FOR THE ONE WHO IS EXHAUSTED, A BLESSING I’m not gonna lie to you – I am exhausted. Not just tired, but a ‘Covid’ kind of dispirited lethargic kind of tired. It comes not just from giving care, but from monotony and loneliness. I feel a heaviness and absence of
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Culture Shock – and The Culture of Puritanical Excess
I backpacked around Mexico and Central America in 1989. I think I’ve been in culture shock ever since. Since returning to la-la land, that is. I went to Latin America to see what is going on in the world, and because everyone told me the culture is very friendly and
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: On Loneliness – In a Nutshell
I think it is important now to revisit this topic as the world is now in the grips of a Pandemic. Please watch, and arm yourself to the best of your ability against the potential social isolation and loneliness that could be experienced in the days and months to come.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Urban Problems – Being Lonely Together
I think it is uncontroversial to say that we are hardwired to be social animals. Yet, why do we design our cities and spaces to make interaction and social contact less affable and easy to access? “Urban loneliness is a virtual pandemic. Even though there have never been
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Odell’s How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy
Or maybe we’d recognize Nietzsche’s last man as ourselves: “Once blasphemy against God was the greatest blasphemy; but God died, and therewith also those blasphemers. To blaspheme the earth is now the dreadfulest sin, and to rate the heart of the unknowable higher than the meaning of the earth! .
Continue readingThings Are Good: Let’s Teach Kids Loneliness Techniques
Despite the fact that we are more connected than ever loneliness is still a problem in our society. Indeed, it’s such a problem that people are self-reporting that they are lonelier today than decades ago. What can we do about it? We can teach people how to better deal with
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: A Crackpot Posing as a Genius
I’ve been noticing many articles, recently, about the plight of loneliness. It’s now linked to anxiety and depression, and addiction, and a former US Surgeon General calls it the most common threat to public health. We blame the internet and social media for a loss of connection between people, but this
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: What Happened When Neighbors Heard a Senior Couple Weeping
A conversation I had a couple of years ago has remained vivid in my memory. My colleague came into work one day looking upset and wan. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that on his morning walk, he heard an old woman crying and calling out the …
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: What Happened When Neighbors Heard a Senior Couple Weeping
A conversation I had a couple of years ago has remained vivid in my memory. My colleague came into work one day looking upset and wan. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that on his morning walk, he heard an old woman crying and calling out the …
Continue readingThings Are Good: Your Body Wants You To Be Social If You Feel Lonely
Loneliness is something that everybody experiences in their life and it turns out it could be a good thing. By feeling lonely your body is telling you that you need to change: you ought to go hang out with friends. Humans are social animals and our bodies have evolved to ensure that we stay in […]
The post Your Body Wants You To Be Social If You Feel Lonely appeared first on Things Are Good.
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: The Divine Spark Inside Me
For the past couple of weeks, we haven’t used our front door. We enter and exit through the garage so we don’t disturb the temporary home of a young family of purple finches nesting in our porch light. We don’t turn on the light on either, becaus…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Valentine’s Day and the Society of the Lonely
Well it's Valentine's Day, and as usual I don't want to write about it, and I do.For while I don't want to be seen to be encouraging that garish orgy of chocolate boxes, sappy sentiment, and heart shaped balloons. The horror, the ho…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: How to Help Stop Seniors From Dying of Loneliness
When I was a boy my grandmother read me a story about an old woman whose body was discovered in a rooming house, days or weeks after she died.And when they went through her possessions they found a diary, with only these same words written on every pag…
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Valentine’s Day and the Crisis of Loneliness
Well today was Valentine's Day and for the first time in eight years I have nothing to say about it.Firstly because I said all I wanted to say last year. And secondly because I don't want to rub my happiness, or another pinky thing, in the faces of the lonely.Not when there
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: Tackling Loneliness: For Love, Money or Qualifications
Two stories in the news this week caught my eye. The first was really an OpEd in the Guardian (UK) paper, penned by the Head of Policy at a very good charity for the deaf/blind called SENSE. Sue Brown titled her piece “Tackling Loneliness is a Job for Professionals, Not
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Innovation of Loneliness – Film Short.
I’m not much for the social media, to be honest I prefer to be alone because the rest of you are so darn noisy. 🙂 Filed under: Social Science Tagged: Loneliness, Technology
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Loneliness and Caregiving
This morning, I stumbled upon an article in the Guardian (UK) newspaper that started like this: The officials who broke down Joyce Carol Vincent’s door were meant to be serving an eviction notice. Instead they found her corpse slumped on the sofa, with the light from the TV still flickering over
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: "So, Do You Work?"
A stranger asks, “What do you do?”. They really mean, ‘do you WORK?’. When you reply that you care for a loved one, they look past your shoulder, scanning the room for an escape route. At the grocery store, someone you used to know walks by, averting their eyes. Conversations
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