Tag: Thinking

I’m not sure I do?

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Dazed and confused…?

How do you practice self-care?

I had to look it up.

“Self-care has been defined as the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and actively manage illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food choices, exercise, sleep, reading and dental care. Wikipedia“

It’s all very well having a definition, but do you keep to it? I for instance, try and do certain activities that help me, but not every day. Sometimes I remember, other times? I’m too engrossed in whatever crisis I’m dealing with to even remember to take care of myself.

I have responsibility for caring for others, I also have people who need my help. If I don’t help I feel guilty, and that’s not easy to put to one side.

So what things do I do? A little bit of chair yoga because I cannot get up and down off the floor. Choir twice a week for my mental health. And a gratitudes diary that I try and write three short things in that have happened in the day. They are usually minor, but it helps train your mind towards a more positive track… (gratitudes can include traffic lights on green for instance, or a favourite film coming on the TV).

Now I’ve read the definition I might just try a bit harder…

Blogging!

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How do you waste the most time every day?

I curse myself sometimes, because I can spend far too much time blogging and posting to social media.

I do have a purpose, as a part time artist and illustrator I like to keep people informed of what I’ve been doing during the day. So I posted pictures of the life drawing session I went to earlier on today.

I also post little poems, I don’t pretend to be a poet though, if it rhymes that’s a bonus.

Truly though, I ought to give it a break, but is it dopamine hits you get from picking up your phone and seeing you’ve got a like? If social media removed the buttons perhaps they would get less traffic. And that’s what it’s about isn’t it? Keeping people occupied and interested in the next new thing, be it politics or advertising. So then you get the “I’ll just watch one more video” feeling, and by the time you realise its 3.30am in the morning….

So yes, blogging is probably time wasting, it’s also shouting into an echo chamber, you hear yourself, but does anyone else care. As the saying goes “why don’t you just go and do something less boring instead?”….

Hang on, just got a notification, must check my phone…

Can you see a face and body?

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Two eyes a nose and a mouth?

If you see the face you might be experiencing Pareidolia. It’s one of my favourite things, I love finding faces or animals in or on other objects.

That’s what people did with the stars in the skies… They could see people or creatures and called them constellations. Some constellations are the basis of the signs of the Zodiac. Different civilisations had different myths and legends, so the combinations of stars creating them will be different depending on what part of the world you live in. Even the moon is seen as a boat when it is viewed from the equator and is waxing or waning, because it looks horizontal, not vertical. And what about the man in the moon? A face seen in the moons surface made up of the different craters and seas on it.

I think Pareidolia is really interesting. I read that it helped early people notice animals that might have been camouflaged without that skill. It’s more redundant now. But still there. So if you see faces in wallpaper or bunches of flowers Pareidolia is happening!

Upside down again

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Oh dear, I’m in a whirl again, lack of sleep isn’t helping. Someone was chatting with me today and yet again I found myself crying. When will I ever feel happy again?

It was raining this morning when I went out, so I decided not to wear a coat. Cool, damp, with a breeze, it was good to feel a little more comfortable. When I got home the fan went on, and that’s stirring the air up nicely. I’m going back out later, but for now I just had a nap (I must be getting old). The cat came and poddled away kneading my knees and then fell asleep too.

Shall I dream of life and loss again tonight? I don’t know. Its hard to control things when you sleep, then wake up in a tizz.

By the way the drawing on the right was based on the drawing on the left, just by sketching over it. I decided to turn it upside down to match my confused mood.

Being logical?

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Free media used

What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

I like being logical and working things out. I’ve always been good at guessing who the murderer is in films and programmes like Miss Marple (you can tell from this I’m probably not young). I also enjoy trying to work out who is the criminal in novels like the Brother Cadfael Mysterys by Ellis Peters.

I’m interested in medical mysteries and I like working out what problems people have with their eyes for instance . You can tell by looking at how big their eyes look behind their glasses (bigger eyes-longsighted, smaller eyes-short sighted). So I was fascinated by the TV series House, and also the Mentalist.

I love Spock in Star Trek and have generally tried to be less emotional, but lately that has been hard to maintain. Even so my hubby calls me Captain Sensible!

Sometimes I overdo it. I’ve suddenly felt the need to pack my shopping bags precisely. Is this too controlling? I think I’m trying to control the uncontrollable, which is really illogical!

I’m interested in science and would love to have more knowledge. I enjoy learning and finding out things. So yes, this is my favourite thing about myself, which actually surprised me, because I thought I would have said art and creativity. But those are imprinted on my DNA. Knowledge though, intruiges me, and makes me want to find out more.

Chimney fire

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Someone just asked what people remembered of their grandparents house. I thought about the open fire in the hearth..

