This author has yet to write their bio.Meanwhile lets just say that we are proud Valda contributed a whooping 32 entries.
As part of the animal kingdom, we are dependent from birth on sensory stimulation to ensure survival, growth and well-being. Impairment of any of our senses – sight, sound, touch, taste and smell – requires an ability to adapt and may mean that remaining senses work harder to accommodate absence or deficiency. In our lifetime, […]
When someone we value deeply dies, emotional reactions and physical effects are inevitably interwoven. Initially, still shocked by the end of a precious life, some of us will be numb. Others may experience one dominant feeling such as anger or sadness and later, most probably, a combination of many feelings. All of these will be […]
Birth is our first experience of transition. Our entry into the external world may be fast or slow, smooth or painful, natural or aided by forceps or caesarian delivery. Whatever the circumstances in which we drew our first breath, we experience a ‘dramatic change from one state or situation to another’ – a transition. Some […]
By the time you get to read these words the new year will be well under way. Conventional wisdom advises us to look forward, not backwards, especially at the dawning of a new year, and many of us comply by making lists of impressive resolutions. I wonder how many we actually keep? Few I suspect, […]
Acknowledging Difference Religious celebrations of many faiths are an important part of the Australian summer calendar. They always have been, and hopefully always will be. The joyful anticipation of those wonderful, long summer holidays usually helps teachers and students endure the final weeks of term, but this year, and the one before, feelings as the […]
In past years, Father’s Day, like Mother’s Day, has been a day of celebration for those fortunate enough to have loving fathers, a day of poignant memories for those whose fathers have died, and a day to focus on survival for those whose fathers have been abusive or neglectful. This year, in lock down, most […]
Like others in lockdown around the world at the moment, I’m finding that my usual ability to think creatively is a touch jaded. Most of us have grown up in a social environment that expects, encourages and rewards productivity. Genetics, family modelling and expectations, as well as our own personalities and capabilities, determine how we […]
The saying many of us learn in our school days – ‘sticks and stones can break my bones but names (words) can never hurt me’ – is not always our truth. Words can hurt, and, as another saying goes, can be more powerful than the sword. The words that inform us of the death of […]
Celebrations of motherhood began in ancient history with worship of a mother deity – Isis in Ancient Egypt or Cybele and Rhea in Ancient Greece. Later, Mothering Sunday in the UK was originally dedicated to the Mother Church and later broadened to honour human mothers. Mother’s Day as we now know it, was begun in […]
Time is both objective and subjective. Social measurements of time are linear, measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and years, whereas personal experiences of time are experienced through a variety of filters – age, physical and mental health, social conditions, context, and our senses. Grief, particularly following bereavement, is another significant filter. Many years […]
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