The bird pilgrimage Some time ago I read a post on the "Holistic Fibro Fighter" blog which the author, Jane Taylor, titled "A pilgrimage of self-care". The title gave me a zingy "wow- yes!" moment, because the word 'pilgrimage' instantly resonated with my healing journey. It explains the adventure…

Do animals get migraines? The answer is, apparently, yes. But of course, an animal can't articulate their suffering, so we can only make assumptions based on their behavior. The reason I thought to ask came out of a conversation with my blog-buddy Thomas who writes on his site Super Facts. He…

Everybody panic… or NOT! To get into the city of Sydney from where I live, you can drive in, but parking is limited and can cost up to $50 for a couple of hours. So instead, I catch the train. It takes about the same amount of time (one hour) but costs a fraction of the money, and is more…

Pet rocks and pebbling people Many, many months ago, I wrote a post about 'penguin-pebbling' (here). It's a lovely little bit of romance-rizz where a penguin creates an attractive pile of rocks to woo his intended love interest... or any love interest... I'm not sure if penguins mate for life...…

The Art of Swedish Death Cleaning Over on Instagram, I have recently been seeing a lot of millennials panicking about the 'junk' that they have inherited from their Baby Boomer relatives. It sounds mean and ungrateful, but the videos have a point: Grandma's collection of 101 ceramic doves was so…

Migraines and the weather People who get migraines are human barometers. That's my truth and I'm sticking to it no matter what the science says - when the barometric pressure drops (as it often does when a storm is coming) - I can feel it in my head... sometimes I get a migraine, sometimes I just…

We all have bad days When I think of Charles Darwin, I think of an intellectual giant - someone who spent decades of his life investigating science and leaving behind an enormous legacy of thought-provoking research, such that he became a larger-than-life symbol of dedication and... ...well, it…

Migraine = an own goal Today's post is a book review - sort of - it's about "Splitting: the inside story on headaches" (2020) by physiologist and neuroscientist Amanda Ellison. The reason it's only 'sort of' a book review, is that it was a pretty intense book, for a potentially more…

Have you got grit? I recently came across an online quiz (of 10 questions) that determines how much "grit" you have. According to my attempt, (I got 4.4 out of 5), it means I've got more grit than 90% of Americans. Yay me. Do I though? Or am I just stubborn? Or is grit and stubbornness the same…

What is Kundalini Meditation? In my quest to find mindfulness practices that resonate with my level of fitness, personality and available time, I'm always on the lookout for different types of meditation practices. Today I want to talk about "Kundalini Meditation" - but know that it originated in…

My shadow self (a short story) Stories about humans who have a shadow version of themselves are not new. Gothic literature is filled with painted Dorian Grays and hideous Mr Hydes, whose names contain the very obfuscation of fog and smoke their stories attempt to portray. So why would I choose to…

(Subconscious) Visualization for healing Visualization is a means of imagining yourself into another place or time... or imagining anyone anywhere for that matter. At the start of this year, I gifted myself a New Year's Revelation which included manifesting a peaceful-yet-powerful version of…

“Bending” – a faceless (anti)monument My news feed is currently filled with images of a giant Triumphal Arch proposed for the United States of America. As a result, my mind has been bouncing around about the human need to build monuments to ourselves. In my PhD dissertation (I graduated late last…

When migraines give you a foreign accent OK, so... be honest; have you ever tried to imitate a foreign accent? Perhaps you think it makes you sound more la-de-da, but more often than not, people's motives for putting on an accent that's not our own, tends towards the not-so-noble end of the…

DIY healing wand Everyone, everywhere, who suffers from chronic pain would love to have a magic wand that they could abracadabra their pain away. At least, I assume so, which is possibly overreach... but I doubt it. Anyway - the idea of making myself a magic wand has been simmering in the…

Death by papercut Today's post is about the impact of microaggressions. Theoretical and personal examples are listed, so feel free to look after your mental health and give today a miss if you think the content might be upsetting. Carry my support and understanding with you today and always. * * *…

“The Art of Healing” Hello lovely people, today is a (long-ish) book review (with a personal craft project detour) for Doctor Bernie S. Siegel’s “The Art of Healing: Uncovering your inner wisdom and potential for self-healing” (2013) (He also has a blog here). Straight up I want to clarify…

Messing with my mind My email server is flooded with ads, generally spammy ads for things I don't need and didn't ask for... nothing new there. What has changed, however, is that they are now almost exclusively illustrated with AI art. Instead of a photograph of real people celebrating their new…

Ugly art therapy I'm a big believer in 'the art of distraction' and know from firsthand experience that when we slip into 'the flow' of creating something (be it sewing, kiddy craft or a short story) we can forget about time, our surroundings, and most importantly, our pain. I've also written in…

“Precious Illusions” I was a child in the 1970s and 80s. It was quiet. I don't mean that figuratively, but literally. Our house had a small black and white TV, a radio and a giant piece of furniture that held a mini-record turntable (in the corridor (of all places)). Weekends were spent going…

When your migraine triggers are a trigger "What do you think caused this bad migraine?" my husband kindly asks. "I don't know," I honestly reply; "yesterday was very hot, so maybe I got overly dehydrated?" If I'm in a reasonable mood the innocent enquiry will end there. If I'm feeling more…

Aliens… alienated When I was growing up, the word 'alien' was a shorthand way of conjuring up images of E.T. Phoning Home, eating mashed potato mountains while humming an electronic beep-bop tune, or an assortment of green-hued light beams, metal donuts, and other-worldly secrets deliberately…

