Watch out for the bangers!

"Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay"

- Jiddu Kirishmurti

Well it's the time of year again....bonfire night! The old British tradition of blowing up rockets and burning giant figures shaped like pirates....perfect to celebrate the life of a criminal. Not sure of the story? Click here for more:

Story of Guy Fawkes & Bonfire night

I'm sure to people outside of the UK it seems strange to celebrate someone getting hung for trying to kill the King. And I guess the more you think about why we have bonfire night and celebrate Guy Fawkes, the more you realise what a strange event it is. But it's just what we brits do. It's a tradition. Something we've always done, so guess what....we're going to keep doing it. I'm certainly not one to change things or turn down exploding things, even if it's just done out of tradition!

The same can be said for lots of times in life. There are many where we do things just because its the way it's always been done. Traditions are traditions, and although at times traditions can be good things, like sending up fireworks and building massive fires, there can also be times where traditions are not necessarily such good things. Tradition isn't always good.

There's a saying that goes, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got!"

So, what is tradition exactly? We might know the word, but what exactly does it mean? The dictionary defines 'tradition' as ;

"A time honoured practice or set of practices." 

In other words something or somethings that have always been done, and so continue to be done. Tradition.

I recently heard a story that highlights this concept perfectly. One of the key ingredients to a bonfire net celebration is a hot dog or two afterwards. Nothing beats a good old fashioned sausage in a bun! Now if you ask most people how to best cook a sausage, the majority of people would reply, "prick it with a fork and then cook it." Why? Because that was the tradition that was passed down. Truth is, you don't need to prick sausages anymore. For those of you who are interested in all things sausage related here's why.

Sausages used to contain a lot of water during the war times, as meat quality was very poor. If you heated up the sausages the steam would build up in the sausage and explode - hence the term 'bangers' which is often used for sausage. So pricking the sausage would prevent that and allow the steam out.

Nowadays though, the sausage meat is much higher in quality and therefore has less water. So it doesn't need pricking. But we do it anyway....why? TRADITION!

It's surprising how many things we do just because that's the way it's been passed down, and we just accept it.

And so I end with this thought.

What things are in your life that you have let creep in and become a routine in your life? Something you do out of tradition. When you sit and think there are probably lots of things you do, day in day out, and really you don't really know why you are still doing them. They've just become tradition - the done thing.

But life is too short and too important to waste on doing things out of tradition. If all we did is stick to tradition then we would soon get very bored in life.

In life, try to do new things, keeping life fresh and exciting. Sure there are times when traditions are good for us, but also there are times where doing something new is ten times better than doing the old.

Today, try something new, ditch the routines in life and change it up. You never know when trying something new might just bring you a new outlook on life!

Bywyd sydd yn byw! - Just living life!

RM