BY DOMINIQUE SHAW
As I sat down to write this essay my phone buzzed as it so often does. An icon appeared: more news, more urgent headlines and, I have little doubt, more controversy, more anger, more division.
This strange old world of ours feels at its strangest right now. Terrible things are occurring whilst simultaneously, important changes are happening and it is our duty as citizens of the world to engage with them, to acknowledge them, to learn from them, to be human, to be kind and to be the best version of us that we can be.
But we also have a duty to ourselves to remember to smile once in a while; to work to break the cycle of negativity that so often surrounds us. To remember that for every devastating headline to hit the news somewhere out there something wonderful is happening right now. Sometimes in order to engage with the problems of this world we have to, just briefly, remove ourselves from them for the sake of our own mental well-being. Sometimes we need a breathing space to find peace, to find calm and to give our minds the chance to rest and to focus ready to carry on the next day.
Sometimes to move forward we must briefly retreat.
Sometimes we need our happy place.
Time stops. Beauty surrounds. The world is quiet.
All are welcome here.
