Love is like a gentle breeze, Oddly makes you neither sweat nor sneeze. Very deeply in the heart it resides, Equanimity and peace it provides.   Love turns plural into dual, Owns not though and does not duel. Veracity of affection at its core, Ever happy and not wanting for more.   Love softly brings up a child, On one hand stern on the other mild. Veil of young age once removed, Everlasting sense of losing gently soothed.   Take care, Helena Smole, author of: – a fantasy novel with romance Vivvy and Izzy the Dwarf: A series about relationships – Balancing the Beast, a book...

Psychologist find that there are two kinds of parents: – Those, who do not care much about how they will raise a child. – Those, who care about it and either do their best by using common sense or visit seminars and read books about upbringing. I would like to say something to the second group. Let me offer some comfort I rarely see written anywhere: – It is impossible to raise a child without any ‘mini traumas’. Let me name a few examples. For instance, somebody likes many pictures and other adornments on walls, because he/she totally disliked empty white walls in his childhood....

It is very human to analyze our lives and make a list of mistakes. It is also very human to try to teach our children not to make the same mistakes. What we do not realize, in my opinion, is that our mistakes were only mistakes in that specific situation. They might be the right decision for our children, because the situation has changed in the meantime. Mamma’s list might be outdated. So may papa’s list. Let me name a few examples. A young man wants to be a postman. He works as a postman during summer holidays while in high-school. Parents insist he should get more education, because...

A while, not very long ago, I took a train to the Gorenjska region of Slovenia, EU. I saw a kestrel flying over a corn field and I remembered a kestrel nesting on our balcony years ago, when I was still working in the city, commuting by train every day. The year I started to work at home on the slightly remote outskirts of the city, the kestrel chose another place to nest. Probably due to being too timid. I saw a farmer digging out potatoes. And I thought to myself: Is he going to sell them on a farmers market? Or is he going to cook enough jota* for all the perky grandchildren? What you really need...

If any of the international bloggers writing about mental health and other psychology issues knows about lack of compliments ─ than it is me. Why so? Because I am Slovene. If you give a compliment in Slovenia, you are most likely going to sound suspicious. People fear that you have something up your sleeve. No wonder there are so many extreme sports people in Slovenia, but also many alcoholics. Nothing can supplement the lack of compliments from parents in childhood, except maybe if we learn to compliment each other on a daily basis. We can re-learn our habits. I am sure there are compliments...