So what is helpful? What’s the cure for political depression? For one thing, liberal conservatives are going to have to borrow from some of the left’s irrepressible optimism. But if my last few months of lethargy and dark doctors’ waiting rooms have taught me anything, it’s that all those in search of a cure for our current political malaise could do well to look at recent advances in the mental health ward. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, or CBT, is today’s wonder cure – but what does it actually entail, and can it save a country as well as it can a person?
CBT is all about breaking unhelpful mental patterns. It’s also about the art of the possible. Under pressure at work? Find one request you can reasonably make of your boss. Determined to run a marathon to feel better about being obese? Start by using the stairs instead of a lift.
In politics, focusing on the big picture can often seem overwhelming. The future is bleak; there are a lot of battles that the forces of liberalism seem unlikely to win. When I think of Trump in the White House, Erdogan imprisoning critics in Turkey, martial law in the Philippines – I could continue – I curl up and go back to bed. When I think about the two refugee friends who I’ve got coming to stay next week, I scurry up and start readying
Uhtceare is an Old English word that refers to anxiety experienced just before dawn. It describes that moment when you wake up too early and can’t get back to sleep, no matter how tired you are, because you’re worried about the day to come.
Autumn’s coming,geese fly by, Autumn,rust,red,gold,so gay Drystone walls edging fields. Apples gathered,holly berries Flash so brightly,look like flowers Sun shines sideways,shadows long Of trees appear.I dwell among Woods where gentle beeches sing Swaying with the sideward wind
See their roots, all intertwined. Feel their geometry in your mind. Look up now into the sky, See the V formation high.
Geese fly home at end of day.
My heart is moved by patterned dance In this peace and great silence My mind widens like the sky And in this moment I would die, So I could stay with this still vision Of geese set out on autumn mission.
Snails in rain pools slither near My feet upon the terrace here Yet how swiftly life’s destroyed When blind foot steps into the void.
Corridor cleaners are paid £20 an hour in the Old Whittington Hospital. Patients waiting in A&E can be taken on in these jobs for all or part of a day. It’s a good way to keep fit while you’re waiting instead of lounging in a chair weeping with pain drinking hospital tea Where do they buy their tea from by the way? I suppose if the tea was good quality then folk would walk in from the street and pretend to be ill just so they could get a cup of free tea who knows maybe people are already doing that
The prime minister sounds like a mother of young children when he says that he didn’t look at the welfare bill properly because he was distracted by foreign policy
I know that feeling when you would have loved to make your husband a wonderful dinner but you were distracted by the baby’s potty
My I goodness I’ I’m completely out of date who makes their husband’s dinner now? Who who even has a husband now? And if you do would you dream of making his dinner rather than lying down anything and eating a Mars bar ice cream?
I ate one in alderburgh I look at Me now!
What with that and the scar from my surgery I could be in the fairground frightening children or men
Che Guevara don’t eat llama
Vote for starmer it will keep you calmer
Work from your bed or you.will go to prison instead
Jack had just taken early retirement from his old job as a maths researcher. in Knittingham university.His large collection of books was overwhelming the home he shared with his excitable French wife Simone.
Simone was still working at the university cleaning computers heads all day long.Now she was hoping that she and Jack could do more entertaining.If only he would get rid of some of the many books he owned!
Simone left for work wearing her new pink cord trousers and a dark blue denim knit jumper with a long lasting beige foundation from Max Factor covering her red complexion.
Jack gave the cat,Louisa, a hot bath in goat’s milk.Now instead of being grey she was cream coloured!
I’ve been dyed,she shrieked politely but Jack never replied.
He pondered,as he dried her what to do with all his maths books.He had thought of making a large collage but who would want it?
Or he could donate them to the university or have a fire in the back garden.
Suddenly he looked up and saw a very charmingly pink faced woman peering into the window.
It was his neighbour Mima whose husband had disappeared last year,possibly inside a wheelie bin,though no-one was sure.
Hello,l,did you want me?” he cried nervously
I thought you might like some company for morning coffee.What a pretty cat.what is her name?”
Louisa was wary of Mima.Maybe the purple trousers and orange jumper might give the cat an epileptic fit… she was a sufferer, just like St Paul.She hoped to be converted but so far was disappointed.She longed to see a vision of heavenly cat food in the sky.
