Some moments stay with us, moments that might seem insignificant, nothing much in the grand scheme of life. Many, many years ago, I was at a college dance, in the washrooms, redoing my make-up or washing my hands or whatever else teenage girls do in washrooms. It’s so long ago, I don’t remember. I do remember the young woman who … Read More
Is It Possible to Choose Happiness?
Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness to just be happy. – Guillaume Apollinaire Do you pursue happiness? No? Me neither! I just float around on a cloud of bliss all day, because I’ve chosen to just be happy instead. Ha! As if it was that easy. March 20th is International Day of Happiness, so … Read More
Kindness Doesn’t Require Proof – a #1000Speak post
There’s an image going around the internet of a seed bursting open. Along with the picture, is a quote from Cynthia Occelli. I know nothing about Cynthia Occelli, other than this is what she says about seeds: For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. … Read More
Gifts From the Homeless – a #1000Speak post
Sunday morning, late 2002, York, UK. With my husband and two small children, I stroll through cobbled streets, passing a medieval tower, and a Gothic cathedral. Intricately decorated walls grab our attention, until the children tug our hands. “We want to see the trains!” Our four-year-old stops every now and then to admire pretty things: weeds growing out of ancient … Read More
When You Think You Can’t Forgive
Do you find it hard to forgive? You aren’t alone. Many people feel the same way, and some psychologists even say our brains are hard-wired not to forgive as a way to protect ourselves from perceived danger. Yet, even if this is true in the short term, several studies have shown that long-term effects of being unable to forgive could … Read More
One Side – A #1000Speak Forgiveness post.
Her eyes dart away, and her legs shake. She walks past him, slouched on the sofa. She looks away again, doesn’t look in his eyes. He grabs her wrist, and looks up. “Please, Shelley, I didn’t mean it. I’m so, so sorry. Forgive me, please.” His voice tails off, his head bows. “Please.” A whisper. She doesn’t look at him. … Read More
Life Lessons From a Cat #1000Speak
Yesterday was Sunday, yet Amazon’s delivery company was working overtime and a parcel arrived. It contained gifts from friends halfway round the world. I took the packages out and put them beside the others by our tree, and then I went back to working on a post I was writing for our 1000VoicesSpeak blog. My husband brought a cup of … Read More
What if?
What if? What if we stopped seeing success as material wealth? What would that look like? Would the beggar you passed yesterday be more or less successful than the film or pop star who died this year or last of a drug or alcohol overdose? Would the woman picking tea on the foothills of the Himalayas be more or less … Read More
From Mommy Wars to Mother Love #1000Speak
In I Only Knew Her Peanut-Butter-Lovin’ Son From Fliers Taped On Storefronts Julie Jo Severson writes about a time when as a student journalist, she interviewed the mother of a boy who was abducted by a gunman, never to return. Twenty-five years on, Julie Jo is a mother and, in her own words: “at times, I ‘overparent,’ hovering over my kids more than I … Read More
Can You Let Go of Self-Judgements?
It’s a strange irony that we spend most of our lives not living them, but trying to change what has gone (the past) or control what isn’t here (the future.) The mind is very, very sneaky. We can see where other people do this – and where other people are too this, too that, too something other! But it’s far, … Read More
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