Category Archives: self-care

She Moves in Mysterious Ways [Guest]

A couple of months ago, Mark Pierson (pastor, worship curator, writer, and generally lovely person) wrote this travel reflection on Facebook. I’m sharing it with his permission because it starts with everyday nuisances and ends with profound insights. Read till the end if you are interested in work/not-work balance, the state of the Christian Church, […]

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Making Parenting Easier: Tips, Laughs, and Being Kind to Yourself

Parenting is flipping hard work, yes? You’re responsible for, as my friend Jess says, tiny sociopaths. They’re cute, sure, but they have little in the way of empathy, self-control, or social graces. You get no sick leave. You’re operating on so little sleep that serious reading now means clicking ‘see more’ on Facebook. Communities like […]

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Single #6: Three Things I’ve Learned [Guest]

You might remember wedding celebrant, community worker and all-round high-quality human being Laura Giddey from this cool post about buying locally-made Christmas presents. We’re lucky to have her back with some reflections on being single. Please make her welcome in the comments below! I’m 26 and single and this has many great perks. I’ve learnt […]

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Making Parenting Easier #1: 12 Ideas to Make You Feel Better

This is part of a series aiming to help us all go easier on ourselves and make our parenting lives more enjoyable and satisfying. The whole series list is here and more links are at the bottom of the post. [Update: 2.5 years later I’ve revised this and added some stuff in. Feel free to suggest […]

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Matters of Life and Death: Dementia and Ageing

I read some of Sandy’s story on Sunday: I am 57 and was diagnosed in 2004 with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. I was a bank manager and was very active in my community and church. One afternoon, I left work and did not know how to get home. This was the start of a “downhill no return” into the Alzheimer’s world. I am […]

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How to write a self-care report, and why you should bother

Do you care about self-care? If you had the marvellous good fortune to host a goose who laid a golden egg for you daily, would you lovingly feed her the best worms in the garden, massage her little wings, make sure her bed was comfy (though not plumped with goose-down…) and generally cherish her? Or […]

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The Sacrament of Breastfeeding #1: Slow Food

Breastfeeding as a spiritual practice: yes. I appreciated this article by American minister Courtney Belcher Ellis. Like, dare I say, many of us here, before she had her son, Courtney was a high-achieving, overworking professional who found it hard to slow down. There’s nothing like breast-feeding a baby to enforce slowness. Over time, the time […]

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