Today I thought I might share a little story with you, which might help you see a lighter side to things that happen in your life that go beyond a simple upset. The disturbing things in life that can leave us feeling unsafe or vulnerable...

When I was in my teens, my parents discovered unexplained footprints outside their bedroom window. They raked it over & avoided it and the footprints reappeared. So, my adorable Step-Dad set up camp one night just round the corner from that window and waited.... Sure enough in through the garden creeps our neighbour, Ted. My Step-Dad waited for a bit then charged around the corner, large torch blaring, yelling "WADDA YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!!!???" Well, Ted freaked out and tried to run up our driveway which was gravel. He spun a few times, made it out onto the street where my Step-Dad threw the torch and got the perv right in the back. He was reported to the police and it never happened again. Anyway, the punchline to the story is this limerick which my Step-Dad wrote afterwards:

There was a young fella named Ted,

Who listened to people in bed,

One day at the blind,

He was caught from behind,

By a torch that was aimed at his head!

So, sometimes humour can be a great way to diffuse the intensity of how a situation made you feel. It can help to heal and bring you back from the fear to a place where you regain your personal strength, and it can reduce the perpetrator from any position of power over you to one of lowly pity and sharp dismissal of their impact on you.

So, I hope you find some solace (and a bit of a laugh) from my post.

Cheers

Dayle

Arty Therapy ....

Heya peeps of cyber realm...

I've been really busy of late. Too busy, and not just physically. By that I mean my mind has been dogged by angst over all the things I need to do, may have to do, have forgotten to do for others, or those that I haven't remembered to do yet but that I know sit in the ether, waiting for me to walk through their vapour and re-remember them.

So, amongst this frenzy of emotions, besides being really tired and embarrassingly emotional most of the time, I sat down for 2 days recently to make these...


They're around 10cm tall, with crocheted bodies and hand made outfits. I put a lot of work into both of these ladies, and now I have to send them off to their respective new owners. I had a deadline of today to send them away to their new owners, so this was adding to my pressures and worry. But that's okay, as I'm part of an craft swap group and I will receive two in return. My two art dolls were a labour of love and I'm sad to let them go but then it's also lovely to send them to others who enjoy similar crafts.

Anything arty or crafty is a real life saver for me when I'm harbouring more negativity than usual. If anxiety's not at the fore of my thoughts, it's sitting in the background waiting to pounce on any happiness I may be having. Of late I have deteriorated in mental health, which is very disconcerting for me so to bury myself in crafty pursuits lifts me up and helps me keep afloat, not get consumed by my thoughts.

I hope you too can find something that keeps you afloat, or even lifts you up so high that you can easily soar with spirits. Remember to keep it simple, do it with kindness and care, and remember to enjoy what you have made.

Kind, gentle hugs to you all.
Dayle

Keeping it Local...

Dear readers, yesterday I was on a mission!

I acquired a used and rather dejected electric spinning wheel that needed parts repaired or replaced. So, living in a smallish regional town, I decided to keep to local shops as much as I could. Essentially I was trying to stay away from the larger one-stop-shop warehouse style stores.

The result? I got everything I needed, which was fantastic. Granted I had to go to eight different stores (including the big impersonal hardware monster store, I'm afraid, but only as last resort!), but it was actually kinda fun. Every person in a local store that I dealt with was extremely helpful. Where they couldn't provide me with a product they knew which other stores in the local area may be able to. The communal spirit was really great to see. But when I went to the big monster store the help I got was from a nice 'rep' from a hardware company that was checking stock in his section. The usual staff member was 'in the middle of something' - no, not helping another customer but doing electronic stock take. I hate to stereotype, but today I really could. The service was crap!!

Despite my successful hunt for parts I managed to misplace a segment of what's called a 'nitty noddy' somewhere on my journey. Luckily I found it outside one of the shops! Completely salvageable! Here's a picture of an electric spinning wheel that looks kind of like mine...

