Be Kind To You...

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I work in health education and have a strategically placed box of tissues on the desk. They are used frequently, at least 3 times per day to stem the flow of tears of sadness, of frustration, of hurt.

Or maybe I am just really mean to my clients.

Naaaah, I think what the issue is, is that I ask the hard questions. The questions relating to anxiety and depression, of coping with life, with stress, with pain. Depression and anxiety are really common. What is uncommon is to talk about it. To acknowledge it. To acknowledge life gets in the way.

I am interested in how people cope, what they know their triggers to be, what they do to get rough life.

Most of all I am interested in whether or not people are kind to themselves.

Are you kind to you?

I liken us to a car trip. When we are going on a trip we check the tyres, the radiator and fill up with petrol. Would you agree? We really wouldn't venture into the never never with a tank half full of petrol.

However, we do this to ourselves every day. We just keep going and going and going until we run out of energy. And then we still keep going.

Sound familiar?

We are not so good at filling up our own tanks are we?

What if we took just 20 minutes to do something for us every day?

Mindfully. By this I mean consciously saying to yourself "I am going to do this for me". Now I can hear some of you saying you don't have any money or any time. Well, you have 1440 minutes in your day so surely 20 minutes of that is okay. AND what you do doesn't have to cost money, you could sit on the step with a cuppa and stare at the trees. It doesn't matter what it is. It is a time for YOU.

YOU I tell you. Even better if you find a hobby once per week and your family will know at this time you do your hobby, not the sports run, nor the shopping, not make the luches. Your hobby for you.

One thing I have noticed is that it is becoming an epidemic this anxiety and depression and about 90% of my clients who suffer the most don't have hobbies and don't take any time for themselves. At all.

So, Sweet Bloggers, I pose a question: what do you do for you to fill up your petrol tank daily?


ciao for now


just Martha xx


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Target Practice...

When you walk around do you go from a to b with purpose or do you dawdle, meander, wander? Are you a target?



There was a survey done in a jail where inmates were asked to choose potential victims from footage of people shopping in a shopping centre. The people they chose we the ones taking their time with no apparent purpose or direction.



Interestingly, it is the same type of shoppers that those pop up shops in the centre of the isle choose. The make-up ones or the pay TV ones for example. They like the shopper who are having a wander. Those handing out pamphlets also use this too. It is based in psychology.



Me? I never dawdle and I purposefully love to stride past those centre shops just to prove my point. It really does work. Just go from a to b and I n-e-v-e-r get asked. I never get handed a pamphlet either, except when I want one.



We all know in a dark car park you need to stride with haste to your car, car keys in hand so no fumbling for the same reason. Less of a target.



Did you know any of this? Do you practice this?



Any thoughts?







ciao for now





just Martha xx



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

How Embarrassment...

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Okay, I'm not used to being embarrassed. Oh, lots of things happen to me that I SHOULD be embarrassed about but I just think "meh". Life is just too short to worry.



But



I have been the most embarrassed of late. I mean pink cheeks and "oh my" sort of embarrassed.



Why?



Texting, autocorrect, lack of vision... Take your pick



I blame the skinny font on the iPhone for a myriad of woes. I mean heck, who can read that! I also blame sunshine, the beach... The list goes on



So



My muscle bound, non- married gym instructor has the same christian name as Master T and both are in my phone under said christian name. One is followed by something defining like "gym" but essentially all I see when texting in a hurry is the first name. Hence I am blaming the font and me not wearing glasses when writing texts on the run.



So, I m-i-g-h-t has text the gym guy asking him to meet me at Woolies to do some shopping.



Eek! I did send another text apologizing but really?



Okay, I might have sent another text that was totally innocent but did, upon retrospect, sound like a total porn-name pick up line. Sheesh.



Set the scene? Well, the Teenies and I were at the beach with the dog and Master T was being a pain. So, I sent him home with a "you and your dirty mouth go" or something equally dramatic.



He did



But the dog then spent ages watching the path waiting for him to come back



So eventually I sent him a text to point out the dog missed him and was waiting for him. The text went a little like this "Ginger missed you and wants you to come back". True, the dog's name is Ginger so it all makes sense if you know that.



Master T didn't come back so eventually Miss T, the dog and I went home and then the Teenies and I went out for sushi and shopping in the afternoon. I mentioned to Master T that I thought he would have returned to the beach but he told me he didn't get any text from me. Oh oh! Some hours had passed by this stage. Long enough for others to read the text. If you get my drift.



