Fran Macilvey's Blog, page 15

Assessments for PIP

Assessments for PIP

I have not yet had through my letter box any intimation that my DLA is being reviewed. Most people for whom this is a concern have already been reassessed under the new regime, while I wait, and try not to think about when, or if, or why. The new scheme is massively behind schedule, and is also being transferred to the Scottish Government. Meanwhile, I wait and hope.

The new assessments for Personal Independence Payments (which replace DLA) measure our lives against a...

Telling the truth about life

Telling the truth about life

People think I’m very funny because I’ve got used to telling the truth about life. “Oh, how drole, how very amusing!” they chortle, trying not to choke on their tea, their coffee or their biscuit crumbs.

It’s easy, really. More often than not, I say what other people are thinking. I blurt out the “one stupid question” that no-one wants to ask for fear of looking idiotic. All things considered, I have little to lose, so I think of truth-telling as my partypiece:...

Overlooking bad habits

Overlooking bad habits

Sending off my pet hates, cutting my worries down to size by acting on them, ignoring my worrisome habits, takes time and discipline. Though with practice, I do notice that habits of cheerful optimism get easier. Also, focussing on the positives automatically means that the things we don’t want fade away: It is better to be ‘pro-peace’ than ‘anti-war’.

Bad news and habitual difficulties have a habit of clinging on, a bit like the smell of mouldy old clothes – and the...

On a still bright morning

On a still bright morning

On a still bright morning after a weekend of sunlight and warmth, roused early as my better half leaves for his first day back at work after the Easter holiday, I put on a load of laundry and spend time dawdling outdoors on the front step, in the full glare of welcome sunlight. As I watch people slamming into cars and driving away, or arriving home with armfuls of shopping, I reflect, how little time any of us spends outside these days.

Certainly, we travel, but u...

Easter Holidays

Easter Holidays

It’s the Easter holidays, and I’m taking a rest for a couple of weeks, to be with family and enjoy time off with them. No dramatic trips planned to far-flung destinations, but perhaps a few days “here and there” as hubby likes to say.

For whatever reason, I seem to have had a cold or a sniffle for several months, which I can only attribute to being chronically tired. So I shall take my chance to rest fully, and only visit my blog and social media occasionally.

I used to...

I got my mojo back

I got my mojo back

I got my mojo back after reading another page of A Course in Miracles.

Which reminds me – again – that the mind never sleeps and that there is no such thing as an idle thought. Since the mind is always working, and since it cannot stop working, it might be a good idea to use mind energy more productively, to help myself. Now, there’s a novel idea.

For sure, we can and often do use our thoughts, our brain-power, destructively. But it turns out to be surprisingly easy,...

If I can’t say no

If I can’t say no

I have a hard time saying no. I don’t want to disappoint people, so I make myself unhappy. Right? Wrong!

Reading books I don’t like, for example, that’s a big one. But honestly, how hard can it be? Read the book, post a review – or not – and that’s that. Except that it takes another several hours out of life – my life – reading another book I don’t especially want to. And it’s become another bad habit.

I’m not a book reviewer, though of course I delight in reviewing books...

Felicity and Thomas

Felicity and Thomas

Today, having no-one else to please, and as the breeze wafted through the house on this warm, autumnal day, redolent of excitements chased away, Felicity watched Thomas, and Thomas saw Felicity, appreciating the closely-known signs that she was content: the smile that almost shone at her mouth, the way her curves relaxed in that dress – which he had not seen before, had he? – the sound her shoes made, complacently skiffing across the hall carpet.

“Shall we go somewher...

Thomas looked at himself

Thomas looked at himself

Thomas looked at himself in the full-length mirrored wardrobe. This morning, with Felicity up and doing, he had a rare chance to get dressed in daylight, and he checked his outfit with pleasure. Not quite sure about the pink. Maybe it was too much? He hadn’t time to change. Maybe it would be all right.

What? Oh dear. Felicity, as usual was absolutely on point. Deadly accurate, her sharp observations were about as enjoyable as walking barefoot across burning sand. B...

Felicity examined her hands

Felicity examined her hands, a displacement activity to shield her from the truth that she needn’t upset her husband, but that she would anyway.

“Darling,” she said, because she thought she had the right to say what she thought, “That shirt doesn’t suit you. It makes you look fat. Why not wear something a little less…?”

“I haven’t time to change,” he apologised, looking stricken. “Sorry, I have to go.” And leave he did, probably sooner than he might have, without a farewell kiss or strok...