Botanical Gardens - sculpture
1. The first one of the remaining five, is Therapy. Now, don't laugh, but I can't exactly remember what I meant by therapy (!). I am going to guess that it is about ongoing professional development. Since identifying these goals/values two years ago. I have embarked on a Masters of Social Work, which is half complete, so in a sense, I have this one covered. I have also attended and presented at Acceptance and Commitment Therapy conferences, and organised an Art Therapy conference, as well. Life Long Learning, as they (we?) say at QUT. I really enjoy learning new things, although I sometimes have difficulty putting new knowledge into practice.
home away from home -
community bike repair station at South Bank Parklands
I love this!
2. Home, is the second value, and what better time to be writing about it, on my holidays at home...all good that is, until we have an extremely hot day. Which tomorrow is predicted to be, in several states, but fortunately not for South East Queensland. Tasmania's bushland has been burning out of control this week, and it is two years since Queensland, including Brisbane, was extensively flooded. This makes me appreciate Home. Oh, and the shower is leaking, so a plumber is coming tomorrow. But usually, I love being at home, its one of my favourite places.
Botanical growth
3. Emotional growth - trying to write (and make art) here about emotions is interesting. I am fairly cautious about writing about others, but I consider myself fair game. I am pretty open about my anxiety, which is the private (hidden) emotion that I struggle with most - often around 3am. I believe that meditation is making me calmer overall, however. Which is the main reason I keep doing it. Having just witnessed my dog having a near panic attack at the vet this arvo, I truly appreciate the value of CALM.
4. Communication. Funnily enough, one of my social work assignments is to write, in a public blog, on a topic of current economic policy...this is actually a bit terrifying, as the comments from other bloggers are often brutal. I think I am going to write about the single parent pension being cut to parents with children over 8, which was implemented on 1st January. Instead, they will get New Start, which will take them below the poverty line. This apparently is an 'Incentive to work'. And the Minister, Jenny Macklin, said she could live on $35 a day. And lots of people now want her to prove it.
One of the things I enjoyed learning about this year was Non-Violent Communication. This is one of those 'hard to put into practice' examples. And especially on a public blog!
5. Spirituality - the last of the thirteen - and the one I struggle most with. I think it is somehow too intangible for me. Whereas mindfulness, I can handle. Having said that, I saw the movie Samsara the other night: quite a splendid visual feast, and with Spiritual Themes. Quite amazing. I think it had a vaguely Buddhist underlying theme - with Tibetan monks, a prayer wheel, a sand mandala, and the title, Samsara, which means the 'ever turning wheel of life' in Sanskrit. It seemed to emphasise impermanence, or change, to me, which I guess is a variation of the same thing. It is also slightly unnerving, especially some scenes in Chinese (I presume) factories, prisons and on rubbish dumps. And the Ghanian man, who is buried in a coffin shaped like a gun. Seriously.
Well, I think I have done my baker's dozen, and without a digression. I thought I should call the blog, 'Doing what matters - and the odd digression' - and perhaps I will. My next task is to whittle down the 13 into a manageable number, say three.
And to spend less time on ancestry.com (but I did trace a direct line of 22 generations, back to Robert the Bruce, aka Braveheart, yay!).
And to start my assignment.
more later.
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