What if your fairy godmother were whispering to you from the future?
And what if the fairy godmother whispering to you, that voice you are hearing, was actually your wisest, smartest version of yourself? Maybe, she would be saying, this National Woman’s month: “Stop treating yourself as an afterthought. Eat delicious food,...
A picture paints a thousand words
Imagine a blank canvas. Create a bird’s eye view of what your life looks like right now. Does it reflect all of the “have to’s” and not so much of the “want to’s”? What if you had the freedom to paint a life of passion and excitement?! Does that seem...
Playing with Fire: my thoughts on burnout in this month’s Your Family Magazine.
I recently participated in an article in the June 2018 Your Family Magazine, with regards to Burnout and the contributing factors. Here is an excerpt: “According to the American Institute of Stress, up to 77% of people regularly experience physical...
If the first thing you do every morning is eat a live frog…
“If the first thing you do every morning is eat a live frog, nothing worse can happen to you that day”, wrote Mark Twain. In terms of our day-to-day lives, you can easily relate that frog to the most difficult item on your to-do list. Eating up that...
How often do you wake up feeling excited?
This morning I woke up excited for no reason at all. There is nothing special planned. It is not a special day. It is a normal Monday with a normal diary and normal things to do. I woke up excited, excited for what the day is going to bring. I can honestly...
Silence in a world of noise (Part Two): vulnerability is not weakness.
“I define vulnerability”, says Brené Brown, “as emotional risk, exposure, uncertainty.” Vulnerability, says Dr. Brown, is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change. To create is to make something that hasn’t been there before and therein lies...
Silence in a world of noise – Part 1
C.S. Lewis, in his book series The Cosmic Trilogy, refers to Earth as The Silent Planet. We who live here know otherwise. This is a world of noise. Even when we think that we are in a place of silence and quiet, we deceive ourselves. We spend our lives...
There is only one you and you’ve only got one today. One now. Tomorrow it’s gone.
“You are either moving forwards or you’re going backwards - you don’t stay the same. We are not human “beings”, we are human “becomings”. We are becoming something.” So opens a video I saw the other day, while gathering my thoughts for this coming year....
What are you reflecting on as we near the end of the year?
“No man is an island,” wrote John Donne, “Entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main”. And this is certainly true, even today, many years after those lines were first penned. We are part of a whole, we exist within that...
What are the signs of bullying?
We've all seen television shows, especially the older ones, where the bully was the bigger kid in the striped t-shirt who would use their size to intimidate the smaller kid, usually the hero of the show. Most of the time this would be stereotypically for...
The Power of Boundaries Part 2: some practical examples
She does not appear to have any particular stand-out features. At work, she is diligent and polite, a good team-player. Shopkeepers that she encounters would likewise describe her as polite. Some people, when they first start getting to know Mary, may...
Why do we react irrationally sometimes?
Why do we react irrationally sometimes? Someone might say something which triggers an emotional reaction and you completely overreact, then later wonder why. It's all down to triggers. What are triggers? Well, lets take a step back and talk about pattern...
“Here’s what’s okay for me and here’s what’s not” – the power of setting boundaries.
Are boundaries fake walls, separation or division? Consider rather: "here's what's okay for me and here's what's not." Some of the most compassionate or empathetic people you will meet, are also very clear about the boundaries in their relationships with...
If you’ve done your work, and set your boundaries, you can tread that water forever.
“Boundaries are not fake walls. They’re not separation. Boundaries are not division; they’re respect. They’re “here’s what’s okay for me and here’s what’s not.” Some of the most compassionate people you will ever met are also the most boundaried. And...
Taxes and Prices in an inevitable world.
Hello everyone, Benjamin Franklin has always mistakenly been attributed with the following quote: "but in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Granted, he did write those words in a letter to a friend, Jean-Baptiste...
Note to self: I am enough.
An online help column recently had the following anonymous post: “…I really have nothing to offer. I can’t see why anyone would want to marry me… I’ve been treated like a loser throughout my life (starting with my mother, who abused me.) Now I can’t shake...
Weapons of mass distraction?
There exists out there a fairly well-known though thoroughly misunderstood religion... ...one that has been around for centuries, despite the best efforts from other parties to put it down. In recent years, Ásatrú (or Odinism as it is sometimes referred...
The benefits of being specific
Therapists and other folk that deal with the mind on a daily basis will tell us that the subconscious doesn't understand negation. Now, the subconscious is, as you are no doubt aware, incredibly powerful. Not only does it control all of our involuntary...
On feeling overwhelmed: an overheard conversation
"No, not really...I've just been feeling, I don't know, overwhelmed I think," Maggie said, mentally shrugging off the thought as if it were a nothing thing. They stared at each other across the restaurant table, over a tray of rusks. The late afternoon...
Urban war-zones, trauma and release.
In October this year, a group of TRE® practitioners began a six-week group session with 53 ladies from Bonteheuwel, in the so-called "urban war-zone area" of the Cape Flats. Started in 2007 and calling themselves the Bonteheuwel Walking Ladies, they began...