'too far, too much, too quickly': happy chaotic new year

'too far, too much, too quickly': my image for the new year

I started 2012 with the image of a firework. For 2013, I chose this photo from the Brisbane protest rally on 12th September, the day after the Queensland public service budget cuts were announced. This confrontation is, quite rightly, going to continue to dominate the state government arena in 2013. The meta message to myself, politics aside for a moment, is to slow down, do (or have) less, and be less ambitious! And these imperatives can be applied to many areas, including this blog!

Perhaps, cherished long term readers, you were all too polite to mention it, but I have realised I have been very disorganised. From the outset, in writing this blog, particularly in relation to stating and reviewing my values, or areas of committed action, and the goals that flow from them, I have been remiss. By actually reviewing (rather than assuming I knew or remembered)  what I had written, I discovered, to my shame, that I didn't ever complete defining my original thirteen 'areas'. No wonder it has been difficult to review them: the best attempt was in July 2011, in three word rhymes. In consistent fashion, I am in danger of doing the same again, by failing to deliver on my promise to review them all at the beginning of this year. So to try to prevent this, the remaining seven areas still to be reviewed are as follows:

• leisure,
• frugality,
• therapy,
• home,
• emotional growth
• communication
• spirituality

I will start each topic by trying to write what I was trying to achieve. In some cases, I am not quite sure. At my age, I need to write everything down, obviously!

 bird of leisure - Brisbane Botanic gardens

Leisure
This is a fairly straightforward  value, namely to focus on leisure, and actively doing fun stuff, rather than passively vegging (?) out. Which of course, is sometimes a great thing, and possibly the only thing I am capable of at the time, but I need to remind myself that actively seeking leisure is also worthwhile and fun. This can include reading - apart from text books, which I usually try to avoid anyway - and watching movies, but not tv. Unless it is mindful tv, which is watching something because I want to, not because it is on at the time (usually its an old episode of QI - how many did they make?). I have done reasonably well on this one, but sometimes, surprisingly, holidays are a challenge, as I am so reliant on structure the rest of the time.

cockatoos taking tea - Mount Nebo

Another photo of birds relaxing, suggesting perhaps they are a good model to follow? This was taken on a bushland drive, to give my younger son some driving practice the other day.

Frugality is a big one, so I will do a separate post, hopefully later today. Now I have a vacuum cleaner to collect from the repair shop. And that is another story.

more later...

Community - Neighbours, the world wide web and everything in between

 Cloud communities - constantly changing

First of all, to expand our concept of community probably as far as it can go (at least in the space dimension), this is an amazing tour of the International Space Station by departing commander Suni Williams, courtesy of my politics lecturer (go figure! He is a bit obsessed with space). 

 Rainforest communities - interconnected and interdependent

collage and oil pastels 

 

Again, here is an extract from my blog two years ago. I am including three topics today, to catch up with myself. To justify, friends are part of community, and creativity is clearly being practised, often, in this blog.

Community
This has been a huge theme this month, due to the flood. I have volunteered to do counselling for flood-affected people. I have had my pyjama angel interview, and just need to do the training, so I can be matched with a foster child. Today I am going to the Reggae for Recovery concert. Its a long time since I went to anything like this, but S loves reggae, and it seemed like a fun way to help raise money. It will be a nice reminder too of our past life in Brixton.

Friendship
Lots of  communication with friends since christmas, mainly on facebook and by email, and it has been good to catch up with friends face to face, whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Creativity,
I have done lots of sewing, making things for the house, altering clothes, and making containers of all kinds. I have also been doing drawing and painting for this blog. And the blog itself has become a valued outlet for my creativity.

 Human (or jelly baby?) communities - increasingly complex and connected

oil pastel drawing

Clearly, I am having trouble writing daily, as I had planned to over the holiday period. Life throws up constant distractions...one of them being a very cool rainforest walk, another being ancestry.com, which I signed up for (the 14 days free trial) the other day. I figured if I would ever have time, it would be now. ('Don't procrastinate...').

However, this led to an amazing discovery, of a descendent of Jack, my step grandfather, (or rather, one of his sister's) who is living within my neighbourhood. This is my second amazing discovery regarding family via the web. Eight years ago, via genes reunited, I 'found' my father's half brother, Peter, and learned all about this missing part of the family - as was so often the case in the past, it was all a bit secret, and dad never knew his real father after his parents separated. Knowing a little about my grandfather, Freddy, helped me with the family tree. So far I have made it back to the 1700's, which is not bad in a few days. I can see it could be very addictive, which is why I will stop at the end of the trial period. At least until I have finished studying. But anyway, its very relevant to today's topic of community.