I haven't taken photos of mine as yet. But last night I gave spinning wool on it a go and it wasn't easy to adjust to! No foot brake to start with and the tension vs speed juggling was rather difficult. Will take some getting used to before I consider spinning anything precious on it.

At the end of the day, my goal was to support local business. I'm glad I could, as being in a regional area there are a lot fewer choices for sourcing products or services. So, where you can, support local businesses. It's good for the communal soul.

Hugs

Dayle

A Bit of a Larf...

Hey there dear people of cyber space.
I've decided to show you some silly things I've come across recently.

So, first off is a coffee I got when out for a cuppa with a gorgeous buddy of mine. I like to think they were attempting a heart, but it looks more like a bum. Bum coffee...

See? It's a bum!! I just love being mooned by my own cappucino.

Next on the list of silly things I've come across recently is this interesting sign in another cafe. I had no idea umbrellas could be wayward, remiss or mysterious!!!

This note was stuck low down on the wall of the cafe. So, was it a message to really short people not to forget their umbrellas? And where do umbrellas go? Is there an umbrella underground for them, kind of like Fight Club where umbrellas get those injuries we see in them, like the stitching holding it taut coming undone, a bent prong, or simply broken & upended in a rubbish bin. So that's how they get there!! Hmmm. Devious things, umbrellas.

Okay, next on the list of silly things is a BARGAIN of a price label I got from a recently opened store. This store sells crafty stuff....

Wow, great savings at their opening sale! SOMEBODY HOLD ME BACK!!

Okay, I'm being sarcastic. But hey, I'm way too observant for my own good.

Now, this next sign is from a kitchen drawer of some friends of mine. At the time this was taken they were a couple living in the house. Just two people, not a boat load, so I'm not sure why such an elaborate note. What I don't understand about this picture is why the can opener is such a darn rebel!!! Heheheh.

The guy who wrote this is a Mac computer geek. Perhaps he was channelling a helpdesk to write this beauty.

The final silly picture has a strange logic to it, albeit a bit barbaric. But I love it anyway. It's on the side of an old bank...

Yes, it says underneath: Save Animals Eat Vegans. Again, the logic here is rather twisted, but at the very least it challenges our thinking - get outside the square to solve a problem. Obviously there's ethics & legalities in lopping vegans off at the ankles, but still, lateral thinking is not so common these days, so I love it when I see it.

Peace out from this "social anthropologist".
Dayle

Moody Moody Moods...

Geez I hate it when my mood darkens beyond what I regard as a typical range of emotions. When it darkens to where I feel like my heart is sinking into mud and my mood is shrouded in negativity.

As I've said before, my mind is a saboteur. A strange entity that is clearly not happy when I AM!

One day I decided a mood meter might help. A bit of silliness amongst the intensity that having depression and anxiety can bring. It's also a way to remind me that I will get better and that the mood meter doesn't have to be stuck at the lowest setting. I can and will rise out of the misery. Basically, don't give up.

So, here it is:


Feel free to copy (for personal use only) and use it to mark how you feel, or where you know in your heart you will be, once the darker mood you're feeling passes.

Cheers

Dayle

The Talk of My Life....

Hey there.
Recently I was asked to speak about my journal at a Mental Health Awareness Week function. I was mostly okay leading up to this, having worked out generally what I was going to say, but not reading directly from a written speech. Anyway, I arrived at what I thought would be a fairly subdued, simple civil reception and there must've been 200 or so people there!!! EEEEEEK!! I had a mini melt down whilst trying to stay calm, not throw up, and avoid drinking too much wine on an empty and very nervous stomach.

After some awards were given out to wonderfully deserving people, both dealing with mental illness and working with or caring for those who do, a man called James McLure rose to speak. He was the main speech of the night having released a book containing his journey into and through schizophrenia. An inspiring guy who went on a rather spiritual journey into this very misunderstood illness. I thought it was mostly a dark journey, however James' appeared to be rather uplifting for him, albeit a false height, from which he did eventually fall. He was so open about his experience and wanting to help others with mental health issues, so it was a real privilege to be sharing my journey with James.

