Corresponding eventually and always

Posted pressies to Latvia and cards with photos.

Plus other correspondence.

Not to mention Facebook and emails.

Enjoying evenings at home - no pressure.

However tomorrow investigating Volunteers Abroad info session.

Stasiland expose

Tax is taxing.

Enrolled for masters - now wait and see...........

Reading the excellent Stasiland by Anna Funder.

An expose into the experiment of The wall and the Stasi - very recent events in our world history - quite strange to think people were told what was the true version of life - as opposed to what actually happened - ie The Black Channel - massive paranoia. But then again capitalism has not covered itself in glory of late. The US may default on payments - due to ideological disagreements on how to handle debt and tax. But how did the debt get so out of control in the first place?

All the more relevant due to having just visited Berlin and the memorials of The Wall.

Also the Psychology of Spirituality - got from Flinders Uni Library.

Only just began - but it talks about stages of faith and your true self - very interesting.

Cold grey swamp in the sky.

Latte and scrambled eggs this morning @ The Blessed Cheese - so I'm not exactly slumming it(!)

Luminosite

It means brightness and radiance - so glad I know this!

A random upload to signify....? the winter sunsets I see.

Joy is not listening to the negatives - you spent what?!

But revelling in a song, a warm hug, a found key, a hello.

Luminosity

Experimenting with uploads - need help!

Luminosite - will have to look up the definition.

Sounds like luminosity?

The sunsets have been sweet orange contrasts to the bare trees on the horizon.

But almond blossom is bursting out on the cold winter days.

Finding it so hard to get out of a warm cosy bed into the day.

I have been accepted for my masters - starting soon!

Finally something is happening.

I need to be pushed.

Mental health is often pigeon holed into set limits - it goes deeper into why something shuts down a life - are we all so scared of how we do?

Constantly rating ourselves into a state of despair, malaise or worse......

Light shines in the dark

I have been experimenting with things and guess what? You can put pictures on this blog - this is big news for me! All these years and now the flood gates are open.

I still need to get my files organised - but it is happening.

So is my masters study - at last.

Have been emailing, compiling Church Mouse and doing community news stuff.

Yeah it's nearly 2 am - but it is intoxicating to find out new things........................

Forgiveness, and how does it all work?

Absorbed in discussion on forgiveness @ the 4th Spirituality & Health conference in Elder Hall, Adelaide.
There is a broad perspective of disiplines - Palliative care, chaplaincy, mental health, theology, academia, arts and sciences - not a complete list.
A lot of research on forgiveness - why is it so hard to do?
The brain lights up when it is considering imminent revenge, but forgiveness is a big ask.
Heard a poignant and very sad account from a mother who had lost her husband and parents- in- law and also had her son severely injured in an attack in her home this year. She was very brave to tell her story. Can she forgive?
The general consensus is that forgiveness is therapeutic, but not something that you can write a script for. A study developed the reasons why people forgave ie for benefit to self, altruistic, pressure from others and the results from this action.
The neuro physiology has also been detailed. Questions like why forgive, if it just gives the person licnence to do the smae thing again.
What to do if there is no perceivable 'bad guy'.
Have been knitting away on my scarf - started when I was invited to an impromtu craft group.
Also stayed on in Adelaide and saw 'Speaking in Tongues' layers of a story interwoven and strangely enough a lot on the theme of forgiveness. Coincidently there was a Q & A session after the play, so got to talk about forgiveness and vengence and lots of other themes - is mariage really so bad? someone asked - who had been married to the same girl for 57 years.
Going to the conference dinner shortly, then an early start tomorrow.
But I need the disicipline of going out - I don't read or write enough at home - it is just too distracting there.
Belief + love = Strength
Finding out new things is a buzz, a drug, something to crave.
There is so much about our minds we don't know, never mind deep space exploration and new technologies, how do we work?
Masters studies............Still trying to connect.

i pix is a great riff to be on..........

Have binned a shirt that had a plum squashed in it for close to two weeks in my suitcase.

Did not soak off.

Still the double vinyl LP survived.

Did I tell you that I stayed up until close to 4 am working on i photos?

It is quite intoxicating working on the pix, and remembering the journey.

Tired, surprisingly(?)

Art as indefinable

Hey, the computer puts me straight through to post, smart computer.

Back to having a' to do' list.

Will start getting organised soon, I mean it!

Discourse on Art-:

'Art on a plate' - Degustation Barossa art and wine trail -Adelaide review.

'Art at the heart of a healthy society' - Paul Grabowsky - What role does art play in shaping urban life.

Think I remember seeing something advertised for when I was away on this, get to read the article in Adelaide Review instead.

Art, yes it is the indefinable around us.

Around me at the moment is a loud TV which has Inspector Rex on, and then another TV which has Masterchef on. Feel encroached on.................Sounds of voices and selling points.

I struggle to write at home.

Go team WEA Baltic countries and Berlin

Get back on that blog!

Have got my rhythm back and reconnecting locally.

Cold, wintery rain is the setting here.

Domestics are a bore, but still it was nice while it lasted.

3 weeks without doing the dishes and planning meals etc.

Could just be a professional traveller.

Postcards from Lithuania and Riga are still in transit. Will they arrive?

Time to go and munch on some pre dinner food and drinks.

Miss the camaraderie of the tour.

We were a team.

Goodbye Helsinki

Found art.
The dark zone photos.
The golden forest.
Africa expose on at Kiasma.
Legs tired.
Airport soon.
Signing off from Helsinki.