Emotions and grief
I’ve previously said we are emotional beings much more than we want to admit. Emotions control us. PICTURE: K Mitch Hodge/Unsplash The greatest proof that we are feeling beings is grief, because grief overwhelms us. So many books on grief are written for our minds – “How can a good God allow suffering?”. But when grief […]
Men and women
The male treatment of women has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, and sometimes the church has been complicit in that. PICTURE: Tim Mossholder/Unsplash The Bible starts and finishes it’s discussion of males and females like this… “So God created humanity in his own image, in the image of God he created […]
Emotions only get us so far
We are emotional beings much more than we want to admit. Emotions control us. PICTURE: Aneta Pawlik/Unsplash This is not a bad thing. Why? We make gut, emotional, instinctive decisions in a split second about all sorts of things; so that we get away from danger. Our emotions – instincts – have ensured our survival. […]
Thinking about thinking
We think we are thinking animals. We think we think about decisions, morals, all sorts of things – but the reality is we feel our way through life. We are very much controlled by our emotions. Picture posed by model. PICTURE: Valentin Salja/Unsplash Now thinking people like me can get all hot and bothered about this! “I’m not controlled by my emotions!” […]
Highs and lows
As humans we adapt to our situation. We acclimatise to our circumstances. Soft drink is a wonderful luxury if you only get it at Christmas. But if you drink it every day, it loses its magic. Living a life of “hard work, discomfort and simplicity” will ensure moments of celebration are the “high moments” we […]
“One minute experts”
Talking to a professional councillor who works with young mums, she said the first thing her and her colleagues have to do these days, is counter all the stupid advice parents have picked up from Tik Tok and Instagram reels. PICTURE: Bastian Riccardi/Unsplash “It’s really frustrating”, she said. “All these supposed one minute experts” – hmm, I […]
Aged care
Did you know Australia has the leading rate of aged incarceration in the world? GRAPHIC: SewcreamStudio/iStockphoto I’m not talking about putting our aged into jails, I’m talking about putting them into care. At first this sounds good – how rich are we that we can house all our elderly in specialised houses of care? But when […]
Change to avoid transitions
Are you someone who uses change to avoid transitions? PICTURE: Andrew Teoh/Unsplash The late American organisational consultant William Bridges names people like that. They will change jobs rather than discover what it is in themselves that keeps finding such terrible bosses to work for. They will end a relationship rather than deal with the behaviours, attitudes […]
Obliterated by loss
In Nick Cave’s recent book, Faith, hope and Carnage, he has this line – “We are all, at some point in our lives, obliterated by loss.” Wow. ‘Loss’, a sculpture by Jane Mortimer in Belfast, Northern Ireland. PICTURE: K Mitch Hodge/Unsplash Nick’s book explores, very vulnerably and openly, his grief around losing his son. It explores that obliteration, and […]
Falling in love
There are lots of stories and movies about falling in love, but not so many about staying in love for the long haul; the harder, yet more profound,thing. We have elevated the feelings of love, not the decision to love. PICTURE: Eldar Nazarov/Unsplash In the same way in the church there are lots of stories […]