Category: Mindset
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Rest assured(?)
In Australia, we have two (main) terms for afternoon rests: ‘power kips’ and ‘nanna naps’. For the first, you’re more likely to make a conscious decision to go lie down. You might even set your alarm clock to be sure you get back up at a certain time. The nana…
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A letter to neurologists
Dear neurologist, I am writing this letter to you so that you might better understand our relationship and the emotions that I am experiencing when we meet. I know that you see hundreds of patients each year, but you are the only neurologist that I have met. I might have…
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The dangers of doom-scrolling
I’ve been thinking a lot about how I might seem like Nero, the Roman emperor who supposedly played his lyre while Rome was burning in 64 AD. How can I write about such small things when the world around us is falling apart? “Why don’t you read the paper in…
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Is it OK to feel sorry for yourself?
I’ve always been a fan of John Denver (the music, more than the moppy-haired-man). Perhaps it’s because I have a fair bit of farming in my family tree, or just because I’m a back-to-nature kinda gal when possible. His songs ‘Rocky Mountain High’ and ‘Take Me Home Country Road’ are…
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Compassion for Overwhelm
Quite by accident, I came across a mindful-meditation teacher called Tara Brach. I found her while searching for information about self-compassion and discovered that she had written a book called ‘Radical Compassion’. I haven’t had a chance to look into it yet, but my attention was caught by a video…
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Brain-strain (not pain): Part TWO (answers)
SPOILER ALERT: Today’s post includes the answers to the three matchstick riddles I offered on Tuesday. If you would like to go back and try the puzzles before you see the answers, go to the link here: * * * * * Ok then, for everyone else, how’d you go?…
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Pain rescue: sometimes you have to save yourself
Today is May the first – May Day. It’s traditionally a European day of ribbon twirling and dancing. But, me being me, it also reminds me of the distress call “Mayday – Mayday!!” I looked up the origins of the phrase, and it apparently comes from the 1920s and is…
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Brain-strain (not pain): Part ONE (questions)
I’ve been talking a lot about how to improve brain health from the point of view of minimizing pain. But I also realized that brain health in general is important; “use it or lose it”, as they say. So, I thought that for something completely different, I’d find three ‘matchstick…
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Creating a (mental) happy place
When I was a child, I used to suffer from insomnia. I would lie in bed and overanalyze what had happened that day… agonize over whether I could have handled things differently… imagine alternative tomorrows… catastrophize a bit. I’m not a huge fan of the concept of a ‘migraine personality’…
The Mindful Migraine 