 APTB community - creating connections

collage, paint and yarn

This image is a reminder of my placement at A Place to Belong this year, which taught me so much about community development, and what it is (and what it is not). And yes, I feel more connected as a result, with some good personal and professional outcomes. It was also great to be placed somewhere which valued my creativity. I even read a poem I wrote out loud to a community group meeting, which was slightly challenging, but not in the way I anticipated. (The challenge was to keep reading, when someone was talking loudly on the phone at the same time!) You can read the poem, called 'A riddle', by following the link, above...and looking for the post on 23rd November.

In this placement, community, friendship and creativity all came together. As they do in the art therapy community, and the therapy community in general.

A Place to Belong - with red flower

pastels and fabric collage

Friendship  is always a slightly challenging area for me, as I usually feel that I am not seeing friends or connecting as often as I should (or would like). This is in comparison to younger, child free days, and is affected by the general perception of busy-ness. It is however mitigated by the internet, which helps me stay connected, via facebook, skype, google hangout, and this blog. And I am very appreciative of this blog, which I was so keen to start, but also so apprehensive, two years ago. It would still meet my need to write, and create art, if no one read it at all, but the fact that people do read it, is very pleasing.

The truth is, I feel very connected, in real and virtual worlds, even across time and space, and I value this much more than I used to. As I found in my placement experience, so it is generally true. Work, friendships and creativity all overlap and feed into each other, which is something I am hugely grateful for.

Happy New Year!

more later.

environment matters

 Jumping off the grid, not the fiscal cliff...collage

In this image, I started by creating a background collage using old christmas paper wrappings and a few feathers, glued on with modge podge. I added the string very randomly at the end, and was surprised that it turned out to look like a person. We are still on the grid. But we are still exporting electricity from our solar panels (and getting a negative power bill as a result) more often than importing it. But I know this is just a drop in the (rising) ocean. Sometimes, it can all seem overwhelming.

This is what I wrote about the Environment in January 2011, at a time when half of Queensland was under flood water:

'I have recycled and donated clothes and linen for people affected by the flood. We continue to compost, recycle leftovers for chooks, recycle waste, and collect rainwater (as much as the tank can hold, anyway). We have solar panels and solar hot water, so we are generating our own electricity when the sun shines.  S bought a new car this month: it runs on diesel like the previous one, but I could probably do better at using public transport some of the time, or my bicycle! '

This year the climate in Australia was more restrained, but North America had severe drought, and Superstorm Sandy, while parts of Britain are currently flooded. Many other parts of the planet have been affected adversely by 'extreme weather events'. I think we are getting used to these events, so they no longer seem extreme. 

Australia now has a carbon price (tax) - however, the momentum for action on climate change was lost when Kevin Rudd was still Prime Minister, and he failed to reach an agreement on (then popular) carbon trading with the Greens. The so-called 'moral challenge of our times' was allowed to float away out of reach, and this failure seems to have empowered the climate change sceptics, who now conflate their disapproval of our current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, with her infamous promise not to introduce a carbon tax, so that suddenly it has become the most unpopular policy in this term of government.

Is that you Julia? At one with the environment: collage and pastels

So, what can we do? Apart from recycling, gardening, and generally trying to reduce consumption? (Probably just too late for this year...). This is one idea. Walking. And to complete the trifecta of Guardian stories, some good news! 

While I am on the subject, here is a cartoon created by Josh, of Tamsin, aka Flimsin, climate scientist, sister, and expert on uncertainty. And the link leads to another cartoon by Josh.

Interesting that all three images this week are of women in a landscape/environment. We take it for granted, that we can move around within our environment, usually without harassment. Like many worldwide I was horrified to hear of the death of 23 year old Indian medical student who was gang raped and thrown off a bus in Dehli. This is a sobering article, written before the student died, about living in Dehli, or as the author Mommysan calls it, the Subjugation Capital.

Tomorrow's blog is on Community. Let's make it a safer one.

more later.

Number Two: Health Report Update

rainbow

'I am going to the gym regularly again, aiming for 3-4 times a week, including one session with a personal trainer. I have been continuing with my RCT, trying out red clover tablets for menopause symptoms. I have also been to my new female GP twice and really like her - this is important! She is a very good communicator.  My sleeping pattern is reasonably good, and I am continuing to meditate every day'.