I spoke next. I was hoping for a more intimate audience (read this as smaller, less intimidating!), which wasn't helped by having to stand behind a lecturn that felt so far away from the audience and talk into a microphone. Anyway, I got through my speech okay. I think I made a connection with some people, which is really lovely, as a few came up to me afterwards and offer their empathy with my experience with anxiety and depression, or my journal's purpose, or want to buy one then & there. This was an amazing boost to my confidence, for which I'm really grateful.

Later that evening, I was lying in bed scribbling in my journal with my favourite pens. I felt so emotional about the evening, so much more connected with the purpose of my own work, my little journal for self nurturing, that I drew this:


All of this is so poignant! My comment of: "a tear is a fear being let go" surprised even myself the more I thought about how much it meant. I'm typically a fearful & anxious person and what I hadn't realised at the time of drawing this is that I'd finally given myself permission to let go of the fear I had of my book failing. The comment below it (let it flow...) is based on a tool I use to help me to let go of worries that nag me. A few years a go I adapted the Christmas carol "Let it snow" where I just sing the chorus as "Let it go, let it go, let it go" instead. Let go of the nagging worry, the incessant doubts, rumination and fear. But for this night, it became "Let it flow, let it flow, let it FLOW". This to me meant not only that I could let my tears flow and hence let my fears go, but also let my bursting creativity and confidence out, flowing onto paper and into my life wholeheartedly, without worrying about rejection or failure. Creativity, colour and vibrancy are such a part of who I am so it was wonderful to be able to articulate this in a kind of spiritual way on paper, and within my beloved journal creation.

So, next time you cry see it as self nurture where letting go is both liberating and kind to your heart & soul.

Hugs,

Dayle

SNAKE!!!

It's early Spring...

The weather's really warming up, flowers are blooming, my feet aren't cold on the wooden floors any more, the cats are sunning themselves outside wherever they can....

Then there's the end of hybernation for all the snakes! Last Thursday night there was a 3 metre python in our neighbour's front yard, within a few metres of ours. I don't hate snakes, but I'm scared of them. I'm very understanding of how challenging it must be for animals caught up in suburbia, trying to survive and procreate without getting killed by us humans. But when there's one right in our area that I know can kill my kitties, or our chickens, or strangle me from behind whilst watching TV, or dislocate its jaw and swallow me whole as I'm in a deep slumber... (Cue: gloomy undertone of nervous music in background to create dread and suspense.) Yep. My imagination runs away from me. Even the little lizards can't make a move in the rustling leaves of our garden beds without me going all girly and "eeky" thinking it's the KILLER PYTHON WITH FANGS OF STEEL. It reminded me of a lyrical poem I wrote not that long about snakeskin. It's 'lyrical' because in my mind when I recite it there's a very clear, blockbuster movie style, backing track......

Snake skin, lying in my way

Drying under hot sun, messing up my day.

It lies there like a beacon, reminding me that pain

Is all about the misery and nothing left to gain.

It’s a…

Snake skin, its owner has moved out

Fucking little creature, how dare you shed your doubt.

You leave me here with your past

Rotting on the ground,

Like the past is nothing, no lessons to be found.

It’s a…

Snake skin, its owner's far from here.

Leaving skin to rot, and me with all my fear.

I'm pretty big on metaphors or symbols, so writing this poem not only highlighted a certain anxiety in me about snakes but also about life and worrying as much as I can about the 'what ifs'. We all do that, I think. But when it becomes all consuming it can leave you rather detached from what is going on around you now. I have spent a lot of time living in the future or deep in the past. I now realise that I have much to offer the present. Now. And I have much to gain from slowing down and appreciating the joys and stimulation that frequently surround me.

At this moment, the sun is getting close to setting, so it's all large and orange and beautifully glowing over the town my house is perched up the hill from. The window to my playroom is open and birds are chirping in all their different tunes. Hubby has just pulled up in the car, having finished his working day. We're having felafels for dinner. Yummm... Such wonderful, pleasant thoughts.

Love, warmth & light,

Dayle