So, I again sent a text back to the gym instructor about being the wrong person. He has my number so he knows it is me who is sending these random invitations. I saw him the next day and he laughed and said he was looking for a lady wearing a red wig in Woolies.



Heavens to Betsy. It is all I can go now to look him in the eye. I have changes my address book in my phone and taken his first name out but in true helpful Iphone style it is still suggesting him so I can't really promise it won't happen again.



I feel quite horrified that it sounds like such a coded pick up line.



Today he asked me if Ginger was a cat. I said no it was a dog but have the overwhelming urge to show him the dog to prove my text was innocent. I won't though. I will try to downplay the event and move on but sheesh.



Eek! I even feel like telling him my real porn name wouldn't be Ginger but would be Hillsea Benjamin after the first house I lived in and my first pet ( Cocker Spaniel named Benjamin Franklin).



Naaah, I might just quit while I am ahead.



Any embarrassing stories out there?



ciao for now





just Martha









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Yo Mumma...

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It is hard to impress my children. Maybe it is hard to impress all children but I am definitely uncool to them. They don't need to think I'm cool because I know I am. Way cool and they too will know it in about 20 years time. However, I do apparently commit crimes frequently. Here is a little examples but not limited to those listed:
* Having spiky legs
* Contemplating wearing a tracksuit out in Winter to soccer for an 8 am game
* Wearing my reading glasses over my sunglasses at the beach ( okay I will give them that one. Way uncool but a girl wants to read sometimes you know?)
* Dancing in the kitchen with my husband
* Kissing my gorgeous husband
* Wearing green snakeskin ballet slipper. In public

But

I recently had the opportunity to leave Master T with his jaw on the floor and his eye opened wide

I amazed him. I was trè cool, uber cool, I rocked. I had to t-e-a-c-h him!

What was it?

Yo-yo-ing

Yup. I was super cool with a yoyo.

As I spun that baby, walked the dog, went around the world and whipped up a baby in a cradle, he watched with jaw-dropping amazement.

Yup! Yoyo Mumma!

Ha!

Okay, I'm might have lost a little credibility when I told him how when I was young, Coca Cola sponsored teams that went around the world doing yoyo tricks (not me). Both him and Miss T thought that sounded rather lame.

But, I had my 15 minutes of being cool in my son's eyes. That's probably all I will get. Oh well. I do have my yoyo tucked up in my wardrobe. Next to my recorder actually. Just waiting for an opportunity to whip that little baby out! ( don't think that will actually count as cool -ever)


ciao for now


just Martha xx









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Holiday At Home...

Look at that lovely main bedroom

Last weekend we went on a short trip to our closest city to give the family a taste if city life, of fast pacing, of more than 1 traffic light.

They were neither impressed nor unimpressed. We left the city when they were 6 and 8 years old so I thought it was high time we went back to explore as tourists rather than madly dashing from here to there, visiting, visiting, visiting family and friends.

So, tourists we were. We stayed in the centre of the city, a hop skip and a jump from the Mall. I was beside myself with joy. No driving, Shank's pony e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e! Thanks to my new Fit Bit, I know that we clocked up about 12 km walking each day. The accommodation was h-e-a-v-e-n-l-y! A two bedroom, two bathroom apartment with a kitchen. Views were of, well, the city as we were in the city AND just nearby was the, ahem, cathedral (what class I had back then) we were married in some 24 years ago. We went on ferries, buses, went to museums, art galleries, to Max Brenner, out to dinner... Phew! It was so much fun!! Just the four of us. Master T and I seemed to have a natural instinct towards dressing up. He was very excited to see all the 'suits' and wanted to check out the Rolex shop.

The Silver Fox also grew up in the same city as me but alas, he didn't seem to have the same sense of direction and belonging as mwah. Maybe I spent more time there in my youth but it was like I had never left.

I didn't however convince anyone to move back, except my good self. Ahh, it felt so nice. Might wear off after the first traffic jam but it felt good to have everything so close.

I did manage to break my 'no spending rule' and bought some Laura Ashley throws ON SALE! Hello, less than half price! It would have been madness to resist.

So, I highly recommend having a holiday at home good people

Give it a go

Here is a close up of the blanket. So lovely

Other side of the bed. With sheers! Sheers I tell you

St Stephen's Cathedral. Aaawww...

Lounge room. Focal chair with a gorgeous lamp. Look at the phone

Dining room. I know, a bit overboard but still, bliss

I know this looks like a headlock... If you look really close you can see Master T's vacuum cleaner hicky. Ha!

Laura Ashley purchase. Shhh!

Ciao for now...