https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jul/18/muriel-spark-books-martin-stannard

https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/lifting-veil-removing-invisibility-adult-social-care

https://www.verywellhealth.com/things-stop-doing-arthritis-190407

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/feb/18/100-centenarians-100-tips-for-a-life-well-lived?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

https://academic.oup.com/book/1312/chapter-abstract/140296678?redirectedFrom=fulltext

O

This theme, which gradually becomes clear to the reader, is foreshadowed in an early quotation: ‘Concepts can never be presented to me merely, they must be knitted into the structure of my being, and this can only be done through my own activity’ (M. P. Follett, Creative Experience).

The central concept which is presented to the reader and apprehended by the writer through the writing of the book has to do with the subjective way of experiencing and the role of this in creative process. Thus the book is in one sense a plea for the recognition of subjectivity as having its own place and way of functioning, just as legitimate and as necessary as objectivity, but different. As applied to education, it is pointed out that subjectivity must be understood by teachers, otherwise the objectivity aimed at must be in danger of fatal distortion. Painting comes in as a jumping-off place; it was the surprise of discovering the power to make ‘free’drawings’..

Mary’s cousin John bad come to stay for a few days. He had a view of life very different from hers.

People here are too lazy to work

he said.

You’ve been reading the Times again,she teased him.

He blushed with rage,People with colds or headaches can work.Women have to look after babies regardless of how they feel.

And look how Jews worked in concentration camps even when they were dying

That’s the most  horrible thing anyone has ever said in front of me. How can you even say those words?

I just meant to say that if the Jews could work when they were dying in concentration camps, people here could work minor illnesses.

What happened to you John what happened? I’ve never heard you say things like this before.

Actually I’ve been made redundant and the manager is Jewish.

But he’s not making people redundant because he’s Jewish is because his business is making much less money. It’s probably because of the pandemic.

If you are unemployed why are you not ⁰ sympathetic to others at the same position?

I don’t want people to know I’m unemployed.. so if I criticise them I don’t need to look at my own feelings.

Well do not say anything like that about Jewish people ever again.

It was an immeasurable unthinkable merciless crime and you seem to condone it. You don’t want our government however terrible it is to imprison because they have lost their jobs. How would you like it. You know quite well that prison is not the soft option that some people believe it is.

Mary was very worried by what John said and she realized that people were lookng for a scapegoat to blame for the state of the country.

Many of us know the truth.

The meek do not inherit the earth literally. They are given the lowest wages that the firm can get away with.

Sayings of Jesus are sometimes paradoxical and v hard to understand.

It’s a way of making us think by turning everything upside down.

Mary had several books about art including

On not being able to paint, by Marion Milner. And this is where Mary got some of her ideas from

But only the receptive will receive creative ideas. If you think you’re the best thing since fried bread you are not likelyto receive spiritual guidance from the Holy One

I wish I had some fried bread right now because I’m hungry

https://www.cyberdefinitions.com/definitions/COOL.html

Written by me

The gravity of loss brought me to earth
Beneath the rotting leaves, I lay with worms.
I wondered if I were of any worth

No more to be enchanted by love’s mirth,
I with unnamed particles was turned.
The weight of loss bears down the heart to earth.

I could not rise alone but saw a path
While I slept new unity had formed
I learned I need not think of what I’m worth

My sorrow brought no guilt nor fear of wrath
I am both eagle and a twisted worm
In my little grave, I loved the earth.

Like the adder, shocked into rebirth.
I from silent underworld had learned
Not to judge my soul to be of worth.

I shall not fear the flames of hell that burn
When blackness is accepted, may one learn?
The weight of loss breaks down the soul to earth
With dusty shredded leaves, we then converse.

