Hope and mental health. They seem quite linked, but what helps them both to dance together well? I recently had a picture pop into my head. It was a headstone, in a cemetery, and engraved into the old tired stone was the name of the deceased – Hope. Not […]
Getting Well Staying Well
201 posts
‘You need better boundaries’. How many have said this to you? How about a better knowing of yourself first? Often when you go to see a counsellor for the first time, they hand you a sheet of paper with a list of expectations and boundaries. Very few ask the counselee […]
I want to stir you up. Not to stir up anger or trouble. Actually, quite the opposite, but to love and good works. So often I hear in people a tiredness, a lethargy, even a complete deadness to something that sits resident within their souls. Maybe they have been put […]
We carry so much load, but what if we were unburdened? Perhaps the donkey might learn to dance light and free. It’s an image that tells a story. The story of a heavy laden down camel carrying a load of straw and the little proverb ‘the final straw that broke […]
We all have problems, but we can over-personalise them. But the problem is the problem. Not the person. There is something sneaky about problems in that, over time, starting from being a little child, problems can morph and sneak into your thinking so much so that you see yourself as […]
Memories can pull us to places we don’t want to go to. But to forgive is not to forget, but to remember … differently. My father used to play lawn bowls. In lawn bowls, the bowl that you roll down the green is slightly weighted heavier on one side. As […]
We have obvious problems, but real problems, the ones that drive us to unwell ness, can only be resolved by deep soul work. What’s going on underneath? We have problems. Every one reading this will have multiple problems. I just got news from a family member that the biopsies came […]
You’ve got nothing left. An empty love tank, weightless and vulnerable. But you want love. Who and what will fill the need? The water tank was empty. I opened up the lid on the tank and immediately I could smell the residue of silt lying on the bottom of the […]
We like to be self-reliant, but at times we need help. We need a rescue plan. I got stuck in the mud a few days ago. I had been driving my small truck in the countryside and decided to do a u-turn. I crossed over the road and on to […]
Our brains can keep reminding us. ‘My Sin is Ever Before Me’ writes the poet, but what if we had a purifier? It’s ever before me. It’s in my face. If there was a common theme, I get from many of those who email me it is the sense […]
I’ve got too much going on in my life, but I want to keep my life simple, so I discard the complex. He’s a fictional character and I like the freedom he has. His name is Jack reacher and is the creation of Lee Child. Jack Reacher has the […]
Being caught in a trap was felt by the poet who wrote ‘The Snares of Death Encompassed Me’, but they had a way out. I was recently watching one of those ‘survival’ reality T.V. shows where people are thrown into the wilderness and they have to survive. The show […]
I need wisdom ointment, but so much ointment contains flies. Wisdom that comes from above, wisdom that is pure and holy. I was visiting a friend the other day, and she noticed I had some eczema on my hand. It had been there a few days and was slightly […]
We all have painful experiences in life, but redeemed pain is more impressive than removed pain. What good can be found within in our pain? Sometimes I am given a gift voucher. It has no value tangibly in itself. It is but a piece of plastic the size of […]
I Can’t Take the Pain Away I can’t take the pain away I don’t have a magic wand I don’t have a time travel machine To wish us back to nought It’s the clugginess Of this earth bound clay That grips around the soul One day, we know not when […]
We all have pain and we want the pain to stop, but the pain is telling us something. What if we could identify the pain and stop the suicide slide? It’s pain and we want it to stop. It could be physical pain from body ailments, but it could […]
The practices of your week and day may drain your life, but what practices restore your soul? ‘Oh, that’s so good for the soul’ Sometimes I hear people say that. Sometimes I say it myself. It’s that moment when you feel a restoring of something drained out of you. You […]
The stress load was too much to handle, but they knew what to do, so they took action and calmed the stress load down. It was just getting too much, and I could feel it in my body. This was the experience from last weekend when I had a […]
The cold wind of rejection can bite deep, but we are not alone. God knows rejection and can give us perspective and a new home of acceptance. I don’t think there is such a cold wind as the wind of rejection. I don’t want you in my life. You’re not […]
It felt they needed to be deeply held. Spooned. Quietly and gently known into a place where soul talk would emerge. To spoon Is to make room For the other To quietly be known It doesn’t have to be physical It’s actually quite spiritual Holding the words and tears Hearing […]