Category: MENTAL HEALTH

The Birthday

Around it came again.

Last year as it was fast approaching the end of the year, most were starting the wind down to the Christmas and New Year period: the beginning of December, where Christmas carols are played and decorations put up on display to celebrate the upcoming festive season. “It’s a terrible time of year to have a birthday,” a family member said one day whilst on the subject of going through the timing of birthdays and where everyone in the family fitted in. Continue reading “The Birthday” →

Revelations from a Book Fair

I was recently manning my partner’s book stall for him at a local book fair. This was new for me. I have viewed it from the other side as a customer, but not taken the responsibility of selling the books.

I was nervous. I liked the idea but when it got to the day the practicality of it and my ability to do it daunted me somewhat, and when I got there I felt like a fish out of water. The long hours of the day stretched out before me and I wondered if I was going to be able to sustain it. Continue reading “Revelations from a Book Fair” →

Feeling Our Way Through the Static Fog of Life

Our current norm as a global society is one where we are virtually saturated with a kind of static haze of ideals, beliefs and distractions that cloud our ability to see the underlying truth of any given situation that we encounter. Now, this is not a new phenomenon, as for thousands of years we have had various institutions, from religious, scientific to educational and even the current entertainment industry, telling us what the nature of our reality is here on Earth, what we should believe in and why, and lulling us into a false sense of contentment by the myriad of entertaining allurements that are literally available by the touch of a button. All adding to the ‘fog’ that keeps us from the Truth, albeit a cloud that all of humanity must take responsibility for creating and contributing to on a continual basis. Continue reading “Feeling Our Way Through the Static Fog of Life” →

OMG! Where’s My Wallet?

You calmly reach into your jacket or maybe even the glove box of your car for your wallet, only to find it mysteriously missing, even though you could swear that you put it in that exact spot after the last time you used it. “No big deal, it must be in my other jeans inside the house,” you say to yourself, albeit in a self-convincing manner that already feels to be one that is losing confidence… rapidly. Before you know it, you are desperately looking in every nook and cranny of the house, ripping through drawers, cabinets and closets until the whole place looks like it has just been through an FBI drug raid! Continue reading “OMG! Where’s My Wallet?” →

No More Pedestal

Living life in a world that challenges me on every level to not react to what I see and feel, but instead to observe and respond, was not something I did well in my teenage years, or for many years after that in actual fact. Reaction was my go-to response, a response I did well, often in many ways leading to more conflict, unsettlement and tension than I had originally felt. The awkwardness in my body constantly left me in a drive, a momentum that moved me from one task, emotion or issue to another; a fantastic and well master-minded delay from feeling what was really going on in my body. Continue reading “No More Pedestal” →

The Scale of Recklessness

I’ve never considered myself to be reckless. Even as a teenager I was the one who always ‘looked before I leapt’. However, I did not live a cotton wool-padded life. As a mid-baby boomer with two working parents I grew up with bare feet, no bike helmet, no sunblock, lots of sharp objects, bare electricals, toxic and explosive stuff hanging around accessibly, and deadly plants and spiders in the garden. Also, I had plenty of unsupervised freedom to roam the neighbourhood and the local forests, creeks and storm drains. Many other kids suffered breaks, lacerations, concussions and other injuries due to recklessness. But, me, not so much. With enormous energy and zest for life, I ran, jumped, climbed, rode, splashed, explored, poked and prodded to my heart’s content, but quite consciously and aware of my body, movements and surroundings. Continue reading “The Scale of Recklessness” →