Can cats go to Mass? she mioawed to Jack.
Yes,but they can’t have Communion,he responded furtively
Well,we don’t eat bread but I love wine!
I’ll mention it to the Pope next time I see him,Mima said with a roguish smile.Her make up looked to be waterproof as the drip in the ceiling was right above her head and heavy rain was falling yet her face did not change at all.Was it plastic coated?
But Louisa,you would have to confess your sins.All your sins
I never did a thing wrong in my whole life ,the cat replied haughtily.
Well,you know the Church is only for repentant sinners,so if you never sin,you can’t repent. so it follows indubitably that you can’t join the Church! I studied Aristotle once so
I get all logical with emotion.I only wish I’d got to Wittgenstein..I could have loved that man….though now I seem to recall he was gay…still,who knows?
If that were true about the Church,would Jesus be allowed to join?
Certainly not.He was perfect and also he was Jewish.So why would he want to join a Christian church?
As he began it, he might like to see its holy life,Louisa purred loudly.
Really,I think this is a very odd conversation murmured the parrot,Felix Semper.
Not so odd,responded a tall dark man who just appeared from nowhere.
I am called Jesus he said,but I’m from Malaga.
In Spain many men are called Jesus,he continued mellifluously.
Is that so, cried she murmured tenderly.
I never met a Jesus before.If you married me it would give people a shock if I said I was married to Jesus! she whispered loudly behind her hand.
Marry you! Is it leap year? Women have never proposed to me before.
I was just thinking out loud,she replied demurely in her soft voice.
Nuns used to be married to Jesus and wore a silver wedding ring.
I was educated at a convent school.That’s why I’m so very neurotic.
Are you really neurotic? Jack,screamed neurotically
I have a whole shelf of books by Karen Horney here.Self Analysis, is just one.
I could give it to you now….
Not in front of Jesus,she muttered chastely.
Have you no moral feelings?
No,I’ve never had any feelings of any sort in my entire. bu life but it’s done me no harm.
I’ll ask Simone when she gets back, we’ll see if she agrees!
I’m just like a computer with a human body.
I sometimes think I’d like a suit of silver armour.
Bless you,my child,Jesus murmured.
When they looked up the tall dark man was gone.
They looked around but he had left no footprints.
Should we call the police?He came in with no permission!
How disgraceful.
How dastardly.
How disgusting
How damnable.
How divine.
How dumb.
How deplorable.
So on they murmured until it was time to cook lunch. for the cats and birds.What a morning,what a life.
Mary decided that the best way to dress for early summer would be cotton trousers and Dash cotton tops she bought from eBay.
How do you like this one? She asked her friend Annie after she showed her a top that has arrived the same morning.
It had a swirly yet geometric design in black and white
I like it very much but it could give someone migraine
Well that’s not my problem, said Mary.
If certain patterns are dangerous then the government should make them illegal
It would definitely make a change to hear prime minister’s question time if they were arguing about patterns and designs especially those on women’s clothing. I I’m tired of all the racism and lies that are being displayed everywhere and talked about and written about as well.
And I am tired of hearing people use the name of Jesus Christ as a weapon against Islam.
Yes I really get angry when I hear people call themselves Christians when they are doing bad things to others and I don’t just mean telling lies or stealing.
Anyway Mary, I can see there’s a pair of denim culottes on your bed.
Yes I just found them in the spare room. What do you think of them?
As long as they cover your knees I think they’re very good for summer.
I suppose they will be cooler than trousers, Mary said thoughtfully. But why should one wear those instead of a skirt?
Well they must be in fashion said Annie nervously. It’s more normal now for women to wear trousers and these are a version of trousers.
I wonder what would happen if all women decided to become trans men because that’s the way things seem to be moving,
What do you mean?
When we were young women never wore trousers. They were thought to be immodest
But mostly everybody wanted a clear distinction between men and women.
Does that sound as if people don’t think there is a clear distinction?
I suppose it does
And since those distinctions were used to keep women subservient to men then why should we keep them?
I can hear someone saying where will it all end.
Indeed where will it all end when women become trans men and some men become trans women and in any case if they’re not white they’re all being deported to the Congo. Or anywhere else that want some money
Well maybe it’s time we had some lunch. We were only meant to be discussing my summer wardrobe not the state of Britain but can these things be separated?
