Taexalia

wild.life

How to give a compliment ~ part 1

One day @ and I were walking along Princes Street nattering to each other about this and that. I recall that I was trying to express my deep gratitude to both @ and the universe for him being in my life. He was being a little modest and saying things like "don't be silly", which may have been to do with the fact that he is modest, or it may have been to do with the fact that we were on Princes Street surrounded by one million confused tourists possibly recovering from what happens at one, or it ... read more

Mine is bigger than yours

Have you ever noticed that when you tell a story there is always someone in the room who wants to "trump" you? It doesn't matter what the topic might be, the chance of someone feeling the need to *seem bigger* is always there.Phrases like:"...you think that's bad wait til you hear what happened to me...""...that's nothing compared to my story...""...I can beat that story..."I'm talking in the realms of personal stories, life events and whatnot and it bemuses me that people still feel the need ... read more

Thoughts about anger

SoulCollage Card ~ RageI am the one who sees redI am the red that erupts from the blackI am the bringer of momentumI am the one who can bring freedomI am the one who can trapI am the one who is misunderstoodI am the one who can be harnessedI was thinking about anger last night after posting here that I was livid, and I was thinking about what an unhealthy relationship humans have with this emotion, how uncomfortable we are with anger. On the one hand it is considered a negative thing to *be ... read more

Me And The Word GIRL

Once upon a time there was a person who worked for a large book retailer. I'm not going to name names because the person has worked for two of the well known book retailers on these shores and can assure you that enlightenment and progressive thinking may be found within the "product", but are not apparent in the treatment of staff in either empire... The person who worked there is sometimes called a bitch, or mouthy, or opinionated ~ quite often these are applied as if they are a negative ... read more

Power and Powerlessness – Conflict and Peace

In her speech, Come September, Arundhati Roy, says "The theme of much of what I write, fiction as well as non-fiction, ... is the relationship between power and powerlessness, and the endless circular conflict they are engaged in.." A little further on she says "I believe that the accumulation of vast unfettered power by a state or a country, a corporation or an institution or even an individual a spouse, a friend, a sibling - regardless of ideology results in excesses..." This is a theme ... read more

Challenging Conversations

Have you ever noticed that sometimes conversations become toxic and you find yourself coming out the other end not quite knowing what happened? Imagine that Petunia and I are talking about Lifesavers. She tells me that she thinks Minty Lifesavers are the best ever and I say I disagree and say that I think Gummy Lifesavers are the best ever… In scenario P, we go on to describe the reasons why we like each one. Petunia might tell me she likes the freshness and she doesn’t like the ... read more