Being Myself
The Tree
I’m not sure if I’ve found my true reflection in the world yet, but I can definitely say it isn’t a tree. The image of the tree that is you, with each ring a layer of your story is wonderful and uplifting but it is too fixed for me. My story is portable. My roots … Continue reading
F**k the Begrudger
The last week I’ve been thinking about my inner critic, prompted in part by Tara Sophia Mohr’s blogpost and by her description of her own inner critic piping up in the Global Niche conversation of last Friday night. My own inner critic is pretty close to a realistic thinker. At times it is a little too … Continue reading
The Compass
This is inspired by week two of A Year With Myself. Leonie Dawson asks have we found our soul’s compass yet. Once upon a time I had a compass. It looked like this. It was a tool, a geologists compass. Not only did it help to locate me, it also allowed me to make maps, … Continue reading
Branching Out
Many, many years ago, I was perhaps 9, I was amazed to find that our Saturday morning was disrupted by the arrival of a piano. I remember standing by the front door watching people carefully carry it into the house. I can’t remember who moved it or how, but there it was in our front … Continue reading
The Threshold
Just as I was pondering how to give myself the kick in the ass I need to get blogging again, I stumbled across this idea of A Year With Myself. Well, sez I, there’s the kick I need. So the plan is to participate while also getting on with the other things I’m planning. The … Continue reading
United in Fear
I had never heard of Gabrielle Giffords until her name appeared below a breaking news headline on Saturday 8th January. I didn’t know she was a member of the US congress, what party she represented, whether she was liked, good at her job, or known nationally within the States. But I was shocked by the … Continue reading
Baking up Christmas
The smell of pudding, that rich combination of fruit and sugars, pervades the house. I am home again, watching my mother becoming increasingly frustrated attempting to cover the pudding with greaseproof paper and tinfoil. The string with not go right, will not tie tight enough. My first Christmas in Turkey in 2001, my first away … Continue reading
School Days
One thing I wasn’t going to do when I started blogging was talk about my children, I was not. My time online was going to be my time for me: no kids, no housework, no responsibilities. I’m breaking that rule today. Having spent the summer constantly in the company of my children, the last month … Continue reading
Special-ism
Announcing HYBRID AMBASSADORS: a blog-ring project of Dialogue2010 You met our multinational cultural innovators this spring in a roundtable discussion of hybrid life at expat+HAREM. Now in these interconnected blog posts some of them share reactions to a recent polarizing book promotion at the writing network SheWrites. Join the discussion on Twitter using #HybridAmbassadors or … Continue reading
Being a perfectionist
Being the procrastinator that I am, I also like to think of myself as a perfectionist. The logic is simple – I expect to do a terrific job, spend a tremendous amount to time waiting for the optimum moment when the stars collide and inspiration hits with a physical force. That never quite happens. Instead … Continue reading
