Hello dear regular reader...

It's funny, I've been writing this blog for 8.5 years and in recent years I've kept a stat counter running in the background so I am able to see how many people visit the blog and whence they hail, it's a very one sided relationship, but I don't mind. Most visitors to the blog are just passing through, checking out my galifreyan tramp stamp design (which, I probably will never get), or reading levels in primary school (these posts are oddly popular). Some, though, have become regulars and I find myself looking for them in the stats.

I have a regular reader in Canberra - I know you'll read this because you come to the blog most days, occasionally two or three times a day. I have a regular in Balwyn and another in Glen Waverley. There is a regular in Box Hill - who may or may not be a mum from school. I have a regular who comes up as 'Melbourne' but without a suburb designation - hi there, I really appreciate your dedication to my blog (in case you aren't sure if I'm talking about you, you use iinet…)! And a big shout out to my faithful reader in Kogarah, nice to have a regular from my birth state!

There are many others, but these stand out in my mind! I'm not really sure why you all stop by so persistently - I often wonder if this isn't the most boring blog on the net - but, I'm not complaining because some days you are all the only people who cause me to feel heard. I am very grateful for my regular readers!

Comments

12 Things Happy People Do Differently - a self-reflection...

A few days ago a Facebook friend posted the above poster on her wall. I believe she got these points from this blog which she enjoys reading, and the bloggers on the Marc and Angel Hack Life blog derived their discussion of these points from this book, available on Amazon - you're welcome! I have to admit, I haven't read the blog or the book I've just mentioned but wanted my readers to have access to the sources of the poster for their own reflective purposes.
The New Year will be upon us in but a few days and I thought this a great opportunity to do a little personal assessment on how I'm playing the happy game. I'm often not very happy at all - I don't need to be happy all the time, let me just say that up front - I personally believe that life is a balancing act and those who seek euphoria often will also often feel desolation because in all things there must be balance. The great riches of the few on this planet come at the personal cost of the many as is …

The symbolism of elephants...

Just recently I've been seeing and noticing elephants everywhere!

A few weeks ago I saw the Samsung Elephant Ad, and watching that led me to watching a video with an elephant painting (seriously, you have to watch it to believe it!).

Then last night the boys told me they were having a free dress day at school to raise money for 'Mali the Elephant' - who turned out to be a paper maché statue which the children will paint and then show around the council before it comes back to the school to stand outside the performing arts room.

Then this morning I followed a link from Twitter to Toushka Lee's blog and read this post about an elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka.

This morning the Grumpy Old Man did another driving test and unfortunately didn't pass. We've booked his next test and are looking forward to that now. About ten minutes before he walked in the door I saw this poster on Facebook...

At the time, I didn't know if the Grumpy Old Man had been successful or …

Do you have low self-esteem?

I don't.

I used to think I did, but having met several people who really do have low self-esteem, I've now come to realise I actually have low confidence (and note I don't say low self-confidence, but more on that later), and that is a different breed of animal all together.

I was having a chat with a friend the other day about people who constantly put themselves down. If you are a participant in social media you might be aware of this kind of person. Everyone is smarter than them, prettier than them, more motivated, better organised, or has greater talent than them. It goes further, some of these people are not at all opposed to running themselves down to others with comments like, 'I'm so fat' (and not in a proud, fat acceptance way, but in a negative, self-loathing kind of way), or 'I'm stupid' or 'I'm ugly'.

Some people are just fishing for compliments, of course, but the ones who persist; the ones who simply cannot take a complimen…

At the bottom of the Garden

Search This Blog