Author Archives: Content Catnip

Q&A for Connection: If you could have any ability in the world tomorrow, what would it be?

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be? This is based to this list of questions famously proven by social psychologists to foster friendship and connection among those who answer it. Please reply along with your own answer in the comments below or repost this toContinue reading “Q&A for Connection: If you could have any ability in the world tomorrow, what would it be?”

36 Questions for Creating Closeness

At many times in my #life I’ve felt like I was alone and this made me feel extremely sad and lost. However in contrast, the really best times of my life have been where I’ve bridged that gap and managed to develop a genuine and real #connection with someone and formed a meaningful #friendship or #relationship. Here are 36 questions that help to create closeness.

Comforting Thought: The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

Book Review: Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg

This is a book about the raw majesty of St Kilda as a place, and about the spirit, community bonds and resilience of its people. But it’s also a tragic tale about the devastation of colonialism and 19th century morality.

I would like to be a funeral director for one day

What’s a job you would like to do for just one day? It sounds odd, but being a funeral director would teach me a lot about what matters to people. Sometimes I understand people and their lives but sometimes what compels them remains a complete mystery to me. Seeing them in this moment would revealContinue reading “I would like to be a funeral director for one day”

10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #125

Bliss out with an uplifting short animation about a contented introvert, lessons in creativity by Prince, a lentil curry recipe, hopeful news for Scottish trees and much more. It’s edition #125 #Interesting Things #ContentCatnip. Tell your pals!

The people I admire and look to for advice

List the people you admire and look to for advice… My best friend She is the most patient, loving, kind and gentle person I’ve ever known. We met when we were young about 17, at a rave and back then we were both completely different people, like two butterflies in full flight with multicolored wings,Continue reading “The people I admire and look to for advice”

The quirky origins of Australia’s native animal names

In Australia there are more than 250 Indigenous languages including around 800 dialects. Languages are living things that connect people to Country, culture and ancestors. Many words for Australian native animals come from these languages. ‘Keriba gesep agiakar dikwarda keriba mir. Ableglam keriba Mir pako Tonar nole atakemurkak.’ — The land actually gave birth toContinue reading “The quirky origins of Australia’s native animal names”

The magic of Matariki and Māori winter sea navigation

Every year at around this time, Matariki rises in the mid-winter sky. This is the Māori name for the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. In Aotearoa Matariki rises in late May or early June.  This traditionally heralds winter solistice in New Zealand or the Māori new year.