Maybe the culottes are a good idea because they combine masculinity and femininity and they also let plenty of air onto the lower part of your body which is perfect for hot weather as long as there are no flying ants or wasps about.
No wonder Mary is not dressed by lunch time.
She is not in employment so she can get dressed whenever she wants to.
How difficult is this to live with all these problems.
Maybe it’s best if you buy a uniform If you’re small enough you can buy a school uniform. 000 but then some people would buy uniforms for public schools and those of us who couldn’t afford that could get very annoyed or jealous.
It seems as if there is no peaceful solution to anything nowadays.
Given that Britain is going to become extremely hot in the near future perhaps it’s better if everybody wears dresses like the paramedic friend of Mary’s called Dave.
I am sorry that going to the pain in my hands at the moment I cannot do copying and pasting but this article is very worthwhile and it includes a video
It’s hard to find something at the right level and it does not make you have to memorize lots of long names that you will never really find useful in your writing
Because what matters is to write not to fast examinations about writing although it’s obviously very useful to know as much as you can manage of techniques even if you don’t want to use them.
We fell into a rhythm as we walked Arm in arm we wandered as we talked We looked into folks’ windows as dusk came Tried to guess their furnishings and names
Some had nothing but the ironing stacked Others had the furniture we lacked I bought a chest of drawers for just three pounds We had a double bed where our cat lounged
I bought a little table made of oak Fifty pence at auction, go for broke! A few old armchairs covered in green cloth Too severe to be a home for moths
Now I look at pictures on the walls I see the sun turn mauve as down dusk falls Images both simple and robust One a choice the other nature’s lust
I see my sofa like a treasure ship I lie upon it dreaming humorous quips I dream of journeys on the little train That signifies what sleep means to my brain
The rocking chair is empty of the cat I see one in my garden, not my lap. I try to tame this immigrant I like I shall give him food and call him Mike.
Oh,dear that is my brother, will he mind? I know he loves the birds, and cats do bite He is not living here in my old road Otherwise he’ll hear me shouting “Claude”
Perhaps I’ll call the cat Tamara Jane In case they’re very sensitive to names For I know not the gender of the beast They may be quite fluid at the least
Now my husband cannot calm me down I’d like his verdict on my new nightgown But all I can remember is that rhythm I fell into walking out with him
My old blue fountain pen allows The ink across the page to flow Like wet paint from an artist’s brush; And words come in a rush.
Enchanted by the hand that writes, Bewitched by art, beauty alights. The script is like a music score Through which we pass as through a door. Imagination’s home.
As,mysteriously,to you,to me, The spirits of our hearts are tamed, By rhythms of pen,of brush,of mind, They enter vision quite unplanned, Like moths to flutter softly round Fire joined heart and hand.
The pen slows down,the hand goes still And just as dreams at daybreak will, They shrink,they disappear,they’re gone.
Stan was a very naughty man because he winked at his dear wife before dying and she had no chance to respond. That is so typical of Stan, she said to Annie, her best friend. Well, at least he went peacefully.Annie replied in a kindly tone And to think I had just bought him 6 new pairs of pyjamas. You can’t blame him for that.You always buy too much, Annie murmured politely Well, I suppose I like to be prepared, Mary muttered.I felt so helpless as he went thinner and thinner. What are you going to do with them all, Annie whispered. There’s only one solution.I’ll have to find a man to fit the pyjamas and marry him That’s a strange way of choosing a new husband, Annie said in a shocked voice. In the end however rational we try to be, life is down to luck. Yes, didn’t Churchill say, chance favours the prepared mind? It wasn’t Churchill, it was Blaise Pascal.Mary told her in of voice rich with wisdom to Well, why not marry him? He sounds intriguing He’s dead, Mary responded succinctly
Oh, what a pity.He sounded just right for you, Annie said tearfully.Are we going to the funeral? I am afraid he died before we were born, Mary said in an anguished tone. , he’s no use.Anyone else you fancy?How about Dante? Annie screamed Which Dante do you mean?I thought he was Italian, Mary informed her. It’s not far by plane, though Brexit might be a problem, Annie said wisely. Let’s be realistic.No dead, great genius will be revived by the Lord to marry me.Mary said as if she were lecturing to a big class on differential geometry and its use in economics.No wonder we had the Depression That might be blasphemy, Annie informed her.After all, if God is omnipotent he can do anything at all. To me, he sometimes seems incompetent, said Mary wildly.And of all the lonely people in the world, why should he aid me in my grief? Anway male geniuses are very demanding.I think a cook or chef might be more practical. Oh, look, we’ve missed Mass again. We’ve not been for 40 years and just when we decided to go we started talking about these powerful creatures and a husband for you Never mind, why don’t we wait till Xmas? And so say all of us.
