“I consider it a dangerous misconception of mental hygiene to assume that what man needs in the first place is equilibrium… a tensionless state. What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.”
~ Viktor E. Frankl
Tag: Life
Light the dark Sunday
Australia did it last week. It’s our turn now. In support of refugees and asylum seekers light a candle in front of your house Sunday 13th Sep at 9pm. Light the dark UK. Light the dark The World.
What is it really like?
– How did I feel back then when I came to the UK and sought asylum? The fear. The fear was always there. The unknown. … Where you’re going to sleep. … What is going to happen tomorrow. Anxiety. Constant anxiety.
– My hearing was so strong… All the noise was disturbing me. I was sitting there waiting for someone to call me. For example, someone was just asking if I want a tea but that sentence was bombarding my brain.
– You were hypersensitive?
– Yes. Hypersensitive.
– What was I fearing? I was fearing that I did not not exist. I was wishing that someone would recognize that I exist.
On Sunday (Sep 13th) at 9pm local time we will light candles in support of refugees and asylum seekers in front of our house. Do you think you can do it too? To light the dark with us. Light the dark UK. Light the dark the World.
PhotoFundraising – so that we don’t remain so helpless
Over 70 years ago a very kind and progressive nation opened its borders to my grandfather who was fleeing from war-ravaged Poland. It was there, in Zurich, Switzerland, far from his native country that he was educated into a skilled medical doctor. If he had been ignored back then, I would most likely never have been born and neither would all the children of the people that he healed in his lifetime.
When we look at the humanitarian crises and the different positions that people take on them, my husband always concludes that “It all comes down to one basic question: how much do we value human life?”
And I think he’s right. How much do we value human life?
I’ve been listening and watching the news over the last few days and been feeling totally helpless over it. There is a strong urge in me to help so much so that I couldn’t sleep very well for the last few nights. I was thinking what I could do for the people in danger, what I could offer. My heart runs towards them. I’d like to be there on the Mediterranean Sea helping to rescue them from the boats or in Munich greeting the refugees and finding them accommodation, but I have a little child that my husband and I look after and at the moment he is far too small to be left without his mama.
It occurred to me yesterday that all I can do is to do fundraising. Using the skills that I have.
In September I will be fundraising for Doctors Without Borders / Medecins Sans Frontieres (just because they are so effective in managing help) by swapping my photographic skills for funds for the charity. The idea is simple: if I take photographs for you this month, I’d like you to donate as much as you think the photographs are worth to Doctors Without Borders via my Just Giving page.
If you would like some photographs taken of you, your loved-ones or your business or products, contact me through Facebook or my Contact pages to arrange a time and date. I am based in Derby, UK.
Let’s save lives together!
Under the clouds we are all small people.
(If you are from Derby, UK, please could you share this post with your friends. Thank you so so much!)
Initiate growth inside your family
These very first years of family life are full of challenges and negotiations that once resolved are actually incredibly satisfying. I like to think of a family as a unit in a state of growth. So when we hibernate for too long, we ask ourselves which of the spheres of life we have recently or over time neglected. In fact, I like to do this very easy exercise in which next to a life sphere we discuss ideas on how to improve it. It is a very simple exercise that, if you wish to do it for your own family, is best done individually for each member and then together as a whole.
Life Sphere:
Spiritual – effort to make time for meditation, reflection, prayer, quiet space in our busy live
s
Humane – effort to make time for helping others outside the family and each other within the family
Emotional – effort to make time for cultivating positive emotions (love, kindness, compassion) and working through the negative ones, scheduling activities that bring about positive emotions
Physical – effort to make time for sport, rest, affection, cooking nutritious food, looking after our bodies
Intellectual – effort to make time for cultural activities (book, cinema, theatre) and stretching our minds, problem-solving activities, formal or informal study
Social – effort to make time for socializing, family-and-community gatherings, family conversation, celebrating, events in your own city, etc.
Environmental – effort to make time for engaging with nature, improving our homes or local areas, repairing the house, making our immediate environment pleasant
When it comes to family growth and well-being I have got one belief: every effort that you’ll make in the space of one year will deliver its shoots the next and if cultivated it will fully blossom in years to come. Do not get dissuaded or discouraged by the instant gratification culture, everything that is worth doing, is worth doing even if the fruit will show later in life.
Have a lovely family life!
This exercise has been inspired by the exercises promoted within Cognitive-Behavioral Psychology. If you’d like to learn more about it, you may like to read: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Teach Yourself (2012) by Christine Wilding or any other book or introduction to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.
