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My word of the week: trauma
Posted by Simon Parke, 30 Jan 2023
‘Death by blunt-force trauma,’ is a common assessment in crime fiction. And rightfully so; the word ‘trauma’ comes from the Greek word for ‘wound’.
Like our crime stories, the Greeks used it in the physical sense, but these days, trauma can also describe a mental and emotional wound, as in Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, (PTSD) which describes the lingering and disturbing effects of a shocking experience.
Trauma can reveal itself in many ways: depression, anxiety, flash backs or recurring nightmares.
And because it arises from moments or times when we did not feel safe ...
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My word of the week: Contentment
Posted by Simon Parke, 23 Jan 2023
Contentment is a simple idea which can feel impossible.
The word describes the emotional state of being at ease with our situation, in body and mind.
It is a present condition, describing this moment, which finds us satisfied with what we have, who we are and where we are going.
It’s an unusual state, however, because of our inner climate, often polluted by our relationship to our plans.
A significant source of human discontent is the gnawing sense that things could be better…
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Word of the week: Power
Posted by Simon Parke, 16 Jan 2023
So, what is your experience of power? Perhaps it has been both good and bad. Perhaps you’ve met good power and damaged power.
The word comes from the Latin potis meaning able, capable or possible.
It became podir in Old French, poer in Middle English (14th century) and then its present form power.
It would be cheering, if rather fanciful, if all power was able and capable...
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Word of the Week: Really
Posted by Simon Parke, 9 Jan 2023
My word of the week is Really.
It comes from the real – ‘No shit, Sherlock!’ - and means ‘in actual fact’.
But sometimes it’s really unnecessary, as in this sentence.
It’s adding nothing here because either it is necessary or it isn’t…
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My late Christmas
Posted by Simon Parke, 30 Dec 2022
I did not spend long in the stable.
I arrived late, you see, a few days late, due to ‘events beyond my control’, I think they say.
Expectations, other peoples’, have sharp elbows and will not take no for an answer, they really won’t.
Though I did in the end say no…
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At the Community of the Holy Fire, Abbess Hildegard wishes to turn this convent by the sea into a beacon of ‘greenness’. But on the night of the Great Bonfire, the abbess is killed in a manner no one deserves. Who could hate her so much – and why?
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‘Meet Jesus unplugged,’ writes former Fleet Street editor, Richard Addis, after reading Simon’s latest novel, Gospel: Rumours of Love. ‘In a stunning act of imagination, Simon Parke shatters every stained glass window in your mind.’
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In Solitude: Recovering the power of alone, Simon describes solitude as the active path to inner silence and takes us on an enthralling journey there. In a world of haste and distraction, he commends the way of stillness and withdrawal where we can ‘recover the power of alone’.
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