The Best Me January is a very confused month. On the one hand, ‘time to treat yourself! Book a holiday! Schedule in time-out. Nurture, regroup, recover.’ On the other, ‘Time to discipline yourself. Rein in all the excess. Work harder, achieve more, be The Best You.’ So what is ‘The Best Me?’ Our culture traditionally offers two answers to this question. The first is to focus on physical change aka Getting A New Body (through fitness, diet, surgery or whatever). …Read More
Sometimes when my mum visits, she leaves me one of her holiday magazines. ‘Home and Hearth’. ‘Ladies and Lunching’. ‘Kitchens and Catteries’. Top tips for cutting back the ivy. 101 uses for bicarbonate of soda. Beat the menopause. And features on The Woman Who Has It All. I’d like to be one of these women. They find vaccines for diseases and start their own businesses. They storm across the West End stage and speak at power lunches. I will never …Read More
I’ve been asked to do a video on good mental health habits; and I’d love to get your wisdom. Here’s some of mine; Talk it out – don’t bottle it up. Expressing feelings can be a big struggle for lots of us with MH issues. Sometimes it’s a trigger, (you feel bad, but don’t know why; you don’t have anyone to talk to; you learned that negative emotions are ‘bad’, so you look to other ways to ‘speak’ such as …Read More
Go with your heart. And follow your feelings. Keep it in. If you open up, they will reject you. Deal with it yourself. So, take control. For every look at Jesus, take 12 looks at yourself. Don’t hope and don’t try. You’ll fail and you’ll be disappointed. Live by the word ‘should.’ Everything is black or white. Good or bad. Success or failure. Put yourself first. Earn it. Do everything perfectly. You are worthless if you don’t. Stay away from …Read More
I know it in my head. The bible tells me. My church preaches it. I sing about it. I even tell myself. I’m loved by God – but I don’t always feel it. And if I don’t feel it, then what’s the point? There are plenty of alternatives. I down a coffee and can take on the world. I buy toys for my daughter and instantly feel better. I press ‘play’ and the real world disappears. I hit ‘send’ and …Read More
My birthday’s coming up and my daughter keeps asking, ‘how old are you?’ So I’ve taught her to say ‘one, two, three, four -ty.’ Life’s too short to do the whole count. Left to myself, I’d wail, ‘The best is over!’ But I have far too much to be thankful for. Forty years in which I’ve known the Lord’s goodness. Forty years of being carried. Forty years of manna and forty years of grace. 480 months, 2080 weeks, 14600 days, …Read More
Joint post from me and G: Ever struggled with an issue and thought, I need some expert advice? Someone non-judgemental, a counsellor who’s available 24/7…? Good news – with a Woebot, you can. It’s a robot therapist that uses CBT to give (scripted) answers to users. And remarkably, it seems to work. In the first study of its kind, regular users report feeling much less anxious and depressed. Research also suggests that folks who know they’re ‘talking’ with a robot open …Read More
Sometimes when I talk to others about Christianity, they say, “don’t worry, I’m very spiritual.” This can mean lots of different things. It might mean that they have an appreciation for the immensity and beauty of the universe. It might mean that they have a strong sense of morality or social justice. It might mean they believe in angels. It might mean that they don’t want to offend me, (or want me to shut up about Jesus). It might mean that they have …Read More
We voted, Glen and I. We talked about it and we prayed about it. We both did our research and we both sought advice from wise Christian friends. Both of us could justify our decisions and both felt that we knew the right thing to do. But I voted to remain and Glen voted to leave. And we are still together. I don’t think he’s pro-racist, he doesn’t think I’m anti-democratic. He’s not crowing in victory and I’m not …Read More
If you’re struggling with an eating disorder and you go to your GP, you’re doing something enormously brave. You’re making yourself vulnerable. You’re sticking two fingers up to an addiction that can kill. You’re saying no to a host of voices that tell you, “you’re not sick enough, you don’t deserve any help.” The last thing you need to hear from your GP are the same words. “I’m sorry, but you’re not ill enough to qualify for treatment.” Sadly, this is …Read More
