About eighteen years ago, somebody told me that I should learn to write. I never bothered to say that her comment had floored me… but it had stemmed from my childhood: when I’d write or tell stories to my younger siblings. It’d served as a good distractor from the violence downstairs. It had also been [...]
My wonderful, flamboyant late father, loved gardening. One of my favourite memories, is finding him, half way up an ancient apple tree, because despite being deaf, with impaired balance, he was totally fearless. He was wearing: blue cut- off Levi hot pants, a t-shirt, flip flops, and a toothy golden grin, and his huge gold- [...]
Manifestation is a powerful mind shift that helps support us to realise our dreams and aspirations. Whilst there are many tools available to help us to manifest: fundamentally its foundations are simply about revising our outlook, or taking a new perspective about how we might attract the things we wish for. Here’s an example: “I’ll [...]
In real life my singing voice is awful! Of course, the song I impersonate, midst- exercising: sounds quite good to me… it’s only my long-suffering friends and family, who endure it. But I have a new voice now: - the magnificent sound of the nightingale, will, I know forever be the tune I wake-up to [...]
Her handkerchief smells comforting. Her soapy neck smells the same. She is wiping my tears and snot first. Next, with a scrunched-up face, she pulls the of dog poo off and undresses me. She doesn’t like what I’m wearing. They are called “hippy rags!” And they are in an “awful colour.” She tells me that [...]
Whilst I am naturally resourceful, and it is a positive aspect of being a survivor - I cannot bake a cake without the ingredients. Even a recipe that doesn’t need cooking, requires the basic components, to create a meal. Similarly, when our heart yearns to heal, and even if we consider ourselves to be on [...]
Acclimatizing to my newly - found emotional freedom, is akin to observing wild horses bound freely in a forest. It is a fantastic feeling: being alert and charged, and my energy is in abundance. I want to meet and greet every single filly and pony, coax them with a juicy apple or carrot, show them [...]
As a child, I could make a vegetable soup, and eat it in less than half an hour. It made a pleasant change from microwaved fishfingers, or tuna pasta salad, which I can still make speedily. Mother did not bother cooking once I had reached the grand age of eleven, and on the rare occasion [...]
From the outside, the house looked much like a child’s picture: innocent and with four windows and a door in the middle. The newly built property, its town centre location: - caused much gush in the sales literature: “Rare chance to acquire large, newly - built family house in the peaceful historic town centre.” One [...]
Very few external things, will make you happy, because feelings of contentment and happiness are own-grown. We must cultivate the saplings of happiness, as though they are the plants of us, and despite the original quality of our soil. Those of us who endure the lasting effects of trauma, know too well that the soil [...]