Archive for the ‘Mental’ Category

Racism, Tribalism, Classism – Prejudice without Substance

Monday, July 19th, 2010

My 60 year plus mother holds some very set view about certain sections of society that may have some basis in experience but most likely does not.  Since she comes for the generation of the great –isms, I assumed that my siblings and I just brushed off these prejudices, sometimes ...

Stupidly Positive

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

A Buckinghamshire man diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2006 who won £10,000 betting he would be alive years later, died at the age of 60 a few months short of collecting another £10,000 (BBC News - Buckinghamshire man who bet to beat cancer dies).  On the face of it, it ...

Stocktake Time Again – Big Changes on the Horizon

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

In exactly one month’s time, I will change my status once again from employed to self employed.  Since it has been a long time since I have took stock of where I am, now would seem to be an appropriate time to do so.  This is where I think I ...

The Co-Founder Syndrome

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch ...

Being That Good

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

You couldn't be that good and not know it, somewhere in your secret heart, however much you'd been abused into affecting public humility. [Lois McMaster Bujold] Despite my dislike for ‘reality’ TV, I do occasionally watch programs like ‘Pop Idol’ and ‘X Factor’ mainly because the family with 2 budding singers ...

Unexplained Dreams

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

‘I am going to be a star’. Many young people dream this at some point in their lives.  Sometimes we try and discourage them and in other cases we encourage them. Sometimes, reality sets in and they settle for what’s on the plate. Sometimes, as seen on such TV shows as ...

The Right To Be Happy

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Many people attribute the above quote to the US constitution when in fact it comes from ...

Why Working Is A Drag

Monday, March 8th, 2010

The number of men applying for teacher training has risen sharply because of the recession, says the body responsible for training teachers.  There was an over 50% rise in the number of men applying to be primary school teachers; see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8550506.stm for the story. I have to ask myself whether the ...

Who’s afraid of big bad death?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

I can't remember where I heard this little tit-bit but it is one I always recall it whenever I have to tell someone I am an atheist.   In the story, a Muslim man asks a Christian man why is it he (the Christian) is afraid to die if he truly ...

Travel and Well being

Friday, February 26th, 2010

"By far the most important lesson travel teaches you is that your time is all you really own in life. And the more you travel, the more you realize ..... the satisfaction you get from finding new experiences, meeting new people, and learning new things about yourself.....the best experiences in ...

Lie Down and Die.

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

It struck me very strongly this week that in the week that Auschwitz survivors mark Holocaust Memorial Day (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8482760.stm), I happen to be reading Viktor E Frankel's "Man's Search for Meaning", Dr. Frankel was an Auschwitz survivor.  In the same week, news coming out of the disaster in Haiti cumulated ...

The secret of contentment…

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Those who face that which is actually before them, unburdened by the past, undistracted by the future, these are they who live, who make the best use of their lives; these are those who have found the secret of contentment. Alban Goodier

When Did I Stop Having Fun?

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Most of the time I don't have much fun. The rest of the time I don't have any fun at all. - Woody Allen (1935 - ) It would appear that I have a psychological need to insert a break between work and home and that break requires the some intake ...

Someone Else’s Dream

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

"Never hold on hoping that you will benefit from someone else's dream - it inevitably means your dreams don't come true" Ben Ellis 2009 In the next few days will be the 7th anniversary of the time I ceased being an employee and became an entrepreneur, an employee owner of a ...

Make Me Happier

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

 A six-part factual series, presented by Lorraine Kelly and Angus Purden, on Scottish TV will raise awareness of some of the most common emotional health issues, and show the contributors, and those watching at home, what they themselves can do to improve their lives. http://entertainment.stv.tv/tv/130440-make-me-happier-programme-overview/