We think we are unique, special and deserving of happiness, but we are terrified of being alone. We declare that personal freedom and autonomy is both a right and good, but we think anyone who exercises that freedom autonomously is ‘sad, mad or bad’. Or all three at once. https://www.goodreads.com Sara Maitland Quotes – Goodreads
“When we look into Keats’s expressions of conflict between
imagination and reality we can see the roots of this conflict in the
problem of identity. Keats wrote about the sunset, the sparrow, the
mythological figure as if he had lost his identity in the object. He
experienced these identifications sometimes with a sense of discovery
and sometimes with fear or irritability. Eventually, Keats began to see
that his identity would not be maddened by his imagination and could
be strengthened by it. He realized, in other words, “that a not inconsiderable increase in psychical efficiency” can result “from a disposition
which in itself is perilous.” In-the four years we know Keats as a letter
writer and a poet, we can see the development of his capacity for
retaining a sense of identity even when seized by powerful or seductive
visions. This is the development–the turning of a weakness into a
strength, both as artist and as man-that accounts for many apparent
contradictions in Keats’s thought. The language of negative capability
has been difficult because it suggests a puzzling oxymoron- a negative
and a positive. The figure presents two aspects of a dual process, the
first part of which, in its partial renunciation of control, can be felt as a
negative, while the second, or alternating, state recreates and is felt as a
capability. The creative process in some of its operations posed
dangers for Keats’!; identity. But by the spring of 1819, the period of the
great odes, there appears a new strength in the second aspect of
negative capabilily imagination”
Stan’s new laptop computer with Windows 8.1 seemed very good but he had discovered that “superfish “was installed on Lenovo computers for a few months and it is adware with a malicious aspect getting a false trusted certificate into the registry.So Mary had read.
What a pest when this happens. to stupid young or old folk.Mary was about to fix it manually, but first she went the hairdresser, a new and gentle Turkish lady.When Mary went she always said just take a little off the ends but the hairdressers usually took no notice…possibly because they knew she was often daydreaming and musing and unaware of recent trends So today she came out with a bob long at the sides and short at the back.She had noticed this on other women around the town so she was now on trend for once though Stan her over virile and naughty spouse would probably hate it as he liked her wild look.Even though she nevr wore the thick makeup and turquoise eyeliner of her friend Annie.
What is that big white dressing in your cleavage,madam, the manager asked Mary courteously
Oh,it’s where they accidentally sprayed frozen nitrogen over an open wound she said.The doctor was a bit drunk I think but can you blame them when they are so poorly paid?
How can they afford brandy then,he asked curiously.Or is it white spirit or some chemical?
I have no idea said Mary.We never learned that at Yoxford.Differential equations,yes.People,no
So emotional intelligence was not taught? he enquired tactlessly. yet thoughtfully
How could such narrow minded scholars teach that,Mary replied pensively.They have none.Or not much.Well.they could download it from the web.A self teaching aid.There’s a creative notion,she told herself..
But why do we have to learn it @Mary continued quietly.Is it not part of our natural development like learning to speak? Even Wittgenstein did not speak till he was four and he was never happy but is it normal to be happy when the world is so de-sacralised and bankers steal from the poor and men make whores from young immigrant women who have no idea where to get help.What type of man wishes to have sex with poor, terrified girls?
Are people really depressed now or are they seeing a horrible reality in their world; where military solutions are sought for impossible situations…. fascinating though awful but I must dash home now as my thin old husband needs me to feed him and he is so sweet..goodbye for today.She rushed out without paying but they all knew who she was,
When Mary opened the front door of her detached bijou residential red brick home she heard Emile the little cat sobbing under the bureau in the entrance hall.
