If

It is one of the smallest of words and yet it is probably one of the most important words in our language. A two letter word well known to all who play the game of scrabble. "If."

it is a word that we all use at least once a day and just accept that we have used it without really giving it much thought. Rudyard Kipling wrote one of the worlds most well-known poems simply called, "If."

I have thought often of this poem and in the last few days have learned it off by heart. I remember when I was at school being asked to learn a much shorter poem and it gave me nightmares for weeks because I found such rote learning so very difficult. 

I have of course since learned that if you can be shown that there is a worth of such learning it comes so much easier. 

Please forgive if this looks like a simple out for a blog but I would love to share it with you once again. Of course, if you know it you will not need to read it.

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams

your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Such marvellous words and thoughts.

Some thoughts I had yesterday while walking inspired by the above. 

As long as we have what we have inside, the capacity to love, to work, to hear music, to see a flower, to look at the world as it is, nothing can stop us from being happy.

But one thing we must take seriously. We must get rid of the ifs of life. 

Many will tell us, "I would be happy - if I had a certain job, or if I were better looking, or if a certain person would marry me." 

There isn't any such thing. We must live our life unconditionally, without the ifs. Just simply grasp the day and the hour and live it.

I hope you have a marvellous if free day.