Stan was leaning over, cleaning the new bath.When the doorbell rang,he rushed downstairs and opened the double front door.
“Will you take this parcel in for the lady next door?” The postman asked wearily.
“Oh,fine Stan stuttered.He was trying to avoid Annie but here she was,coming down the road of superior semi detached houses suitable for ex-headmasters ,small businessmen,econometricians,surgeons,pie salesmen and theologians.
She was wearing perfume, and green sandals from TK Maxx,light khaki tencel cropped combat trousers with a purple silky over-blouse, not to mention her matching raspberry and cream underwear .Round her neck hung a miniature grandfather clock on a solid gold chain,and she had three imitation gold and silver watches on each of her three wrists making a total of 333 watches according to Carnap’s theory of logic and Russell’s terrible handwriting. Stanley didn’t know that she had a mobile phone stuffed into her bra—one advantage for the larger sized woman.In fact she had 4 down there in her raspberry coloured glamour bra,as she had a phobia about their batteries running down all at once
The more she had the lower the probability of her being without a phone whilst out and about the town and countryside.So she reasoned in her womanly way. Just then one phone rang.She rummaged around to the consternation and turmoil-uation of Stanley and the postman.She plucked out a pale blue phone.
“Hi,it’s Annie” she murmured.
“Hi Annie it’s Dave the paramedic with carpentry skills. You’ve not rung 999 lately so we were wondering if all was well!”
“Oh,I’m terribly sorry.I’ll try to phone later on.Thanks,Petal.That was Dave,our ex-transvestite converted paramedic”,she informed the men.The postman galloped off on his donkey, his bags full of undelivered males.It’s a tough but interesting life in Knittingham. Would you like a male delivery?Contact Parcel Force without delay.
Annie went into Stan’s house and demanded a cup of coffee.
“Won’t it make you put weight on” Stan quipped ironically.
“Do you think I’m too plump?” she responded anxiously..
“Too plump for what?” he quipped amiably.
“To attract men,of course!”
“No,my angel,you are just perfect”he quacked definitively.”Nor are you an angel,strictly speaking,as I have good reason to know.Thank you,my beloved for services rendered so generously and freely.”
“Oh,my goodness I must get home to render the fat from the beef and to make some gooseberry jam.” Stanley looked uneasy.
“I wonder why babies are left under gooseberry bushes?
The thorns are so big it’s quite dangerous getting them out,or so Mary told me when Lyra was born. She was covered in scratches and wouldn’t come near me for months.”
“Why don’t you come upstairs to look at our new purple bathroom suite.Since the Royal Wedding it’s the in colour.The gold taps were expensive but they do go well.”
“My God,let me out.” she bawled,”It reminds me of the Vatican and that’s no place for a lady”,
“Not even a gay lady?” Stan muttered parsimoniously, as he licked her eyelashes gently.
“Stop that.I’ve got my Yves St Laurent mascara on.”
“I prefer the taste of the Chanel,”he disclosed privately in an internal secret memo.[available on 50 years]
“Why not lick my neck instead?” she enquired curiously as she tripped over Emile the cat, who had slipped into the bathroom as usual to see what they were up to,you know what I mean, you catch my drift?
She fell floppily into the bath and banged her head on the taps.
“Oh,gosh,better ring 999” Stan said to Emile.
“Have you got your catphone warehouse mobile on you?”
“Yes ,it’s in my y-fronts”, the cat amiably miaowed.
“Hi Dave,this is Emile.Can you come quick.Annie is unconscious and what is worse,she has scratched the new bath.”
In fact it was Emile who had scratched the bath that morning but since Stan had not noticed he hoped to, callously, pass the blame onto poor Annie.How cruel can a cat be? Ask any mouse! Still in the end God made all of us and what a terrifying and beautiful world it is.

I tore my map on a sharp nail,
And let out an almighty wail.
but mother said “it’s alright,dear.
The world is still entirely here”
She fixed my map with sellotape,
Then wiped my face with baby wipes.
I went off to fly my kite,
And do you know,she was quite right

Published by

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/18/children-whose-parents-lack-warmth-more-likely-to-grow-up-obese-study-finds?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Correlation is not causation

https://www.cpr.org/2021/05/10/when-responding-to-a-person-with-dementia-experts-say-police-need-to-acknowledge-their-fears-not-dismiss-them/

Please avoid thrilling people on the road
Please wave woefully
Please weep to yourself and do not bend
Please do not walk on the toad.
Please do not grow balls here.
Please lie off the band
Please tell the youth always
Please weep quieter.
Please tell the tutor if you feel dumb
Please note the dawn is for Dons only.
Please leap off the chimney breast
Please pass your zest and drive yourself round the clown
Please pay the piano on arrival.
Please plea before coming here.
Please bring your own oily paper.
Please let all bones knit before retrieval
Please keep all secrets in your bed.
No pies enrolled here.

