What is Mothers’ Day to me?
Ouma van Wyk – Ma – Ouma du Toit. I never aspired to be a mother. To me what was normal was this: Girls grow up, they start dating, they meet a guy, they fall in love, they get married, they have babies. My life started before The Pill and abortions were unheard […]
When Faltering Happens
<1312 words> Faltering can happen any time, no matter how well prepared you are and how experienced and skilled and everything. No doubt faltering has many causes but to my mind, when emotions simply will not remain in the back row of a command performance, the prospects of faltering happening significantly increases. “I was struck with […]
My Story of an African Farm
<1156 words> Apparently it was necessary for me to have a crazy dream of registering for a farmers’ expo here in Nova Scotia. The rule was that if you could register a VOF (Very Old Farm) you somehow could claim senior status. I thought I might use my grandfather’s farm outside Mafikeng in South Africa – […]
What does resilience really look like, anyway?
<1457 words – yes, this is a long one but it contains an interesting story and some pictures :-)> And, I’ve added a link at the bottom of this blog to a very informative article on resilience that appeared in the New Yorker in Feb 2016. More on the science of…. Do any of these words […]
What if I were predisposed to being grateful?
There are those who have a predisposition to entitlement. They feel that everything they have is theirs because it is their right to have those things. They typically also feel they’re entitled to things they don’t yet have and will set about causing others to hand over those things, or at least to feel guilty […]
Love and introspection shifts a world
Sometimes when you’re engaged in a quarrel with someone the things takes on a momentum of its own…..The person who blinked first was hurt and puzzled….it became imperative that a peace be brokered in a family that felt like it was falling apart, before it was too late.
A Hurricane of Ideas
While walking in the high winds of the side-end of Hurricane Arthur I realise important things about life that I believe are generally applicable. Such as not to shrink from challenges, to maintain humility and to practice gratitude every day.
Who said ‘embrace change’?
Word count: 1245
The worlds of motivational workshops, life coaching and management consulting are peppered with the now seriously clichéd ‘embrace change’. If you’re not for change you are
against it. You’re either progressive and creative – a constant ball of energy, seeking your next change fix; or you’re stagnant or dead. The literature also tells us that it’s ok to fear change,
while then admonishing us to overcome our fears in a 5, 6, 7 or even 8 step process. That’s all it takes. Follow the steps and you too, …