Category: Creativity
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Kiddy craft for migraines
OK, so since I’ve finished my PhD and graduated, I have had a bit of spare time on my hands. One of the things that I yap about to myself and others, here and at home, is the healing power of distraction – preferably through simple, hands-on arts and crafts…
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Meh… to mojo-motivated
Now that I have finished my PhD and graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy, I find myself with a lot of time on my hands. I still have plenty of things to do, don’t get me wrong, but there is now a gaping 20-hours-a-week ‘hole’ in my to do list.…
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Is life becoming Kafkaesque?
I was a teenager when my mother suggested I read Franz Kafka’s novella ‘Metamorphosis’. Spoiler alert – in the opening sequence, a man discovers he has turned into a giant cockroach. The point of the story (I now believe) is that there are occasionally moments of dumb-bad-luck when humans can…
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Medical detectives (in art)
Many, many, years ago there was an ad on Australian television that suggested that modern doctors could tell that the model in a Renaissance painting had breast cancer based on some dimples near her armpit. I’ve always remembered it, and it came into my mind again the other day when…
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Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
A short time ago I wrote a post about the four stages of migraine, one of which is called “aura” (here). The sorts of things that happen to migraine patients during the aura stage include: visual disturbances, dizziness, ringing in their ears, even paralysis. But one of the rarer symptoms…
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A paradigm shift in paradise
Every now and then something happens that causes you to see the world anew. Sometimes the paradigm shift is so profound it sticks, and you’re never the same again… other times, you have a moment where your brain goes “wow – how interesting – who knew!?” and then it flips…
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Doodle your pain away
I’ve written before about the art of distraction and how it can help you forget your pain… for awhile. Arts and crafts that have helped me include long-stitch sewing, taking photographs of “glimmers” (the things that make me happy) and making either a mood-board or coloring-in a healing mandala. I’ve…
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How do you name your pain?
In Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, the heroine whisper-wails into the night-air off her balcony; “O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?” After he doesn’t reply, she reassures him that she couldn’t care less what his last name is, or that his family is her family’s sworn enemy. Soon after…
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What is “quiet cracking”?
It feels like only yesterday I learnt the term “quiet quitting”, which refers to employees all but giving up on their job. They turn up to the office each day, but they put in the bare minimum of effort, without enthusiasm, and without anything close to an “above and beyond”…
The Mindful Migraine 