This is what I wrote two years ago, on the topic of health. Sounds like nothing much has changed, which I think is a good thing. These are some key elements:

• Gym/exercise - still going regularly, and have switched to having private personal trainer, but otherwise, not much has changed. I seem to be quite good at weight maintenance, but not weight loss! I also cycle regularly, most Sunday mornings, with S, doing the city river loop.
• RCT - my Red Clover Trial. Well, I am still taking them, and I believe they are helping control the hot flushes. I feel worse if I don't take them. I was told by a pharmacist they had been found effective, unlike most other herbal menopause remedies. (I wonder how long it will last, this menopause business? Because the tablets are pretty expensive...)
• GP - not had much cause to visit the Doctor. Again, a good thing. I remember I went to see her, due to hearing pulse-like sounds in my ears, which have now stopped. Without any treatment. I also saw a doctor about a respiratory virus, over a year ago, but this year my general health was good.
• Sleep - Still have the odd bout of insomnia, but much less than I used to.
• Meditation - I realised from reading this, that I had been meditating regularly for longer than I thought, perhaps almost 3 years now. Quite proud of this achievement.
• Foot - I had plantar fasciitis (chronic sore sole of foot) this year, after walking over mountains in New Zealand, in December 2011. A painful condition, which has resolved slowly, but only after getting orthotics made by a podiatrist.
• Mental Health - I am resigned, most of the time, to living with a bit of anxiety. I feel much freer than I used to, from my own thoughts. Realising how much Doesn't Matter, I think, has been a key learning.
• And, speaking of Number twos, I recently took part in a National Screening Program for Bowel Cancer, which involved collecting a stool sample and mailing it to the lab. The kit is sent to people of a certain age, in my case, 55. Collecting and mailing the sample was quite an ordeal really, in an amusing way, but a great initiative, thank-you Australian Government.

coffee cart on the Goodwill Bridge - essential pit stop!

Finally, an acknowledgement of coffee, which is the drug I cannot do without, although I usually only have one a day. Wine would come second, but I don't have a problem missing a day here and there, to have my alcohol free days. But if I miss coffee, I feel 'wrong'. Sure sign of physical addiction.

Tomorrow, its the Environment. 

more later.

Numero uno: Family

Collage: what is your next life?

To me, this image captures some sense of personal exuberance, as well as trying to reflect some balance, between dark and light, and about home, family and introspection. As promised in my last post, I am starting a review of the thirteen original 'doing what matters' areas of focus of this blog.  The first one, appropriately enough, is family.

1. Family

'My aim is to spend more time doing family things'. That is what I wrote two years ago in this blog: 'balancing acts' on January 30, 2011. Having just spent the last two days doing family christmas stuff, albeit mainly focused on food, it feels like this aim has been met, at least in the last two days! 

Ironically, in terms of immediate family, having a growing teenager in the house, actually means spending less time together over time, as he becomes more autonomous. having all spent the day together yesterday eating, and playing Balderdash, (which is like the ancient BBC program Call my Bluff), we are all choosing to spend today apart (whilst still being in the same house). Like some sort of preparation for empty nest syndrome? Apart from the driving practice, that is. Its hard making up those hours! And my older son moved out of home some time ago, but we see him reasonably often, which feels fine, too. I think it now comes down to quality, not quantity, of time, even though its a bit of a cliche.

Broader family get togethers are less frequent these days, possibly for the same reason, as well as general busyness, although I just (last week) had a visit from my 'youngest' (of the sibship) brother, who lives in Melbourne, and, who posed an interesting dilemma: namely, his request to see everyone in small groups, rather than en masse. It went pretty well, until he was unfortunately called home in an emergency, which cut the visit short, but it was interesting to reflect on his request. 

Like him, I can find large get togethers fairly overwhelming. And I know now, that is to do with having introvert tendencies, which is ok. Really. I think I mentioned reading Quiet, the power of introverts by Susan Cain, earlier this year. And yes, it would be one of my best books of the year. If I had a list. (I'm not making any more rash promises, but you never know...). 

Speaking of books, my brother left Ian McEwan's novel Solar here, as well as his Christmas presents, which I finished yesterday. Another benefit of families: book recommendations. And sometimes, actual books! I had wanted to read it for a while, as its topic is climate change, which is a clumsy link to my next paragraph, as my sister (from sibship no. 2) is a climate scientist. Obviously, a much nicer and more ethical one than the antihero of this book!

And yes, when it comes to the extended family overseas, it is often harder to feel connected, although catching up on Skype, like we did the other day, when it works, can be great! Especially when we are not in 'opposite' time zones. 

Its such a cliche, I know, to say that christmas is a family time. Especially when it (christmas, not family) seems almost devoid of other virtues, and is centred around immoderate consumption, on so many levels. But often, cliches hold a grain of truth in them. Just having time, for once, seems enough.

So thats one ticked off. Twelve more days to go.

more later.

Thirteen days of Christmas - biennial review

 'Inner Space' - collage

Isn't it hard to feel in control of time, in the last few weeks of the year? Which is a ridiculous statement anyway - time is something we absolutely can't control. For a poignant reminder of this, we enjoyed seeing the movie preview of Quartet the other night, at Regal Twin, Graceville (you can get a good idea of the demographic, just from the name of the cinema!).

