I’m sure there is something wrong with the way my mind works. I seem to get these crazy ideas that no one else seems to get. Today I scanned a chocolate biscuit. Why? To see if I could. See what I mean. What a crazy thing to do. The funny thing is, they often work. Check this out. Of course, I took a bite out of it before I scanned it.

Madeleine

Thursday, 6 July 2006

STRANGER DANGER

 There has just been a horrific murder/rape of an 8 year old girl here in Perth. It has been all over the news, and each client I see who  is a mother, has brought it up in our sessions.

 Tonight they had a psychologist on television, giving, what I believe is some good advice. He talks about the “helicopter” parent, the one who hovers around their child, trying to protect them from every, any and all possible dangers in the world. He talks about the psychological and physical problems that occur from this type of parenting. I agree. However, he ended his talk telling people that they need to teach their children about “stranger danger”, and old concept that I fought with my daughter.

 I call this irresponsible reporting.

 I get really angry because strangers are not generally the problem. Yes, occasionally they are. When they are, we hear about it all over the news with this type of irresponsible reporting. What they don’t mention is the amount of abuse that happens to children within their own families.

 I believe that one of the reasons for this irresponsible reporting is that most people who watch the news don’t want to hear about this sort of thing happening in families. It rocks their boats too much, can come too close to home for many people, and is not “good” news. “Good” news, is the news people want to hear, whether it is true or not.

 “Eighty-five to 90% of sexual abuse happens with a person known to the child (Russell).” http://www.safechild.org/abuse.htm. Parents are, as a result,  teaching their children to watch for the problem where it is less likely to occur and to ignore the problem where it is most likely to occur. Tonight on the news, we had two stories about child sexual abuse from strangers. Tonight, a lot more children will be sexually molested, not by strangers, but by people they love and trust.

 Madeleine

Wednesday, 5 July 2006

 As human beings we make rods for our own backs with our thoughts  and beliefs.

 Our life is what our thoughts make it. --Marcus Aurelius Antonius http://qad.charityfocus.org/view.php?qid=319

 For instance, I saw someone today, her thoughts were: Things are going well right now, something bad will happen cause bad things happen when you feel good. If something goes wrong, somehow it is my fault and/or I am being punished, We talked about the fact that bad things happen. They happen to everyone. They don’t happen because life is good right now. They don’t happen cause you’ve been bad.

 You know the statement: “Life is what you make of it”. I disagree. Life is what you think about it. I will be 60 this month. I’ve gone online and chatted to a number of people who are my age, retired, etc. They are just so depressing. “My life is over.” “It’s all downhill from here.” When you think like that, you behave like that and you feel like that. If you think, I’m retired, what can I do now? What else does life hold for me? Your whole feeling and attitude changes.

 News reports focus on the negatives and this is how they make their stories interesting to their viewers. For instance, on the new tonight we were told that Korea had let off a bomb that could have reached Australia. Scare. Gather round. Protect ourselves from the enemy. The bit they played down was that it failed. It didn’t go very far. It didn’t actually work. So the scare mongering is about something that might never happen!! So why should I worry about something that might never happen.

 At the turn of the century, there was a lot of scare mongering about how all the banks would go down, life would become totally chaotic. Did it happen? Of course it didn’t. It was all a bunch of bumf!!

 And yes, shit happens. Some people get more than their fair share of the shit that happens. However, sooner or later, everything passes, life moves on, things change, and life improves.

 So what do you do with those worrying thoughts. Remember: Shit happens. I can cope with the shit. And sooner or later, the shit will pass.

 And yes, sometimes it is difficult to stay with that thought. Sometimes life does seem just too difficult and that it is throwing just too much shit at us. However, it does pass eventually. The sun comes up on another day and we move on.

 Madeleine

Wednesday, 5 July 2006

 Now ain’t she/he beautiful. According to my book, they are rare in this part of WA, if I’ve got it right.  A Straw-Necked Ibis.

And here he/she is walking away.

An interesting juxtaposition on this photo: I hadn’t seen the bottle when I took the photo.

 The park where we went today, has playing fields, kids areas, cricket practice places and is quite big. I started out on one side, which is where I saw the Ibis initially. As I got to the other side of the park, I looked across and this is what I saw:

Not a great shot, but there was a line of Ibis (Ibises??) across the park. For some reason they were heading towards the building.

As we made our way around the park, we spotted them all again. On the island that is their home

 A couple of Galahs. I don’t often see them quietly on the ground like that.

 And one last little treat, in the middle of the car park.

Don’t ask. I have no idea why this was there. Looks like someone’s bedding and stuff.

 Madeleine

Sunday, 2 July 2006