Category: From Despair
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The comfort of an enlightening book
Over the last couple of years, I’ve found deep comfort in some wonderful books. Inevitably followed on the strength of a heartfelt review in The Guardian, or passed on by family, these books have been a joy. In particular today, I want to mention Rachel Clarke’s Dear Life. A palliative care doctor who relates her…
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The joy of work-arounds
Well, that was a trying morning! Opened my laptop to begin the daily routine, and the screen jumped and jiggled around before my eyes. It looked like there was something behind the frenzy, but I couldn’t be sure. After rather a lot of trial and error, which included the classic powering off and back on,…
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That stinging sensation
After the bright morning, while it was still calm, I put my John Deere overalls on, my new Christmas wellies, my normal work gloves and then the long leather gauntlets to protect my wrists, and headed out for a bit of hedge trimming. I was happily snip-snipping along (I’ve eschewed the petrol strimmer for super-light…
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Reaching ‘The Sweet Spot’ through adversity
A professor from Yale University has written a book titled ‘The Sweet Spot,’ so coming along just after I published my own little ‘sweet spot’ poem, his long piece is timely in terms of these Roads To Joy musings. He suggests that it’s only by experiencing pain and suffering that we can find meaning, and…
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It feels so good . . .
I felt a bit sorry for the woodpecker, checking out the swing support. I didn’t think he’d find any nice grubs in there. But he made a circuit of the garden and stopped off at the bird feeder. He didn’t seem to find anything to suit his fancy there either, and I wondered if a…
Roads to Joy 