Category: solace

About a dog

Posted in a thought, books, favourite quotes, reading, solace, staying humble, staying true, What I love about ...Tagged , 2 Comments

Other people’s words about … pets

No words from me today — just a quote.
Anyone reading this who has a dog will, I think, smile and nod in recognition.

The dog stretched out and dropped his head onto my lap. Instantly he began to snore and I admired his opportunism and the detail of his design. The seams of his eyelids and the way they met perfectly, sealing him shut. The backward slant of tufty eyelids; a dense ridge of tiny hairs. And the odd crazy whisker that sprouted from his head, feeling its way out into the world. I flicked one and he twitched but he knew it was just me. And with my other hand I stroked him long and hard and felt the thick grease of his fur rise and coat my hand. He soothed me; he always did.

From In my house
by Alex Hourston

Twenty-one breaths

Posted in a thought, anxiety, gratitude, health, life, Paths, reading, solace, staying humble, staying true, Uncategorized2 Comments

Recently, I’ve been reading about the power of breathing.
As I understand it, when we’re busy or stressed or even excited,
we activate our sympathetic nervous system,
moving into ‘fight or flight’ mode.
19 November 2014 054
But when we stop —
to sleep, rest, meditate, relax,
or simply just to breathe —
we activate our parasympathetic nervous system.
And it’s then we can heal ourselves:
of anxiety and sickness and angst.

Winter sunset at Aldinga Beach
Winter sunset

So now — in keeping with my blog’s theme —
I stop several times daily to take twenty-one deep breaths.

♦

In (through the nose).
Out (through the mouth).
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
Healing.
Healing.
Healing.

Reading Elizabeth Taylor

Posted in books, favourite quotes, life, on writing, reading, solace, staying true, Uncategorized, What I love about ...Tagged , , , 1 Comment

On the lonely horror of writing

At the thought of work, of the book he was writing, must finish, his stomach lurched, just as if he had come unexpectedly on something repellent. He was scared, too. Nowadays, he was so frightened of sitting down to work that he had to drive himself to grapple with it.

from ‘The Soul of Kindness‘
by Elizabeth Taylor

I love Elizabeth Taylor’s novels.

Her observations about people, (English) society and life are  acute, pithy and devastating.

Try her sometime!

 

Note:
Two people drew my attention to the writing of the English novelist, Elizabeth Taylor, who died in 1975. One was my mother, an inveterate and highly intelligent reader. The other was one of my favourite bloggers, Jane Brocket.