Chaplains Spot

These pictures have 2 different images, depending on how you see them – can you see both the duck and the rabbit, the saxophone player and the woman’s face? It depends on what perspective you see. 

Australia has been labelled ‘The Lucky Country’. As we observe from afar the devastation of war in the Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, we are indeed fortunate to be so far away. Another phrase, ‘The Tyranny of Distance’, was a term coined by author Geoffrey Blainey, regarding how being so far away from everyone else has shaped us as Australians. 

When we consider the situations in the rest of the world, it can help us find perspective. There are certainly challenges, especially with the cost of living. However, we mostly have people around us who care, and who support us, especially in a school community. 

One resource I created recently was ‘My Catastrophe Scale’.

            The worst thing for me would be …                  My strategy would be …

10       If the universe explodes                           Nothing left! Nothing to do.

9          Earthquake                                                  Hold on!

8          House burns down                                    Lots of hugs

7          Pet run over                                                 Make a memory book

6          A broken leg                                                Read my favourite books

5          Covid                                                             Rest and isolate

4          Flat tyre on my bike                                   Get it fixed

3          Lost a library book                                     Keep looking

2          Cut finger                                                     Find a bandaid

1          Runny nose                                                  Use a tissue, wash hands                    

Gaining perspective helps us be resilient.  Too often we fly to the top of our emotions when things go wrong. We need perspective to think about how bad it really is. Can we deal with this without stress? Sometimes I use the Circle of Control poster, thinking about what we can or can’t control. If there are things we cannot control, let’s not use all our energy worrying about them. Let’s use our energy for what we can control. That is more productive for us. 

FRIDAY FUN FACT: 

You can still stay at the world’s oldest hotel, Nisiyama Onsen Keiunkan in Japan, which was founded in 705 AD. Check it out on Google!

GRPS Family support:

Meal Train roster: The link to donate a meal is: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/vlwooz

Toast Tuesday: The link to the TT roster is:  https://volunteersignup.org/YJTAC

2nd-hand uniforms: Available @ assemblies, Toast Tuesday – gold coin donation. Thanks for those who recently donated items. This is a great help, including to 2024 new families.

Bread and emergency food: We still have some non-perishable food items if your family would like some extra support. Drop in on us at Toast Tuesday.

Contact: If you need to contact me, you can email, phone, or see me at school. 

Would you like a pool table? We have an old one that is slate based, so it’s very heavy. It also needs refurbishment of the corner pockets, and we no longer have the pool cues. If you are interested, and can get transport for it, please let me know.

Alan Silverwood: Chaplain - Pastoral care for our community. [Monday, Tuesday, Friday]

[alan.silverwood@education.vic.gov.au]

Supporting the School community in emotional, social, spiritual and practical wellbeing. 

Our Chaplaincy program is funded by the Federal Government’s ‘National Student Wellbeing Program’, the GRPS School Council and donations.