No one sees my face with loving eyes.

No one touches tenderly this skin

Who unlocks the door with tender cries?

Who knows my heart and sees what is within?

Some look with contempt for I am old

I can scarcely walk yet I am me

Is there no one left with arms to hold?

If I can’t love one, may I love three?

You think I’m weak but I am very bold

My heatt has courage and my love is free.

Yet no one sees this face with yearning eyes.

At least let someone be here when I die.

Your face familiar faded qiute away

Where the dreams go when we are awake?

For every smile for every glance we pay

The heart aches with a numbness cold and grey

Before the day begins the day must break

The face that was familiar fades away

What would it take for atheists to pray?

The death of God is news but is it t fake?

For every smile for every glance we pay

on the River lea ice skaters play.

As the night falls all the world looks bleak

His face that was familiar fades away

I took him to the river what to say?

We cannot die with pride we must die meek

For every smile for every glance to pay

The force of nature of god’s violence reeks

Why are you silent now, will no one speak

Sweet face that was familiar fades away

For one more smile for one more glance we pay

Photo by Mike Flemming

If you want to learn anything new you have to be prepared to be a beginner, to feel ignorant. You have to be prepared to to not feeling in control of everything

We have to trust in the unknown and that might be very hard for people who have suffered trauma starvation cruelty etc

If you want to feel powerful and in control and knowledgeable without doing any work you will refuse to look at anything new and that is a very bad sing for most of us. That’s why we all need support from the teacher or a parent or a friend whom we trust enough to show them our vulnerabilities.

A

To write a poem will take our entire heart
Our mind and soul, our body and our dreams.
With trepidation,take a pen and start

Let preconceptions , though well meant, depart
Creative work evades such plans and schemes
To write a poem will shake the entire heart

We travel lands unknown without a chart
With our courage, trust the dark unseen
For inspiration,take our pens and write

We bite the apple, bitter, hard and tart
Knowledge enters in its dream -like streams
To write a poem will move each living heart

No logic, reasoning, signs, however wrought
Will bring to life the holy pattern’s themes
With each image, still your dreaming heart

The earth ,the oceans, seas, the sacred scenes
Where humans live out daily what life means
To write a poem , we need a mystic’s heart
We fill our empty pens,we make a start

https://www.whisperingstories.com/reading-and-its-effects-on-your-emotions/

https://lithub.com/i-couldnt-read-while-grieving-until-i-found-these-books/

https://arthritis.ca/living-well/2019/the-link-between-emotions-and-arthritis-pain

Paul Garner: For 7 weeks I have been through a roller coaster of ill health, extreme emotions, and utter exhaustion

https://www.concentricrehab.com.au/2018/01/22/the-top-ten-ways-to-feel-more-steady-on-your-feet/#:~:text=Standing%20in%20front%20of%20a,spent%20on%20a%20single%20leg.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/14/new-friendship-in-my-50s-taught-me-that-its-never-too-late-to-make-close-friend?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

She showed me a very different approach to dealing with a professional or personal setback: she doesn’t fight, she accepts. She regroups to heal and focuses on restoring her inner strength instead of allowing outside forces to suffocate her. At first, I couldn’t understand what seemed like emotional surrender, but as I got to know her better, I began to appreciate and eventually to emulate her Korean ways. She has taught me that everything is not always a battle.

I never believed in destiny…….

Eating disorders

https://www.psychoanalysis.today/en-GB/PT-Articles/Suzuki146611/Eating-Disorders-and-the-Patient%E2%80%99s-State-of-Mind-A.aspx#:~:text=States%20of%20mind%20associated%20with%20eating%20disorders&text=Their%20mind%20becomes%20flooded%20with,and%20a%20sense%20of%20despair.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/14/why-are-the-sex-lives-of-the-bereaved-still-a-taboo?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other