I have been inspired. My world is a brighter place, and I have celebrities to thank.

Well, ‘celebrities' is a loaded term. It's hard to tell exactly what it means any more. Labelling someone who has actually done something with the same bland slur that encompasses the likes of the Kardashians and Miley Cyrus seems a little unfair.
The first person to inspire me was Mark Zuckerberg.

That may not seem odd to you, but anyone who has dropped by the Watusi Country Club will be a tad surprised, since out here in the hills we don't live the sort of technological life with which Zuckerberg is associated. I don't have a Facebook page. I don't even drop by Facebook to view its most popular attraction – pictures of cats.

Set new challenges

But last week I found out something about Mark Zuckerberg: each year he sets himself a new challenge. In 2009, he wore a tie to work every day to show he was 'serious” about his company; in 2010 he learned Mandarin (a notoriously difficult language); in 2011 he only ate animals that he had killed himself; in 2012 his challenge was to code every day; and in 2013 he challenged himself to meet a new person outside of Facebook every day.

And this year? He's set himself the goal of writing at least one well-considered ‘thank you' note every day via email or snail mail.

Okay. So ignoring the fact that I'm still slightly mind-boggled about the 'only ate animals that he had killed himself” bit, I'm impressed. And inspired. Those are all worthwhile goals, sorta like New Year resolutions but ones you actually do. So, for starters, I've set myself the challenge of listening to a new album each week by someone I've never listened to before.

I know, it's not exactly learning Mandarin. But it's so easy to get stuck in your own rut musically. At some point we go from seeking out and absorbing anything new and different to just listening to stuff we know we like.

Well, enough of that! Every week will be someone new and not just one song or one play. An album and a serious listen. Next week is, because I saw one good review, J.D. Wilkes and The Dirt Daubers. I'll let you know how it goes.

The other person who has inspired me is Gwyneth Paltrow. Gwenny has a lifestyle mail-out called –and I'm not making this up – Goop.

Energy consciousness

In her most recent issue she writes – and, again, I'm not making this up – 'I am fascinated by the growing science behind the energy of consciousness and its effects on matter. I have long had Dr Emoto's coffee table book on how negativity changes the structure of water”.

(One should note here if you want good scientific information then a ‘coffee table book' may not be your first port of call. But it's different for celebrities...)

It seems in the 1990s Dr Masaru Emoto – before bypassing scientific journals for the more authoritative platform of coffee table books – experimented on water.
'Emoto poured pure water into vials labelled with negative phrases like ‘I hate you' or ‘fear'. After 24 hours the water was frozen, and no longer crystallised under the microscope: it yielded grey, misshapen clumps instead of beautiful lace-like crystals.

Positive or negative?

In contrast, Emoto placed labels that said things like ‘I love you' or ‘peace' on vials of polluted water, and after 24 hours they produced gleaming, perfectly-hexagonal crystals. Emoto's experiments proved energy generated by positive or negative words can actually change the physical structure of an object.

And while this might come as a shock to science teachers everywhere, and even primary school science pupils, I feel inspired! Imagine the possibilities when simply writing words on labels can alter the physical rules of the universe!

So I had a chat with a couple of bottles of water that were lurking in the fridge. 'I think you're neat,” I told them, and I wrote labels saying: 'You really are super”. They were looking pretty perky this morning. Perhaps with the right encouragement they'll grow up to be bottles of vodka. Or homeopathic medicine.