Juliet Bennett's Blog

“I have an excellent idea – let’s change the subject!”

4 Oct ’09 2 Comments Written by Juliet Bennett

My blog has gotten a quite intensely serious. Religion, philosophy and peace talk. Interesting but reflective of the subjects going on in my mind, it has become a little draining. Or maybe today I’m just a little tired. Either way I do believe I should listen to the March Hare’s excellent idea – and change the subject.

So… a question… at the end of a long relaxing shower do you ever turn the hot to off and blast yourself with cold water?

This is seriously one of the most invigorating things in the world. It’s like having ten cups of coffee – your mind becomes alert, your body stands tall and you say to yourself “YEAH BABY!” Well I do anyway. It snaps me into action. It’s like changing the subject in the middle of an intense conversation and starting a new one from scratch. For a short 30 seconds or 15 when I’m a wuss, all I think about is the feeling of cold water touching your skin, and noticing what it does to the rest of my body.

When I find my mind in a strange airy fairy place it is not until I change the subject per say, that I realise why. I realise then what has caused my mind’s confusion. There are few little things in my life that make all the difference to my mind’s coherence:

A walk – be it short or long – clears the mind.

A pilates or yoga class – be it a 20 min dvd or an hour and a half bikram class – reconnects the mind with the body.

And one of these cold bursts in the shower – makes all the wishy washy bullshit my mind has been pondering over disappear.

When I do these three things and the clouds part and the sun shines.

I’m going to keep this in mind this week and when I’m bored or tired or confused or irritated or over-it I’m simply going to change the subject.

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2 Comments

  1. Leigh!
    8 Oct ’09    

    Are these new?

    Reply
  2. Juliet Bennett
    9 Oct ’09    

    My shower habits or the wig pictures? Both are old…

    Reply

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As a "non-indigenous" Australian living on what was once the land of the Cadigal and Wangal Wangal communities, I wish to acknowledge the inter-generational responsibility that I feel toward the colonial past. As a beneficiary of "White Australia", to the Eora people of Sydney, I request your forgiveness. I stand in solidarity with your rightful demands to self determination and active participation in governmental decisions, and I hope I may learn from your eco-spiritual connection. May we, as Tom Trevorrow of the Ngarrindjeri puts it, learn to 'respect, care and share' the gifts that our planet offers us.

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