Year: 2021

Resolution

Posted on by Olaf

What does it take to be a resolute person and is that necessarily a good thing?  It sometimes manifests itself as stubbornness which can be a weakness that many of us are prone to.  Would you describe yourself as a determined person or just plain stubborn?! This famous natural arch has been withstanding the strongest waves for many years giving a great example of resolution and yet the time will no doubt come when it will cave in to the sorrow of many who have swum through it.  Whilst Durdle Door remains standing, sadly the Azure Window rock arch which was even larger collapsed in recent years.  Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat described this event as ’heart-breaking’.  It is sad indeed when someone’s resolution is broken – the stronger and longer-standing the resolution, the greater the sorrow with a subsequent collapse.

  • ‘If you asked me for my New Year Resolution, it would be to find out who I am’ – Cyril Cusack
  • ‘God help us, we can't keep up this pulling, that is certain. Amongst ourselves we are unendingly cheerful, but what each man feels in his heart I can only guess’ – Robert Falcon Scott

Christmas

Posted on by Olaf

When you were young, who took the lead role in master-minding your Christmas Day celebrations?  Was it your mum, dad, perhaps jointly or maybe someone else? In days of ‘yore’, people used to enjoy foraging in the countryside for mistletoe and holly with berries to ‘deck the halls’.  The Christmas tree had to be real, reach up to the ceiling and be a well-balanced shape. Nowadays there’s pressure to buy artificial ones but apparently real ones have a smaller carbon footprint and allegedly up to ten trees are planted for every one cut down. Gifts would be spread around the base of the tree with littles ones balanced on branches along with baubles, lights and tinsel making a colourful staircase to the fairy on the top. Carols would be sung, gifts given, TV watched and many calories consumed. It was God the Father who carefully oversaw the preparations for the first Christmas – he still watches to see our reactions to his most precious gift to us … often sadly obscured by the tree and by trivia.

  • ‘Christmas is the day that holds all time together’ – Alexander Smith
  • ‘He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree’ – Roy L Smith

ANGER ISSUES

Posted on by Olaf

Physical symptoms of anger include a racing heartbeat, faster breathing, headaches, stomach aches, frowning, sweating and tensed muscles in fists or jaws.  There may be other less obvious behavioural signals such as cold shouldering, withdrawn eye contact and other verbal or negative body language.  It is a powerful and deep emotion that can seethe inwardly like a volcano waiting to erupt as pressure builds towards the surface where it issues forth.  Once it breaks through, like sulphurous larvae, it is unpredictable and can destroy all in its path.  You may not have seen a volcano erupt but the chances are that you have either witnessed anger, been a victim of it or perhaps it is something that you struggle to contain within yourself.  How is it best to deal with anger that is directed against you or that you may feel internally?  Suppressing it will simply mean it breaks out in another place at another time.

  • ‘It's so important to realize that every time you get upset, it drains your emotional energy. Losing your cool makes you tired. Getting angry a lot messes with your health’ – Joyce Meyer
  • ‘Every day we have plenty of opportunities to get angry, stressed or offended. But what you're doing when you indulge these negative emotions is giving something outside yourself power over your happiness. You can choose to not let little things upset you’ – Joel Osteen

Advent

Posted on by Olaf

Sometimes it’s hard to know if you are coming or going – perhaps it’s both!  Maybe it’s tough to know the difference because it’s a confused and confusing world that doesn’t deal well with endings and isn’t sure when a beginning has occurred.  When have you arrived? Where are you going?  We do not know what is coming with the certainty we all crave. What do you hope or think might be coming?  Advent is a term linked to adventure in that it is ‘towards a venture’. In that sense, it hints of risk, excitement and some uncertainty but taken for itself, it simply means ‘the arrival of a notable person or thing’. You could say that the sun rising at dawn heralds a daily advent and so life is one continuous series of advents as preludes to the final adventure. Could you accept life as a series of beginnings rather than a series of endings? So here’s a light to reflect on that idea.

  • ‘Every year we celebrate the holy season of Advent, O God. Every year we pray those beautiful prayers of longing and waiting, and sing those lovely songs of hope and promise’ – Karl Rahner
  • ‘Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming’ – David Bowie

Scars

Posted on by Olaf

We all carry them, even landscapes – scars.  Sometimes they are exposed and we try to hide them. Sometimes they cannot be hidden.  Sometimes they are hidden from plain view but they can be detected if you look carefully.  Every scar has a cause from injury that was either intended or unintended and has made a lasting impact – only time will tell if it was for better or worse.  Apart from the more obvious visual physical scars, there are often internal scars due to the behaviour of others, our own personal choices or from apparently random events.  Although these may be unseen, they are nonetheless real and can be perceived in a person’s changed behaviour, confidence and even faith. Do you carry either visible or invisible scars?  Have you caused scars in others?  The walkers in this coastal path have mainly been oblivious to the scars that their feet have been making in the landscape as they have enjoyed the walk – is it possible that you have done the same?

