Dear LPG, 

There are many reasons to wish for something different than what you have but according to the internet, considering all the individuals there are in this world there are relatively few things that people wish for when you get down to it.  

More than one website tells that happiness has a lot to do with it and being rich is also quite a popular item in the top ten too.  I also know that depression is often a feature of many lives of older people because they might feel that at their age they have nothing to live for.  ‘I can't be bothered’ is often a phrase I have heard used by people in their old age.  It is one phrase that I feel that we really need to avoid at all costs.  I see myself as a younger pensioner who has caught myself saying or thinking it in the past but, whatever your age and stage of retirement I now believe that it should be banned from our thought processes.  

I feel that we older people need to be mindful of our pipe dreams and make them more specific and personal, which is when we will be able to work on attaining them.

Making the seemingly impossible possible, is a very important part of keeping focus and Improving our powers  of lateral thinking.  And striving for our big goals in little stages has to be the answer to making sure that our brains get as much exercise as the rest of our bodies.  

We have to remember that there is a way around nearly everything and all we need to do is to find that solution which will probably take some mental effort on the part of the person looking for the answer, which I now strongly believe to be a good thing.  There is a way around the most bizarre ultimate goal, even though the final result may look very different to the original and it is also good to ask around, friends often can envisage the little alternatives that can help a plan come together.  

We retired people may feel a bit dejected when we take a look back at those things that we once aspired to do when we were so busy working that there was no time to realise an ambition and, once we have a little more time to dedicate to such a wish, too many of us adopt that ‘now I am so old that   it will never happen’ attitude.  

Today might just be the day to start developing a workable variation on the theme of your wish and get started.

GF, Mottingham.