This challenge encourages to write freely for five minutes on a given topic, each day for the months of October, without major re-writing or corrections. I have at times, corrected spelling errors at times, because the proof reading control freak in me will not let the WordPress editing fairies down….but otherwise, free Writing it is….
Silence – it can be deafening and sometimes, can roar like a 747 on landing. Silence can scar!
In that awkward moment when you slowly realize you have said something terribly wrong in front of a group, and the faces of your acquaintances, would-be friends or work colleagues respond with either incredulous gapes or curious, hard to interpret, facial expressions, and a multitude of body contortions that are quickly followed by convulsive sobs of silent laughter. – That is Silence!
In that split second, the brain has reacted, sending powerful impulses to the hormones and nerves. Blood rushes to the cheeks, nausea creeps up the throat and the thought processes descend into a spiralling whorl, that fills the mind with impulsive death wishes that typically involve some kind of underworld chasm opening up, (in what was moments ago, a solid floor), into which you would slip, leading ever downward to a murky, subterranean land of ‘faux pas’ never to immerse unmarked again……..
Incredibly powerful stories, revealing in the way the writers take the reader into their heads and reveal their thinking.
As a young person, I worked as a Nurse and never understood my patients as much as I did after reading this post. Many people are not able to empathize with the sufferer but these words do help to relate the hopelessness and understand the thought patterns that lead to the most tragic act.
I think we can better understand the nature of suicide from survivors like this.
It is so important for us all to check in with others about how they are doing. A txt or phone call could mean everything.
This post constitutes Day 18 and Day 22 of Five Minutes of Summer –
Five minutes of Free Writing every day for October
The 31 Days Free Writing Challenge, dictates that bloggers pick one topic and write a post for five minutes or thereabouts, (I confess to being verbose!), on that topic each day in October.
Day 11 – Storm
“There’s a storm brewing” –
The word “Storm” evokes thoughts of threatening and damaging forces out of our control. We have storms in summertime only. Winter is dry and dusty. Summer thunderstorms mean a sub-tropical venting of nature’s spleen, which has filled to bursting with rapidly rising temperatures and high humidity, in the tropical areas of the world. The Storm bird, known as the ‘Koel’, knows the Storm is coming, even before the weather man knows, and it sings its unique call, early in the morning or the days prior to a storm. But how does it know?
The ants also pick up the ominous signs and move to higher ground, and invade my kitchen as well! (I guess that is where the good stuff is)… This pisses off my temper which has already been pushed to the limits by my lack of tolerance for hot weather and humidity.[You can see why I like snow and the cold]
Here is a typical day for a storm:
First, we need a blistering day with mercury soaring above 29 degrees and a rapid rise in night time humidity that ensures a stickiness in the air that would challenge Scotchtape! By early next morning, the crickets signal it is time to get up from soaked, sweat – ridden bed -sheets; by morning tea, dare to step outside in the sun and you will burn in just 10 minutes, by lunchtime, the asphalt road surface shimmers with a mirage- like heat haze, and folk start to complain loudly and vociferously about “the heat,” whilst dripping with sweat, and then around 3pm, invariably when the children have to be picked up from school, the storm will break- heralded by huge raindrops the size of tennis ball that render raincoats next to useless and ferocious wind gusts that turn umbrellas into some kind of frilly flying javelin ready to impale some unsuspecting citizen.
The summer Storm is vicious and nasty and hits with a thundering force accompanied by spectacular lightning and occasionally damaging hail.I like to see the lightning, especially the forked lightning, so spectacular, unless you are out on the sporting field. The rain is torrential, enough to fill a large water tank in minutes. It often rains vertically upwards at my place in a summer storm, as the rain lashing at my house’s guttering fails to cope with the deluge and is then directed upwards! The storm can un-roof houses, turn a paddling brook into a gushing torrent in minutes, marooning kids on pushbikes and cars alike. “If it is flooded, forget it”, is now the motto from the Road Safety Authority due to way too many cars attempting to cross flooded creeks in the midst of a storm. {At times, resulting in drownings!}
For children, storms are fun. As a child, we lived in a street with a natural gully or dip where the rainwater would collect during the summer downpours, and this invariably came close to Christmas school holidays. For an hour or two, during or after a storm, this street’s drainage systems would struggle to cope with the volume of water meaning the children of the street welcomed the instant, albeit, muddy-co loured, ad-hoc swimming pool and the odd car was left floating until the water subsided.