  • ‘I am a human being, with feelings and emotions and scars and flaws, just like anyone else’ – Josh Gordon
  • ‘Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars’ – Khalil Gibran

WAKE-UP CALL

Posted on by Olaf

The world is heating up.  Do you wonder why?  There are lots of culprits that are cited – cars, carbon and cows could begin the list.  Perhaps it could justly continue with politicians, population and pride.  Will the list end with the greed of nations, peoples and individuals like us, like you, like me?  Are we bringing it upon ourselves and find we cannot change our all-consuming behaviour that devours not only the earth’s resources but all those ‘others’ who stand in the way of our corporate and personal consumption? Can it be any surprise that there are consequences from personal, national and world behaviour? It’s no good eye-balling the next cow you meet and trying to shift the responsibility on to her because of our milk or meat consumption! The world is heating up and we all have to consider our personal responsibility.  Young people and scientists are sounding the alarm – it is a wake-up call in more ways that we might imagine.

  • ‘History is a vast early warning system’ – Norman Cousins
  • ‘Scientists have been warning about global warming for decades. It's too late to stop it now, but we can lessen its severity and impacts’ – David Suzuki

Empathy

Posted on by Olaf

The quaint old phrase ‘fellow feeling’ is not used much these days.  The word ‘empathy’ is more in vogue if you are trying to explain something beyond sympathy.  Those kind condolences, that sad smile or hand on a shoulder may convey sorrow that you genuinely feel for a person in grief.  Such sympathy may be shown with flowers, a baked cake or a cup of coffee but it is something less than empathy where that sorrow is deeply known and understood because it has been part of your experience too.  You’ve walked that walk along that path and in those shoes, fully engaged, feeling the slope of the hill of sorrow and the hard ground through the soles.  Comfort from a friend who truly empathises is akin to someone walking with you and carrying your backpack to ease your load.  These swaying reeds speak of God’s empathy with us.

  • ‘The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy’ – Meryl Streep
  • ‘Empathy begins with understanding life from another person’s perspective. Nobody has an objective experience of reality. It’s all through our own individual prisms’ – Sterling K Brown

Greetings

Posted on by Olaf

Are you a ‘smile, high-five or a wave’ person? What’s your preference for written greetings and sign-offs:  Hi, Dear, Hey, Yours Sincerely, Best Wishes, Kind Regards? No doubt it depends on the person you’re contacting and the context.  You can seldom be sure these days due to the many communication options whether there will be any top or tail let alone some abbreviation you don’t understand.  The old order of things has gone out of the window with spelling and handwriting becoming ever more unpredictable.  This is true also of the forms of physical greeting – no longer a reliable handshake in the West or nose rubbing in New Zealand. During Lockdown, we saw the arrival of fist salutes and elbow bumps. Greeting cards may still be big business but nothing quite matches a card received that a person has actually bothered to make for you.  Do you still like to send and receive them? Perhaps this Booster has been sent to you as a greeting – if so, congratulations or commiserations as appropriate!

  • ‘What I've realized is that the joy of meeting and greeting people from all around the world is universal’ – Joe Gebbia

Landmarks

Posted on by Olaf

Every locality has its landmarks and we all use them for navigating around our landscapes.  A few like the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty are notable beyond their locality, but most only mean something to locals.  When a familiar old tree is taken down or a favourite shop closes, there is a sense of loss and some disorientation.  The pictured monument is probably known only to a very few readers – it is placed in heathland to mark the proximity of habitat for Wild Cranberries, the Woodlark and Nightjar.  Some have creatively also used it for geocaching so if it was moved it would be confusing for dog walkers and for those searching for their next geocache answer.  You will have some landmarks that mean a lot to you but little to others.  Come to that, in the landscape of life, you will have people or events that are significant landmarks particularly to you.  Perhaps you are a landmark for others like a cairn on a mountain walk to help them on their way.  

  • ‘The bees learn where they live by landmarks. If they're moved within their home range, they get confused’ – Gene Robinson
  • ‘All the aftermath that so frequently follows in the wake of war still confront the nation, and we now, as ever before, must hold fast to the ancient landmarks and see to it that all of these plagues that threaten so mightily shall be rendered harmless’ – Alexander Henry

Confidence

Posted on by Olaf

Do you ever feel that life is a little bit like the game of cat and mouse?  What can you get away with?  Who’s looking? You’ve done ‘it’ before and no one seemed to notice?  Although this model cat is blindfolded, who’s to say that it isn’t peeping?! To the mouse, this is vital as it could be the difference between life and death.  Confidence must not be misplaced or be based on a false premise for in such cases, life will fall apart.  If the given statistic that 85% of people lack confidence is true, then what are the reasons for that and how can it be addressed?  Are you genuinely confident behind the shop window shown to others?

  • ‘Confidence is the most beautiful thing you can possess’ – Sabrina Carpenter
  • ‘Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence’ – Helen Keller