Tag: writing

Fragile strengths

I regularly write in response to something; be it a song, a paragraph in a book or any other text.

Last Sunday, a priest from Ukraine sent me his sermon to listen to via WhatsApp. I had an immediate response to his work and I wrote this almost immediately after listening to his words.

I thought it is worth sharing it with you and I would be thrilled if you could write your feedback on this piece both in terms of your emotional response as well as my writing craft.

Were you also inspired by sermons in your childhood? It is a huge step into psychological integration when we absorb the wisdoms of our religions, I think.

Here’s the text:

I assume today that you need to hear that you are capable of mature reflection, that it’s good to long for reason and normality, that it’s good to give yourself a little oxygen.

I assume today that you haven’t sinned.

That you came here today to free yourself for a moment from the burdens of the day.

Welcome then. I’m glad you came, I’m glad to see you.

Don’t lose yourself in guilt. Understand the weight of your decisions, but don’t lose yourself in guilt.

I assume today that you have not sinned.

Let the pain in your limbs fade. You are here. I appreciate you.

Do not lose yourself in guilt.

That’s it. I hope this helps. x

Text and photography: Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini, 2026. All rights reserved.

More than a line. But I guess there is an improvement.

My daughter is seven now. She makes us laugh with her honest observations.

”Mum, when I run at the highest speed at the treadmill, my socks come off.”

My son is nearly 14. His school is on strike tomorrow and after tomorrow so we’ll have some time together organizing the garden.

I came to some very honest realisations today which kind of scared me somewhat but perhaps my life is meant to be a cautionary tale and maybe at times we ought to be those. So in the spirit of care for us all, I thought I will point it out the glitch in internal software that we all might carry.

My self-realisations are as follows:

I resolve the problem of having a career by not having it.

I resolve the problem of writing a book by not writing it.

I resolve the problem of ………. by not doing it.

This attitude is of course not visible in all my life choices and developmental areas but I do have it in some areas and where I have it, it shows.

That said..

I think that good mental health starts from first principle: ‘Deny nothing.’ As soon as we start denying knowing or feeling something (be it our need, our experience, our want, our achivements, our loves, our strengths), our psyche misaligns. I think it’s good to hear oneself.

Hear yourself.

Lots of love, A.

They

When angels sing, they love better.

Photo and Thought: Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini

To acknowledge the worth of things/ Uznać wartość rzeczy


We were driving to the church this morning; I was sitting at the back, next to my daughter, chatting to her. She took a little vaseline lip balm tin out of her pocket. She put some on her lips and then asked me if I would like some for myself. She handed me the round tin, I took some of it and I put it on my lips saying that I love the vanilla smell. She was thrilled, her eyes sparked, she grasped my hand satisfied and said: ‘I love you, Mummy. I love you so much’. She was thrilled.

Often, this is exactly what our children want us to do: to acknowledge the worth of what they like, to give to us what they love and to see that we are capable of appreciating it too. This creates the union, communion and connection.

Have you recently had a similar experience?

Jechaliśmy dziś rano do kościoła; siedziałam z tyłu, obok mojej córki, rozmawiając z nią. Wyjęła z kieszeni puszeczkę z wazeliną do ust. Nałożyła trochę na swoje usta, a potem zapytała mnie, czy chciałabym trochę dla siebie. Podała mi okrągłą puszkę, wzięłam trochę jej balsamu do ust i nałożyłam, mówiąc, że uwielbiam zapach wanilii. Była zachwycona, jej oczy błyszczały, chwyciła moją dłoń zadowolona i powiedziała: „Kocham cię, mamusiu. Tak bardzo cię kocham”. Była wręcz zachwycona.

Często właśnie tego chcą od nas nasze dzieci: abyśmy uznali wartość tego, co one lubią; one dają nam to, co kochają byśmy pokazali, że my również potrafimy to docenić. To tworzy jedność, komunię i połączenie.

Czy doświadczyliście czegoś podobnego ostatnio?

What do we do to talk more: painting and phone/ Co robimy by rozmawiać więcej: malowanie i telefon?

Gratitude for time to talk and create

One of the things that I do with my daughter is painting. She is 6 at the moment and loves creative expression. To talk about colours, mixing and cleaning brushes covered with oil paints, we sat down at our dining table, lied down a huge white canvas and painted together with old dry and new brushes, wooden blocks and all available fingers and tools at hand. After the session at the table, we hang the painting, took a photo and edited the screenshot in a photo app on my phone using available filters and tools erasing parts of the photo, smudging it or camouflaging some elements of the photo. Talking while creating is very natural to us so we were able to create a nice conversational flow focused on filling up the empty canvas. Try this too and show us your creations. 🙂

Jedną z rzeczy, które robię z moją córką, jest malowanie. W tej chwili ma 6 lat i uwielbia twórczą ekspresję. Aby porozmawiać o kolorze, mieszaniu, czyszczeniu pędzli z farby olejnej w zeszły piątek usiadłyśmy przy stole w jadalni, rozłożyłyśmy ogromne białe płótno i pomalowałyśmy je razem używająć starych i nowych pędzli, drewnianymi klockó i wszystkimi narzędziami, które miełyśmy pod ręką. Po sesji przy stole powiesiłyśmy obraz, zrobiłyśmy zdjęcie i edytowałyśmy zrzut ekranu w aplikacji fotograficznej w telefonie za pomocą dostępnych filtrów i narzędzi wymazujących części zdjęcia, rozmazujących je lub kamuflujących różne elementy zdjęcia. Rozmowa podczas tworzenia jest dla nas bardzo naturalna, więc udało nam się stworzyć przyjemny przepływ konwersacyjny skoncentrowany na wypełnieniu pustego płótna. Gorąco polecam wszystkim.

Zachęcam do eksperymentów i pokażcie nam swoje prace!

Pozdrawiamy,

Alicja Pyszka-Franceschini i córka Gabi

First published by my on my other site: Accomplished Squirrel dedicated to multilingual communication.