From the Principal

Three things in uncertain times...

1. Look for the certain 

The sun comes up each day, you get hungry and go to sleep each night. You bathe each day and the waves are still crashing on the shores. Where you can, make family rituals around these things to ensure routine is there to hold on to. One of my favourite family rituals from childhood was my family watching Disneyland on a Sunday night, with dinner sitting on a picnic rug in the lounge room.

2. Embrace gratitude 

Each of us, despite our circumstances, can always think of someone worse off than ourselves. As a family, share some things each day you are grateful for. Keep a journal each night to write down five things you are thankful for from your day. If you enjoy art, this can be an art activity.

3. Operate from your heartfelt values 

What is so important for you it’s a deal breaker? Love is one of my most treasured values. In tough times I can bring the lens of love to everything I do and say. Is this loving? Would that be an act of love? How can I bring love into life in this situation? When I was in Year 1, I was taught that God is love. I often interchange the words. 

I usually share a prayer here, but I have chosen a poem today. It was sent to me by a friend via text. The only reference I can find online is from Facebook. I think it's powerful. God bless you and yours. 

❤ Helen 

A poem by Adrie Kusserow

MARY OLIVER for CORONA TIMES

(Thoughts after the poem WILD GEESE)

You do not have to become totally zen,

You do not have to use this isolation to make your marriage better,

your body slimmer, your children more creative.

You do not have to “maximize its benefits”

By using this time to work even more,

write the bestselling Corona Diaries,

Or preach the gospel of ZOOM.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body unlearn

everything capitalism has taught you,

(That you are nothing if not productive,

That consumption equals happiness,

That the most important unit is the single self.

That you are at your best when you resemble an efficient machine).

Tell me about your fictions, the ones you’ve been sold,

the ones you sheepishly sell others,

and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world as we know it is crumbling.

Meanwhile the virus is moving over the hills,

suburbs, cities, farms and trailer parks.

Meanwhile The News barks at you, harsh and addicting,

Until the push of the remote leaves a dead quiet behind,

a loneliness that hums as the heart anchors.

Meanwhile a new paradigm is composing itself in our minds,

Could birth at any moment if we clear some space

From the same tired hegemonies.

Remember, you are allowed to be still as the white birch,

Stunned by what you see,

Uselessly shedding your coils of paper skins

Because it gives you something to do.

Meanwhile, on top of everything else you are facing,

Do not let capitalism coopt this moment,

laying its whistles and train tracks across your weary heart.

Even if your life looks nothing like the Sabbath,

Your stress boa-constricting your chest.

Know that your ancy kids, your terror, your shifting moods,

Your need for a drink have every right to be here,

And are no less sacred than a yoga class.

Whoever you are, no matter how broken,

the world still has a place for you, calls to you over and over

announcing your place as legit, as forgiven,

even if you fail and fail and fail again.

remind yourself over and over,

all the swells and storms that run through your long tired body

all have their place here, now in this world.

It is your birthright to be held

deeply, warmly in the family of things,

not one cell left in the cold. 

Helen Spencer

Principal