If the storm comes at nighttime, my dog panics! But this year, she won’t worry, as she is so old, she has gone deaf. When I was 5 years old, I used to panic, like my faithful canine companion, when the storms came. My mother used to tell me it was fine, it was just Santa dragging his sack of Christmas presents across the sky, in readiness to give to the children on Dec 25th.[She didn’t explain the rain or the wind gusts, but thinking about Santa and wind is probably an area she did not want to broach, for good reason! ] The thought that this cataclysmic natural event was Santa’s doing certainly gave me plenty of comfort and was one of the most thoughtful things my mother said to me. This challenge has brought that memory flooding back. Which also reminds me of this Gangajang song which I associate with summer in Australia and the word, “Storm” –
Out on the patio we sit,
And the humidity we breathe,
We watch the lightning crack over the cane-fields
Laugh and think, that this is Australia
Summer storm season is almost upon us, and that is something we need to prepare for, not just ponder about.
Other days in this writing challenge are found here
The 31 day challenge is to writing for five minutes ( or thereabouts) on a given topic, each day. The topic for Day 10 is “Ready”
8.20 am
“Are you ready yet?” My other half calls, anxious to get going on our weekly shopping expedition. But I am tapping away on the keyboard writing yet another blog post. “Won’t be long,” I distractedly shout back down the hall.
But time has slowed and I am engrossed in getting my opinions down amid the jumble of words that spin about in my head. And I do dislike shopping for groceries, it is such a mind – numbingly boring task that my other half likes to repeat each week. As if it is the modern day equivalent of some religious ritual. Each week, I have to grit my teeth to prep myself for the grocery ritual, by first visiting a delightful cafe run by a Venetian man with a deep baritone voice, named Aladdino, who makes THE very best Italian hot chocolate! Some consolation for the battle ahead. And it is like a battlefield: the stainless steel shopping trolleys our ‘cavalry steeds’ and the supermarket aisles, a place where a cavalry style charge occurs a little too frequently, particularly during those red light specials! Each week shoppers try to emulate the reality show TV cooks in a vain attempt to keep their tastebuds on their toes, (or should that be tips?), whilst balancing the budget. Prices continue to spiral upwards, forcing us to buy generically branded cheaper and “crappier” items from dubious manufacturers. Convenience/ready-made meals means it may soon only be the elderly members of the community that remember what a virgin vegetable actually looks like prior to peeling, slicing and dicing and wrapped in plastic bags lined with preservatives! But we all have to eat, or face a riot on the home front, particularly from the adolescent members!
“How much longer are you going to be? ” The disembodied voice filtering down the hallway suddenly drags me back to suburban reality. It has happened again: I have become engrossed in another blog post and am still not ready.
31 Days challenge is to write freely for five minutes without editing – on the topics listed on the landing page – one topic each day for 31 days. I have called mine –
Trust –
Five letters that must be gradually nurtured lest [it] they be broken.
I read somewhere on social media today that betraying someone’s trust is like crumpling a piece of paper. You may iron out the wrinkles but some of them still remain. I think this is a valid comment, at least in my world. The hurt and resentment that comes with a breach of trust is hard to forget. We can forgive but we can’t always forget. The wounds run that deep. Particularly when it is someone near and dear to us that is the betrayer! And it hurts! So painful is the feeling of disbelief and shock that this has happened.
Trust is overlaid with many expectations. Trusting someone and learning when to trust and when not to trust, is entrenched with your own individual values.
“I trusted you,” we often hear when someone lets us down.
I know people with trust issues. They trust no one, which leaves them vulnerable to constantly checking that everyone, including themselves, have acted correctly. Kind of obsessive, you think? How exhausted they would feel, wrung out almost?
Considering all the possibilities and potential for human interaction, in the world, it is surprising that we can trust any other human at all. Why would you trust the skills of a complete stranger to give you a lift/ street directions? Why would you entrust your child to the care of a babysitter?
Because generally we can say that people are inherently good and not malevolent.
This challenge is to write freely for five minutes without editing – on the topics listed on the landing page (link provided below) – one topic each day for 31 days.
Not as easy as you think……
LOVE<3 LOVE<3 LOVE<3
I have spoken before about the basic human needs of love and affection being as important as food and shelter, so today I will talk about who/what I love.
Family – when it comes down to it, immediate family are the only people you can ever begin to rely on to be there for you and love you back. It is way too much expectation to place on extended family, at least from my experience, so count on immediate family only. But, this does include the family pet, as it is kind of his/her job, isn’t it?
Home – I have made it my sanctuary, and whilst far from perfect, it is a little oasis filled with mementos and memories, that mean so much to me. Home equates to security.
Travel – to Scandinavia or the beach in particular. Being close to gentle, lapping water can be so therapeutic, and the Scandinavian climate, landscape and scenery are so unique, I feel a special affinity to them.
Painting and traditional art/craft forms – primarily Norwegian Rosemaling and simple renaissance baroque folk art. I am a rosemaler, did I mention that?
