Over the years I have written a fair amount about faith and spirituality here at The Patch, and yet I don’t think it’s always abundantly clear exactly what it is I believe, nor how I came to be in this place. Whilst talking to my friend yesterday, she said something which really struck home. She …
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Every year I like to choose a focus word, something which will (hopefully) help me to grow and develop as the months progress. Some years I have great success with this, and 2015 is a perfect example of this. I chose the word “Surrender” that year, and I couldn’t have picked a more poignant word. …
Like many of you, today I feel utterly defeated. Despite fighting through the impact of nine years of Tory Austerity, and trying my hardest to use my voice to speak up for those whose lives have been deeply damaged by it, it wasn’t enough. The 2019 General Election was very clearly fought with Brexit first …
This is the second of two posts looking at the climate and ecological crisis and the UK policy response. Part one dealt with climate change and carbon emissions. This post will look at nature and biodiversity. Biodiversity Loss “We have to recognise that every breath of air we take, every mouthful of food that we …
A few weeks ago, my friend Cheryl started posting lots of information on Facebook about the climate crisis, and I learnt so much from her. As much as I care about what is happening in our world, I feel overwhelmed by all the data, so it was super helpful to have someone condense it all …
Something I have come to understand over the past couple of years, thanks in large part to people like Kate from LesBeMums, is that we ALL have privilege and that we need to be doing more to face up to and tackle inequality. It can be massively uncomfortable to be shown how blind you have …
[Ad/Gifted – The yarn used in this post was provided by Love Crafts. All thoughts are my own.] It’s no secret that I love a good homemade gift, both as the recipient and the giver of such gifts. But one thing I haven’t spoken about as much is how important it is to me that …
It’s World Mental Health Day today, and I wanted to take a moment to talk to you about the different ways in which our mental health can suffer. Because none of us are immune to this, no matter how much we may like to think we are. And so it’s important to remember that not …
Sometimes I wish I could care less about things. It would be much easier to accept the status quo. But we live in an increasingly polarised world, and we need people to care. A lot.
So often in life it is really easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the negatives, isn’t it? We see all the things that haven’t gone our way, all the things we don’t have, and all the things we can’t do. And it’s understandable, because life is hard. But changing your perception can have …
Oh my goodness, I can’t quite believe I am writing this post. Earlier this year I mentioned that I would appreciate nominations for the Inspire category in The Brilliance in Blogging (The BiBs) Awards this year, but knew it was a bit of a long shot. The BiBs, run by BritMums, celebrate the best Parent …
Today my herbalist and I talked about the effects of chronic stress and how the body can get stuck in fight or flight mode.
[AD – Gifted] Disclaimer: I was sent a free review copy of ‘Get Your Kids To Eat Anything’. Earlier this year I was delighted to hear that Emily, who shares the most amazing recipes over on A Mummy Too, had written a book to help families explore food together. We’ve been very lucky with Little …
Goal-setting is something I have heard of a lot over the past few years. Working, as I did, in online media, it’s hard to miss all the posts aimed at helping you become the best version of yourself and live your dream. And I have nothing against it per se, but it can begin to …
Did you know that 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which happened in June 1969 and are generally considered a major turning point in the civil rights movement that the LGBTQ+ Community is still fighting today? I’ll admit that I didn’t realise this until I started researching this post, which shows just …
In my previous post I briefly touched upon all the unprocessed anger and grief related to my life as a Spoonie, and the ways in which being chronically ill has impacted my life and broken my dreams. But the one emotion I’ve never managed to squash down and avoid is guilt. Perhaps this is because …
As you may have guessed from my previous post, I’ve been feeling pretty down about things lately. In some ways this is a huge leap forward for me, as I have spent a lot of my life trying to avoid this kind of feeling. I haven’t wanted to become a victim of my life’s circumstances, …
Today is my 35th birthday, and I really want to mark the occasion with a blog post. It’s not one of the “big birthdays”, but it feels very important to me, and I don’t want to miss this opportunity to reflect upon that and document my thoughts in this moment in time. The year I …
Friday 8th March is International Women’s Day, which is both an annual celebration of women’s achievements and a call for greater gender equality. As the mother of a son, I am very aware of the fact that he is growing up in a world which still treats men and women differently, and that his voice …
I’d love to say that I’ve been thinking about this post for a while now and have some valid excuse for not publishing it sooner, but the truth is the idea for it only popped into my head yesterday. Why do I wish I’d been thinking of it for a while? Because the fact that …
Do you believe that your body has the ability to heal itself? Or do you think that some things like age, chronic illness, and mental health problems are beyond any natural healing ability we may possess? Are some people naturally gifted with good health, whilst others suffer with no hope of a life beyond their …
Becky Goddard-Hill, who blogs at A Beautiful Space and Baby Budgeting, is the co-author of Create Your Own Happy, a happiness boosting book for kids. Create Your Own Happy is full of activities and is a fun, interactive book. It was published in September 2018 by Harper Collins and is available from Amazon and all good bookshops. A …
How do you experience God? Do you ever feel a physical experience of the Divine surrounding you? Or is it more of a faith-based experience of trusting that God is there, even if you never feel His presence? For me it has been mostly the latter, although I have had times in my life when …
It’s that time again, when Christmas is over and the last few days of December seem to be filled with both confusion (what day is it, again?), and reflection on another year passing by. I find that this almost limbo stage of the year is the one where I either find a renewed sense of …