I thought superfish were real fish and I wanted to eat them for my dinner,he told her artfully between sobs
Would you like some sardines in olive oil;it might make your fur shine and impress your lady friend,Ariel…..7
Yes,please,Emile mewed.Yum,yum.love Ariel.Love you,Mary,
What next for this resilient,beautiful and highly unemotionally intelligent lady, we may wonder …. a new boyfriend or two or proof that God must exist but only as a transcendental number…so one can really count on him at times of danger even though as a decimal he was non repeating and endlessly changing,just like a woman one might say.Though women are very various and not all the same.That’s where the Trinity comes in handy.What would we do without it….. may God bless us and drag us out of the mire of sin we are stuck in.Amen.
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Hello Mary. what are you doing today? There stood a vision dressed in a teal jumpsuit it was Annie, Stan’s mistress,[ when he was alive.] Quite what her status as a former mistress can be is unknown,but she remained on friendly terms with Mary ;she had helped Mary a good deal while she was grieving,mainly by being present yet undemanding not to mention making frequent cups of tea and putting out the washing
I’m going to stay with the Pope in Rome ,Mary cried out from her pink armchair
Are you being sarcastic, ironic, or have you gone mad? Annie replied politely
Well I was trying to be sarcastic but I am not very good at it yet I hope to improve as time goes by because research shows being sarcastic improves your creativity
But can you be sure which part of your life will become more creative, Annie ask her thoughtfully with a little grin
For example you might become more creative in the way you trying to attract men
Well that would not be difficult, said Mary ,as I do nothing to try to attract them at the moment and on the other hand it could be rather time-consuming
Would it improve my ability to write in a creative manner or to be more creative in what I cook?
I have no idea Annie told her. the only problem is is that if you practice on me it might affect our friendship
You are far too childish, Mary told her. Is that sarcastic?
Tell me, the ex mistress of your ancient husband!
What do you mean ancient, he was only 23!
23 what? said Annie
Are we being sarcastic?
Well if we can’t know the answer then we are not being sarcastic because I am sure we would realise if we were
I am glad you can express yourself in such a brief manner
What have briefs got to do with it?
I just found a bag full of dry ones and I have been folding them and putting them into the drawer
Do you mean knickers?
Yes, I do, but I couldn’t remember the name
You’re pulling my leg
No I’m not. I’m nowhere near your leg
Don’t tell me that you are not familiar with the expression meaning “you are joking”
Why do you assume I am not familiar with anything?
I am giving you the benefit of the doubt
Doubt is a very dangerous State of Mind
Shall I wear the pink knickers or the blue ones I spend all morning trying to decide so it is best not to doubt anything but to believe that what you do must be correct and everybody else is wrong
That’s alright as long as you’re not stealing people’s husbands
If they can be stolen so easily what does that tell us about the state of the marriage? Nothing nothing at all, men are so easily beguiled that is in the best of marriages they’re not be enough to keep them faithful for ever
Don’t be so horrible I was trying to be sarcastic Should it not come naturally like loving?
What kind of loving do you mean? If you mean physical loving it doesn’t always come naturally to human beings’
.many couples go for help in having a baby and the doctor discovers they didn’t realise what sex was
They thought by sleeping in the same bed, the wife will get pregnant
It seems very hard to believe but compared to thinking about Donald Trump
and his lies, it is nothing
Shall I put the kettle on, said Mary
That is sarcastic Annie said because you know that I always put it on when I am here it is more like dropping hints Mary cried All these things are very hard for scientists. You don’t solve mathematical problems by dropping a hint nor does anyone drop hints to you whereas in interpersonal relationships it is very important to be able to drop hints and to be able to take hints when they’re dropped in front of you Mathematics and physics much easier than everyday life because they contain no sarcasm no irony and no hints whatsoever I wonder if Wittgenstein would agree with you.
As he is dead we cannot know but I am almost sure he would agree
I was just being sarcastic,that’s all!
It seems like that Mary and Annie are going to have to spend much longer practicing sarcasm before they were able to go outside and be sarcastic to neighbours or Friends
well Emile’s view is that he will not accept sarcasm from anybody
He will bite the hand that feeds him if necessary because he knows that Mary will forgive him when he apologizes
On the other hand it would be easier if he didn’t bite anyone And God might be angry with Emile for being a trying animal to live with
