“If you’re depressed or anxious, you’re not weak and you’re not crazy — you’re a human being with unmet needs,” Hari says. Johann Hari’s book, ‘Lost Connections’ and resource website. See Black Dog’s Links page for support contacts.
IMPORTANT: If you’re on medication, do not stop without discussing with a health professional.
And a personal story reflecting a more caring approach, ‘Tread Carefully In Mind’ (written 2007).
Boots the Clown, World’s Greatest Act is a story of comfort and hope during COVID times. Boots arrived during lock down early 2020. Please know you can freely share and pass on this link to others and print out the poster or concertina book/story panel. Video instructions on Instagram @browneink.
Free to print A4 posters/concertina book, with instructions (below and above). Print, frame or stick up story panels. Make a concertina book for window sills, desks, mantle pieces – do something of your own. Free to print A3 poster.
The World’s Greatest Act Part I…
‘Boots’ the Clown was a worrier (underneath). Boots worried about all the troubles right around the world. Boots worried it was getting harder and harder for those struggling to be heard and seen amidst the din of selling, frenzy of buying and the glare of celebrity.
Endlessly, Boots worried about the children. The fires. Trees. Animals. The ocean. The air. And that one day, everything would be lost. All of these worries felt impossible to do anything about. Until, one strange day, the curtain went up.
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Racism Is No Joke .
‘The Joker is a little fool who is different from everyone else. He’s not a club, diamond, heart, or spade. He’s not an eight or a nine, a King or a Jack. He is an outsider. He is placed in the same pack as the other cards, but he doesn’t belong there. Therefore, he can be removed without anybody missing him.’
Jostein Gaarder.
‘Joker and Impossible Things’.
And the Little Engine said; “I think I can. I think I can.”
‘The Little Engine That Could’ is a folktale originating from 1906 used to teach children the value of optimism and hard work. The underlying theme is a stranded train unable to find an engine willing to take it on over the difficult terrain to its destination. Only the little blue engine is willing to try and, while repeating the ‘I think I can’ mantra, overcomes a seemingly impossible task.
A good story to ride on when things seem impossible. And a reminder of the importance of little blue engines in life.
BOy Series, 2009. Similar posts in BOY Topic in Blog & featured in Clunk & Jam book.
I am I . (Barbara Blackman from book, ‘Glass After Glass’)
I am I and no other. Not other has or ever can be this I. It came into me as a baby. Is the same I as in me now, a little girl, the same I that will be in me as I grow, as a grown-up, as an old old lady, and on beyond that. What happens to this I is the ME that other people can see, acting out all this life. So it will be all right whatever happens to ME because the inner secret I can never be changed or lost.
(Art by Charles Blackman , ‘Christabel and Her Image’ , 1966. Original in colour.)
Reposted from 5th May, 2014
A surprising story of how an Octopus lifts a man from the depths of a mental struggle.