Food – Seafood, (who doesn’t love it?), pastries, berries, and bread – need I say more?
Books and Reading – for entertainment and learning ( see #7) Nothing like a good murder mystery – fictional, of course.
Learning new things – Change is inevitable part of life, and we have to keep up. It is not always nice, but it does afford us the opportunity to discover and to re-invent.
Friends – who could live without good friends, in whatever form they take?
Walking in the Early Morning – especially if there is light rain/mist or fog! ( we so rarely have it in my realms, so to me it is special and I just love it.
This challenge is to write freely for five minutes without editing – on the topics listed on the landing page (link provided below) – Not as easy as you think……
Day 6 – Possible
Anything is possible they tell you. Well frankly, anything isn’t always possible. You can not sing opera if you have never been trained nor have any musical ability.You can’t travel the world if you don’t have money for a ticket. Mind you the internet is giving us a fair go at redressing this imbalance.
So what do you do to achieve your dream if it can’t be done? There are many ways around a problem and the solutions, albeit not perfect, can still be found. Thinking laterally, or outside the box, is a way to find a creative alternative solution. And every solution is different.
It is hard to see that things are possible if you have a pessimistic mindset or if you are young. The young people are taught to obey adults, do what they are told, or else face punishment or at least a consequence. In the long run, how much of these conformist actions stifle creative thoughts?
On my tombstone, perhaps they will write: Everything fairly mediocre, with occasional splashes of brilliance.
And I am cool with that. After all, anything is possible.
To see other free writing contributions in my five minutes of Summer click here.
31 Days of Free Writing and today’s topic is ‘Home’
10.07 pm
Home is Sanctuary, where relaxation, happiness and contentment reign supreme, or what many of us aspire to.
It isn’t always like that but we cling to this ideal as essential as oxygen.
Home can be the site of domestic violence, home can be a country plagued by war.
Home can be riddled with financial woes or emotional worries.
Home can be warm and loving and a place to be your real self, without any hats.
Home can be children running and giggling, playing without care, and later a gaggle of electronic devices with humans attached! Home can be elderly parents reminiscing in front of the ‘tele’ about the good ‘ol days, knitting or doing crosswords.
Home is a garden with green grass and lush plants and flowers, a swimming pool.
Home is memories good and bad.
Home is in the land down under, yet I went HOME when I returned to Denmark!
Today it is hot, really hot. The sudden burst of heat is intolerable, already! The absolute last thing I feel like is an embrace! And this is exactly the topic I have been given to write about?
An embrace is comforting, soul-nurturing and reassuring in times of need, and I love a good hug, but hell, don’t even think about touching me when the mercury is above 32 degrees! Just a heads up when you are in my area!
We need an embrace to feel loved, yes? Yet in some parts of the animal kingdom, there are no embraces of an affectionate nature. They are purely functional and designed to fulfil the basic biological need of perpetuating each species, something that is so hard-wired into our brains, it is as essential as each breath we take.
Remember biology lessons in Year 11? If so, you might remember Maslow’s heirarchy of needs, wherein he identified affection to be essential once basic needs like food and shelter were met. So what about those folk who live alone? Those reclusive souls who never feel an embrace? Could this be why loneliness is so painful? A mother’s love is so strong yet children grow up and need to learn to separate (all very necessary) from a parent’s and family’s embrace in order to develop independence and to find their own soulmate to embrace and the cycle begins again.
Embrace – a hug, affection, something valued and something to ponder about. But not on a hot day!…Enough!
Five minutes of Free Writing Association – A way of me to document my thoughts as summer approaches – a kind of cyber diary. Today’s theme – Capture
8.45pm
The ever-changing nature of the seasons help us notice the passing of each calendar year and summer even more so than the other four, oops three seasons, as it arrives in December, in Australia.
My summers are sub-tropical, and outdoor life a large feature. We have many barbeques with sizzling sausages, and salad, we swim, lots, we paddle in rock pools and walk the length of shoreline at the beach; we watch the waves crash repeatedly on the sand, we dive beneath the waves, and get sand up our nose; we go walking in the cool glades of rain-forest trails where waterfalls gush; we get saturated in torrential, summer thunderstorms, we eat ice cream late in the evening, we listen to the mosquitoes hum at twilight, and we lather sunscreen everywhere! All these summery events are capture on our cameras, phones, or mobile devices.
I like to take photographs, and I take many, many photos. I like the way photographs stop the endless march. For then and it is only then, we can reflect, and consider, and fully appreciate the moment in the photograph without distraction. Photographs freeze that special moment of surprise when you open a gift, or show the tearful toddler who has scraped their knee. They hold intact our memories. They stop the endless march of aging. They stop time! And my time has just run out. More tomorrow…..
What do you like to capture on film? Something to Ponder About
