The Neverending "Conversation About Everything" Chain

Gentility can be a double-edged sword. Although manners are always nice, if one wears the veneer of graceful and charming 'gentility' it may lead others to expect and sometimes demand measured and predictable behavior from an individual, who in turn feels discouraged from expressing a more holistic 'self' and experiences repression.

Repression can be described as the involuntary censorship of one's own mind. Sigmund Freud discovered this defence mechanism.

"Mechanism", when applied to psychology is such a descriptive word. It so precisely captures the uniform and propelled nature of what it is describing.

Describing the relationship between men and women is exceedingly difficult. Some men are obsessed with women to the point of madness, others avoid them for the same reason they avoid hard drugs and others engage in a compromise.

"Compromise is a way for both sides to not get what they want," is what my hubby says. What say you?

You would need to get me on the pillow to get a satisfactory answer to that devvie. And there's no chance of that since I eschewed wives a long time ago as I came to realise I was letting the side down to not do.

Do you ever read the newspaper? There've been several interesting articles in the past few days which deal with evolutionary subjects such as the fact that scientists have identified the facial expression (curled lip and lowered eyebrows) associated with disgust as being universal, some words as they are spoken and pronounced today would be understood by man as he lived ten thousand years ago, and the fact that they have isolated a gene for optimism.

Optimism is possibly the most important survival factor in the modern world. It affects how we approach problems and how we perceive situations, and I consider it the luckiest stroke of my life that I carry that gene.

Gene science has not been properly thought through yet due to a propaganda blitz by various interested parties. When it has I think we might vote to forget all about the subject.

Subject yourself to a head massage sometime. Yesterday, I got my hair cut and while the girl was shampooing me, she stopped and massaged my head for five minutes and I was literally soothed, relaxed, transported (and oddly stimulated ) to the point that I felt Becky (that was her name) and I had shared an experience of a somewhat intimate nature.

(*It was wild - very, interesting experience- a response unlike any I've ever known from myself before,but understandable I told myself later as it was a very giving/receiving sort of episode)

Nature has shocked us beyond words since the devastating bushfires swept through Victoria on 7 February 2009. The intensity of the fires was unprecedented and the suffering and loss has profoundly touched us all.

*Aidan I'm in need of a head massage, I want to experience that feeling too.

aside to spikepipsqueak who said:

You're very good at distilling things right down to their barest and most elemental aspects, arriving at what I believe to be naked truth.

Me too - what a gift in terms of the roll of the chomosomes, huh?

Sorry for the interruption - the word is NATURE.

Done Aidan!

All of us should have such a head massage at least once in our lives. It would help us to see others, people whom we'd relegate to viewing as fulfilling only certain specific roles, more as possible compadres, with whom we might share fairly elemental commonalities.

(sorry Dutchy- you were too fast for me).

The word is commonalities.

Commonalities of successful leaders are often discussed. In my view, vision, trustworthiness, capabilities and decisiveness are just a few attributes which makes them stand out.

Out of the blue, we occasionally get a leader with all that stuff, plus who actually wants to change the world for the better, not just wield power. They're the ones ya gotta love.


Thank you aidan, that's the nicest thing anyone's said to me for a long time.

and yeah, being wired for cheerfulness saves me a fortune on Prozac

Love is like magic and always will be. For love still remains life's sweet mystery.

*Aidan is a sweet and wise woman spikepipsqueak.

Mystery is embodied in the limpid pools of a woman's eyes when one expresses one's endearments most earnestly. Is she falling for this patter or is the bugger after lining me up for a lifetime of domestic bliss?

Bliss doesn't stand much chance when you're really cynical. Cynicism is, however, an excellent shield.

Shield yourself from the sun's harshest rays between ten in the morning and two in the afternoon, if you'd like to avoid skin cancer. If you do need to be out in the sun, cover exposed skin with a thin layer of cotton (a lighter color won't absorb the heat) or use sunscreen (or suncream) and reapply after swimming.

(Thanks for the compliment Dutchy - here's some advice to keep you healthy-
and cheers - spikepipsqueak- and hello spendius )