About

me on my new volty

About Me

I am a retired mental health nurse; follower of Jesus (I don’t really like having to define what flavour/colour Christian I am); married with 4 grown-up children and four grandchildren.

My passions include: bible study and meditation, crochet, photography, motorcycling (my retirement present to myself was a 250cc Suzuki Volty); and wildlife – especially butterflies.

painted lady – an elusive butterfly

About the Blog

This blog is a means of sharing some of the insights I have gained over the years.

During my time as a nurse I trained in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (a bit of a mouthful: basically it’s about acceptance and change – as in the serenity prayer:

Grant me the serenity to accept what can’t be changed,
The courage to change what can
And the wisdom to know the difference.)

One reason why I am so enthusiastic about DBT is that I would have found the skills taught so useful in my 20s (and I still need to use them). If I had known them then, maybe I wouldn’t have made such a mess of things. (Isn’t hindsight wonderful???!)

Mindfulness is the key skill taught in DBT – I shall be describing some mindfulness exercises and explaining how being mindful can become part of our daily lives.

DBT speaks to me of the God I know – the God who falls over himself backwards to bless us. (I know, I know: dreadful things happen to good people. Even so, I truly believe that everything will work through for good in the end.) God is the supreme DBT therapist. He accepts us as we are, but loves us too much to let us stay that way. If we are willing to change, he’s more than willing to help and empower.

About Biblical Meditation

‘[The] Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone,
rolls virtue around on his tongue.
His heart pumps God’s Word
like blood through his veins.’ [Psalm 37:30,31 The Message.]

I’ve been studying the bible for over 40 years. There are so many references to mental health in its pages that I reckoned I could have written one of my nurse assignment essays using the bible as my sole resource. I wrote a small booklet on biblical meditation and will be sharing some examples.

‘Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.’ [Proverbs 16:24].

When Jesus asked the disciples if they were going to leave Him, Peter said,

‘Where would we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ [John 6:68].

God’s words are life and health.

About the Crochet

What’s crochet got to do with the rest of the blog?

Years ago I asked a similar question. I’d been watching Newsnight. There had been an item on the plight of refugees; followed by an item on fur in the fashion trade. This struck me as quite incongruous – how could something as frivolous as fashion have been given equal weight to the plight of refugees? I wondered if my crochet was equally frivolous. The next morning I read in my bible: ‘So tend to your knitting!’ * God had given me my answer!
[* Romans 14:12 in The Message – you won’t find these words in any other translation].

My ‘message’:

God is Real
– He loves us, ALL of us
– the supreme expression of that love is Jesus’ death on the cross, so that we may all spend eternity with him in love, joy, peace and harmony.

Follow this link for a love letter from Father God:
http://www.lookingforgod.com/message-from-God

So there you have it – a rough map for this blog – I hope you’ll stay with me for the journey – and be willing to share your thoughts and comments.

celebrating my 60th – bunny ears supplied by work-mate – thanks, Chrissie