Last time I was musing on how we get to where we are today. What life lessons do we learn on the way to here? This feels very prescient as I reflect on the fact that Elder Nearest-and-Dearest is about to launch herself into the adult world of work. 17 years of education come to…
How good is your mind reading?
How good is your mind reading? Might be a useful skill in some walks of life, or on some days. Perhaps if you own non-communicative teenagers, you might desire the ability to get inside their heads and actually get some idea of what is going on in their lives. Maybe you are applying for a…
A jar of mixed emotions
Out walking last week, and I am greeted with great gusto and enthusiasm by a small friend, on her way home from Kindergarten. On enquiring about my friend’s day, I am treated to the contents of my friend’s head, with no particular order or structure. Delightful and entertaining it is, but some helpful context from…
Good grief habits
Life has taken an extraordinary hiatus as we have reflected on and mourned the loss of Queen Elizabeth II. Now it is back to business as usual – and the royal family continue to grieve their mum, granny and great granny in the public eye. Not an enviable position, whatever you happen to think of…
A time to reflect
This has been an extraordinary week. A time to reflect if ever there was one as we consider the life, service and death of Queen Elizabeth II. For you reading this, for me and our household, for the majority of our country, none of us will have seen anything like this before. No doubt you…
The Feeling Wheel – identifying how we feel
How are you feeling this week? Perhaps a better question is to ask if you KNOW how you are feeling? Can you identify what you are feeling and actually name it? Because without that awareness of what we are feeling, it is very hard to then know what it is that we need. This is…
Don’t take yourself too seriously
How thick or thin skinned are you? Do you easily become uptight and tense, and get stressed when your plans do not go according to your expectations? Don’t take yourself too seriously, because that might be what is going on here. Perhaps there is little space in your day for fun or spontaneity. Or maybe disruption…
Do you need lots of stuff around you?
Would you describe yourself as a hoarder? Do you have lots of stuff in your house, and how important is that stuff to you? And what does this have to do with being genuine? Apparently, another trait of genuine people is that they do not need lots of stuff. I am not sure of the…
We need to talk about death
Do your loved ones know what to do when you die? An arresting start this week, perhaps. But this has been on my mind and the subject of many a conversation over these past dark, difficult and exhausting weeks. We need to talk about death. Our family member who died did so suddenly and completely…
How do we decide what is most important?
How often have you chosen to numb yourself to life during this past week? This was part of what I was musing on last week – the impact of Covid burnout on our mental health, and how numbing is a tactic that we can oh-so-easily deploy in the face of relentless negativity. There is another…