There was a coal fire, they used paper ‘spills’  to light it, my sisters and I would roll sheets of newspaper into long thin tubes which were the spills… Grandma once had a chimney fire. She used to ‘draw’ the air through the chimney with a sheet of newspaper held against the front of the fire. She would leave a little gap at the bottom and the wind above the chimney would draw the air up, and with it the flames from the kindling she had lit (usually small sticks of wood). Once she had it burning she would bank it up with coal and we would stare at the lovely warm flames. But I remember one day the chimney hadn’t been swept and the soot inside it caught fire! I think the firebrigade had to put it out. I remember being outside watching black smoke and flames coming out of the top of the chimney!

Other memories? A big tin bath on a shelf at the far end of the kitchen before they had an inside bathroom. And grandma’s handmade rag rug made by pushing short lengths of cloth through an old sack cloth so it made a shaggy cloth mat which lay in front of the hearth.

Our grandparents had a chicken coop in the back garden and I remember the hens too. I must have been very young… Vague memories…

Honestly? Honesty

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What quality do you value most in a friend?

I almost said loyalty, but if I do something wrong I hope a friend would let me know. I do think that’s really important. I guess I need to think about it though. One person’s honesty might be someone else’s severe criticism. I would prefer to know what a friend honestly thought without it breaking our friendship.

What that means is that we could mutually agree to disagree if politics or some other belief was coming between us. For instance having mutual respect if you followed different religions. I can’t see why that would end a friendship. Unless of course one of you had inhumane ideas. In which case I don’t think we could be friends in the first place.

By the way I apologise for pontificating in these prompt posts. But they make me think about things, and they are here to be answered….

Why not loyalty? Because that might mean the friend backs you up even if you’ve done something wrong. I’d prefer them to nudge me and say they think I’ve made a mistake. OK I’d prefer constructive criticism in that case (what a polite world I want to live in)! Sometimes though I honestly need a serious criticism. Nobody is perfect after all…..

One of Those questions….

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What jobs have you had?

OK, I will admit to having jobs, a few of them, but I’m not saying what.

Why? We give out a lot of information freely over the Internet. Stuff that only friends and relatives need to know. If you start telling everyone everything then other people can steal your identity.

People here know I’m trying to be an artist, and that I have done various jobs in my life. But to write it all down in a post asking what jobs you have done? That seems a little unsafe. Data protection is important and if I tell things that I don’t want people to know, I think I’m being foolish.

That said feel free to tell me all about yourself. I promise not to steal or use your data!?

Tell me everything that you do

So I can tell you my story too

And I won’t tell

Jobs you do well

I won’t lie, I will be true….

Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there that want your information. Whether it’s your jobs, or bank details, what year you were born, your star sign. Where you went to school. How many jobs you had. We think of sites like this as a friendly forum, and in the main it is. But sometimes it’s better to be circumspect. X

Having all what?

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What does “having it all” mean to you? Is it attainable?

I’d rather have happiness than ‘it all’ whatever that is? That could be money or personal belongings. But if billionaires aren’t happy or fulfilled why would I be. When I think about having it all I generally think of a lottery win, then I think about sharing my winnings, and whether there would be enough money to go round. And it’s not just family and friends, what about charities and support for other people. Why can’t they share in ‘having it all?’

I know about 80 men (not women) are richer than half the world’s population. That means 80 people have the same money as 4,000,000,000 men women and children. That’s insane. I don’t understand how they keep their money and don’t share it out?

Everyone seems to want ‘it all’ but what about fair shares? I can understand why if you have never had anything it might be attractive to have it all. But selflessness is surely a better way of living.

Life is difficult or almost impossible for a lot of people. The majority of people in the world  have almost nothing to live on. Who considers their needs? When political systems are more interested in corporate profit and money for shareholders than their citizens it’s not a good place to be…

And for me? I doubt it’s attainable now. I’m too old and grouchy to have it all!

The Green Man?

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Who would you like to talk to soon?

I would like to speak to a mythological person. The Green man. I would ask him how he manages with leaves growing all over him including out of his mouth? Is he rooted to the ground or can he move around like Treebeard the Ent from the Lord of the Rings Story by Tolkien? I would also what literature he appears in so I can find new things to read….

It’s a weird question though, I could say a relative or friend, but no one here would know them, so I could say anything. I could make things up. The same goes for famous people, how would I know what to say to a rock star or a TV personality and of what relevance would my opinions have for them, or theirs to me?

I would like some answers about insurance or council issues, instead of having to deal with a bot or an answer machine. At least when you speak to a human they can understand nuanced ideas and arguments. Having to talk to a chat bot can limit communication, particularly if it can’t understand your accent. Sometimes I talk to a AI voice on the phone and it will think I said No when I said Yes. When I rang up the cinema for local showings of films it thought I asked for Edinburgh! So yes, the Green Man, why not?