This post is a reminder to keep a good perspective on things that can and can't be controlled. Which in itself is a great example: how many posts have been written in my head, before actually putting fingers to keyboard?...countless! Not to mention the blog post I have to write for my politics assignment...but that's another story.

 

 

           'Sometimes its hard to love my job' - crayon and watercolour

On holiday from my art therapy job for three weeks, but the last day was a difficult one, and its important to me to keep reminding myself, this is a tough job! Something about it being a holiday makes it harder, somehow. Perhaps it's just about letting go...

knit your own nativity scene

 

Still, there are some unusual and quirky things about my job, which make it easy to love, such as the above...they are assembled in the kitchen, awaiting a wipe down before being put away for next year.

Christmas essential: 'Cinnamon Stars' (and hearts, etc.) Swiss biscuits

Christmas is about traditions, and this is a family one, courtesy of our lovely au pair, Heidi, when I was in my tenth year or so.

the space left behind

In fact much of this biscuit batch was ruined, as I used greaseproof paper on the baking trays and they stuck, so the chooks were happy (they can handle a bit of greaseproof - they eat bugs and hard grains), but I made some more yesterday. Phew. Now I have made the Swiss biscuits,  I think it will be easier to get on with the rest of the holiday 'chores' (how I hate that word!).

As the title of today's post suggests, I will attempt to review this blog over the holiday. Its been two years since I made a commitment to start 'doing what matters' to me, and writing about it here. I identified thirteen areas to focus on - a huge undertaking really, which I sometimes regret!

This is what I wrote on 28th December, 2010:

Its going to be hard work and sometimes I won't want to bother. But I intend to try. Some of the areas I have already identified that I want to work on are:

• family,
• health,
• environment,
• community,
• friendship,
• creativity,
• leisure,
• frugality,
• therapy,
• home,
• emotional growth
• communication
• spirituality

That is thirteen, or a baker's dozen, which should keep me going for a while.

Some of the areas have been more challenging than others. But some interesting changes have occurred. So I decided, I will write about each one, in the thirteen days following Christmas. 

Meanwhile, have a wonderful holiday, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, and a very Happy New Year! And thank you so much for reading this blog. I have had almost 6,000 visitors, from which I am excited about. This is the list of Audience locations this week (I seem to have a Russian fan, hello!).

views
Russia	46
Australia	26
United States	9
India	3
Spain	2
New Zealand	2
Vietnam	2
Denmark	1
United Kingdom	1
Pakistan	1

And this is a joke for the festive season. Not sure if it is a comment on the prevalence of parking meters in Brisbane these days, or just a nice bit of silliness:

Rogue parking meter sign in Thomas St, West End

Enjoy!

more later.

When jokes aren't funny

A promise: lots of links and news in this post, as I have been trying to catch up with myself for so long. No more excuses!

 Collage and pastel drawing: 'What's your next life?'

This is a collage I made in our peer supervision group on starting my QUT Masters in Social Work course at the beginning of the year.  (The course director in the webpage video is my current lecturer for my summer course in Political Economy and Policy Making). It seems like a long time ago, but as usual, time goes fast when you are busy and yes, some of it was even fun. I LOVED my placement for example, as I have written in previous posts. 

 2 collages on parental attachment and ACT, based on Russian dolls - words may be illegible, sorry!

But back to the now, or at least the recent past. Since I last wrote here. I have been away interstate twice in a week, and have only just started feeling normal again, as it was surprisingly tiring (going to Sydney for THE DAY being the most ridiculous idea I have had for a while - 4am sucks, period). However, the Melbourne trip in particular was a great success, and our presentation about our therapy model at Silky Oaks Children's Haven to the national Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) conference went very well, with a lot of positive feedback from participants. It was almost worth the prior anxiety. 

And the unhelpful thoughts, that this would not be good enough, that we needed more evidence, that it wasn't ACT-enough, well I have thanked my mind many times for them. And found a great response to this anxiety from another blogger, Graham Martin, who is a leading child and youth psychiatrist on the north side of Brisbane. This is the link to Graham's blog for a Haiku on mental health. I really appreciate his sentiments. The importance of doing what matters, in other words.

Photo: 'Impress an environmentalist' sign on Brisbane CityCycle bike basket

One thing that did not impress us at the ANZACT conference, was the Saturday night 'entertainment', The (well-named) Follies. Like a recent and very unfortunate radio prank (a good analysis of this here), it was probably not intended to offend.  Or at least, not much. But somehow they got it horribly wrong, and it was rather inappropriate to say the least. No longer is it ok to say, we were 'only joking', as one man's Snigger may be another (wo)man's Trigger.

Probably enough said, but since I have become a Joint-Destroyer, I cannot say NOTHING!.

more later.