not make me happier than I am right now.

When you sit back in your reclining rocker and think of all the things you could do if you won the lottery it takes only a few minutes to realise that you can accomplish almost all those things without winning the lottery. You and only you make the difference in life and you have to decide what your priorities are and how a lot of things are definitely possible if you make them your goal, money is rarely an obstacle to what really really matters. You can check this out by talking to some rich people and you will discover they are no happier and no less burdened by care than anyone else. Very poor people need not be unhappy anymore that being rich solves the problems that each person faces in life.

I stopped this morning to take a picture of very large colony of Ravens in a wood north of town. Ravens do not even buy lottery tickets and seem to be an interesting bunch who do very well with their environment and research has shown that they are remarkably intelligent. They were busy sorting out their places in the wood as I tried to get the picture and finally I decided I would just shoot the area they were in, perhaps 50 or more, and when I went over the picture not a single obvious raven is in the image. Now I am not disappointed, I knew when I pointed the camera that it was a long shot at best but surprising to me was the pattern and complexity of the wood the Ravens live in and I captured that in the image. Essentially we need to realise that life and all that it entails is very very complex and the simplest and most successful thing to do is make the best of what we can make of it.