Faith & Wellbeing

STEM & Sustainability

WELLBEING

Most people in Melbourne felt the ground shake on the 21st of September, but not all. Some were in bed or taking a bath so they missed it. But did you know there has been 10 aftershocks since then, probably like me you didn’t feel them.

But everyone has felt the effects of COVID and lockdowns.

Just two weeks ago we saw the return of kids back to school and more and more places are opening up. But I found myself feeling somewhat flat, I couldn’t articulate at the time, but now I can. The following day I face-timed my family in Perth and it wasn’t long into the conversation that my Mum and sister could tell I was feeling sad. It is hard to hide the truth from your Mum.

Now that I am seeing people again and knowing we have been through the longest lockdown city in the world, the loss of what we went through is starting to sink in. For me, what triggered my sadness was seeing videos of Melbourne city with all the ‘for lease’ signs, hearing about families not being able to see their Mother or Father in nursing homes for 3 months. Seeing families not being able to introduce new family members born in lockdown. And also for me to see the difference in my 16 month old compared to my 3 year old, I can see the effects of lock down.

One of the kids I supervise during lock down was sad and upset, she couldn’t have her way in a game with another child, so I asked her “what do you do when you get sad and upset?” She responded “I run away and get angry and mad” and I asked “and what do you do to feel happy again?”, “it takes a really long time” she said, “but eventually it goes away”.

I think she is right, it takes time. I know Danial Andrews speaks of feeling “optimism” and “pride in what has been achieved” but a loss this great, many will need time to grieve, before we can celebrate. Like the earthquake, there are aftershocks coming out of lock down, and they can impact our peace of mind.

Perhaps you would like to start a conversation with your kids, like the one I had above. With life questions “what do you do when you are sad?” “How do you deal with your sadness?”. The goal is just to get them talking about it, that is a win.

Something I often do with emotion is draw.

I draw how I feel and I draw what it looks like when the feeling passes.

For this sadness I drew the following:

For me the left drawing articulates the feeling and the right is what it looks like resolved.

The mountain represents lockdown and we are standing on the top celebrating it has finished. Melbourne took the most difficult route, the one with the big dip, while some states took the stairs.

The image of the mountain reminds me of how people react when they get to the top. I have done several treks in NZ (highly recommended, and Perth). Once reaching the top, many like to comment on how hard the climb was, others just stop and take deep breaths, others just marvel at the view, some lay down, close their eyes and groan. We all do different things to recover after a big climb.

So what do you need to do after climbing the world's longest lockdown in order to recover?

Talk about this challenge with someone… groan.
Find a place that is beautiful, sit down and enjoy the view, don’t be in a rush.
Take a breath and drink lots of water, stretch, lay down…etc
Eat chocolate ( perhaps not the best option, food doesn’t solve emotions, but it tastes great).

The point of the mountain metaphor is that we all have different ways of self soothing after “doing it hard” as our leaders say. So start a conversation with your partner and kids about what they need to do to resolve this pain of longest lock down?

Mountain tops also have great significance in scripture. Before God called his people out of Egypt most religions thought of mountains as a place to communicate with God. Abraham took his Son Isaac up a mountain, Moses met God up a mountain. But the Jews learnt that God wanted to come down the mountain and to dwell amongst his people. Hence God requesting a tent of meeting and the Ark of the covenant. God wanted to dwell with his people. As Christians we now meet God everywhere because we have him in our hearts, and in each other when two or more gather in his name, and most of all God gives himself to us as food, in the Eucharist. God is constantly looking for the lowest place to meet us. Like St Francis reflecting on the humility of water, it always flows down to the lowest point.

How do you arrange a meeting with God?

Perhaps it is the mountain of the longest lock down that God wants to meet everyone in Melbourne personally.

As C.S Lewis once famously wrote:

“I suggest to you that it is because God loves us that he gives us the gift of suffering. Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. You see, we are like blocks of stone out of which the Sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much are what make us perfect.”

~ C. S. Lewis

I will end with this quote from Isaiah:

“For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, yet My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” Says the LORD who has compassion on you.

~ Isaiah 54:10

Mr Corey Payton

St James Chaplain

cpayton@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au

Hello Everyone,

The St James community are holding a family kahoot night run by our fabulous Year 6 Kahoot Team, to raise money for the year 6 gradutaion. The event will be on Thursday the 25th of November at 7pm. The cost will be $10 per family everyone may participate.

The usual online meet rules will apply and the link will be sent closer to the day. The trybooking link for entries will close on Wednesday the 24th of November. The kahoot will run for approximately 45mins-1hr. There will be 50 questions, the top 4 winners will receive a prize. The prizes will be revealed in next week's newsletter.

Trybooking link: https://www.trybooking.com/BVBRH

How kahoots work:

A kahoot is an online quiz game, the questions will be multiple choice. Players answer on their own devices, while questions are displayed on a shared screen via a google meet. Families will need a device to see the question on and another device to answer on eg a phone or tablet, families can either play separately on their own device or together on one device. You will need to enter a pin code to play the game. Each question will have a limited number of time to answer.

We really hope to see as many families participating in the Kahoot, to make the year 6 graduation as fun as possible,

Alexandra K, Grace P, Venetia W and Pia R

Year 6 Kahoot Family Trivia Night Organisers

Mrs Georgia McNamara

Student Wellbeing Leader

gmcnamara@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Christmas Hampers

Each year the St James community supports St Vincent De Paul with the Christmas appeal by donating food hampers and presents. In the coming weeks classroom teachers will be sharing information regarding the collection of items

Sacraments

Yesterday the Year 6 students participated in their Reflection Day in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation next Wednesday night. The students had a wonderful day exploring further the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit and how the Sacrament of Confirmation calls them as young adults to affirm their role in the Catholic Community.

We would like to say a VERY big thank you to our Year 6 parents for once again putting on a wonderful lunch for the students.