Poignant Thought: The Wild Cows on the Island of Swona

In the mid-20th Century, on the remote island of Swona in Scotland, the Rosie family kept animals including a herd of cows. As the decades wore on, their children moved away and the elderly stalwarts of the family stayed on and eventually died there. Moving of the cattle from the island would have been tooContinue reading “Poignant Thought: The Wild Cows on the Island of Swona”

The essence of trauma is that it is overwhelming, unbelievable and unbearable

Who can find a proper grave for such damaged mosaics of the mind, where they may rest in peices. Life goes on but in two different temporal directions at once. The future unable to escape the grip of a memory laden with grief. The essence of trauma is that it is overwhelming, unbelievable and unbearable.Continue reading “The essence of trauma is that it is overwhelming, unbelievable and unbearable”

Comforting Thought: Hiding and hibernation are a part of the natural world

Hiding is a part of the natural world. It is in the protective quiet of the icy northern landscape. In the held bud of a future summer rose. In the snow-bound and slow pulse of a hibernating bear. We hide in our mother’s womb until we grow and ready ourselves for our first appearance inContinue reading “Comforting Thought: Hiding and hibernation are a part of the natural world”

Comforting Thought: Disappointment is a measure of our courage

What we call disappointment may just be the first stage of our emancipation into the next great pattern of our existence. The measure of our courage is the measure of our willingness to embrace disappointment. To turn towards it rather than away from it. Disappointment is the understanding that every real conversation of life involvesContinue reading “Comforting Thought: Disappointment is a measure of our courage”

Comforting Thought: Throw open the windows of your soul

“Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.”
— Marcus Aurelius (The Emperor’s Handbook)

On silence and idleness

“Happiness is in the quiet, ordinary things. A table, a chair, a book with a paper-knife stuck between the pages. And the petal falling from the rose, and the light flickering as we sit silent.” Virginia Woolf, The Waves Time Moves Slow by Bad Bad Good “Nothing thicker than a knife’s blade separates happiness fromContinue reading “On silence and idleness”

Today is the day that terrorism came to New Zealand

I was just thinking the other day how innocent, easy-going and care-free New Zealand feels when you walk around in Wellington, compared to cities in Australia. I was thinking how much safer New Zealand feels, at least for me, compared to Australia. Today is the day that terrorism and its associated paranoia, fear and senseContinue reading “Today is the day that terrorism came to New Zealand”

Hello Fellow Citizens of the Pale Blue Dot

I am so grateful to be alive today. When there is chaos and impending war all around us, that’s about all we can say, in our own individual humble way. All of my posts this week and next were prewritten about a month ago. Before all hell was unleashed in both the Middle East, RussiaContinue reading “Hello Fellow Citizens of the Pale Blue Dot”