Dark showering for migraines There's something very mood-affirming about finding out that the way you live, or the strange habits you have acquired over time, are suddenly considered 'mainstream' or 'on trend'. The first time I felt weirdly vindicated was during the Australian Covid lockdown when…

“We are waves in the same ocean” The above quote is shamelessly taken directly from another blogger's post - Raffaello Palandri writes a beautiful blog that covers everything from philosophy to Tai Chi, meditation, Buddhism, art and photography - it is one of my favorite places to visit in…

Retro-walking backwards Not long ago I posted about the Walk for Peace. Whilst last year I wrote about how I say the alphabet backwards to help me get to sleep and another about riding a bicycle backwards. Continuing my interest in both walking and backwardness, I recently wrote about Tai Chi…

The king of the castle (a short story) Today's short story gets a bit graphic (even a bit gory). I write these Migraine Gothic stories as a way of wrestling with the horror of head pain... rest assured, however, it's pure fiction... but if your nervous system is feeling fragile, save yourself some…

“The body keeps the score” I had heard A LOT about the book "The Body Keeps the Score" (2014) by Bessel van der Kolk, long before I picked it up. Perhaps it was all the hype around its potential life-changing ability that made my expectations VERY high... but I'm going to be potentially…

Rewilding your gut flora I’m definitely no trend-setter, and most of the time I’m not even a trend-follower. I’ve always tended to be my own person, even if it means I’m a bit of a misfit that ends up as a societal wallflower… so be it… that’s where you meet other interesting wallflowers, hanging…

“Yoshuku – the Japanese art of manifesting” I'm still heavily invested in my "let's manifest a nicer world" tangent, as part of my New Year’s Revelation for 2026 (there's personal progress updates (and pictures) at the end of this post). As such, I was interested to discover a Japanese perspective…

Red brain / Green brain In the book "Mindfulness on the run" (2016), the author Dr Chantal Hofstee notes that the way our thoughts and emotions interact is complex. And yet, the 'bottom line' of all the discussions about layers of the conscious and sub-conscious is simple: "your brain feels safe…

I think I have Telephonophobia "Telephonophobia" or "phone anxiety" has always been an issue for me. I remember as a Project Manager being VERY aware that if the phone on my desk was ringing, it was NOT going to be good news. No one called up to say "hey girl, love ya work" - instead - it tended…

Alpha-theta waves for healing In our brains, there is a lot going on. I'm no neurologist, so I can't even begin to fathom it all, let alone try to explain any of it to you... that said... there is something that has been floating around in my mind to write about for some time now: brain waves.…

Transcendental-mantra-meditation When I was 19 years old, I went backpacking through India and Nepal with the intention of making it to the Annapurna base camp (read more here about how I ALMOST made it). One of the gifts that I brought home from that journey was an increased awareness of how…

Be the CEO of your own body At the beginning of the year, I mentioned the Australian fashion designer Camilla Franks as one of my role models who was going to mentor me (in my imagination). Camilla and I are very different - she lives the colorful and glamorous life of a socialite / traveler, and…

Dialing down the ‘hurry up’ My mind is not minding the way it used to. I'm sad to say that I think it has fallen victim to a problem that is sweeping the globe (which I delusionally thought I was immune to): a decreasing attention span. My revelation came the other day when I was watching a…

Practicing being #authentic Now that I have a little more time on my hands (with the PhD finished), and after I hilariously botched up my selfies for the "kiddy craft for migraines" post, I decided to learn a little more about how to take photographs... just on my phone... nothing fancy... or too…

A monkey called Punch and his ‘Mommy’ Is it normal to cry when you watch YouTube videos? Perhaps not, but the recent story of Punch the Monkey has got me a bit weepy. Thankfully, things seem to be taking a turn for the better for little Punch-kun (as he's known in his hometown), which is great…

At home in a dark place (a short story) She was an architectural student of mine, decades ago. I can't remember her name, only her PhD research topic. Raised on horror movies, she wanted to find the common thread that ran through the stories that scared her the most. And she wanted to present her…

The art of critical ignoring A short while ago I wrote about how I was choosing to ignore bad news (in a post called "Identity Crisis"). In that post, I referenced a specific strategy that I was trialing: "critical ignoring". Today's post explains the idea. In 2022, psychology researchers Stephan…

The Wellness Centre (a dream-allegory) A while ago, I had a dream. After I wrote it down, I realized it was actually something of a strange allegory. At the risk of revealing my subconscious to the world, I think it might help others, so I decided to share it here. First up - THANK YOU to the…

The healing power of tea (and a party invite) A quick google search revealed there are MANY books on the healing power of tea. The tea itself has antioxidant benefits, can help with your digestion, and enhance your immune system. But as well as the physical services tea lends you, it also helps…

What really causes migraines? My blog buddy over on Roaring Meg recently published a post called What really causes migraines? The post included a link to a BBC article of the same name (here). The article is written by freelance journalist and migraine-patient Sophia Quaglia. Ms Quaglia describes…

“Walk for Peace” Late last week a group of two dozen Buddhist monks completed their 109-day pilgrimage of 2,300 miles (about 3,700km) from one coast of America to the other, travelling from Texas to Washington D.C. The Walk For Peace "encourages non-harm, kindness, and mindful living" - and they…

The first kiss Before you get too excited for gossip about my love life - today's post is NOT about me - it's about scientists who suggest that the first kiss took place 21 million years ago! As the article (here) writes: "...scientists studied kissing because it presents something of an…

Belly dancing for migraines OK - so if the combination of migraines and dancing sounds completely counterintuitive - you're probably right. And yet... now that my head is feeling a bit better, I've been looking for ways to increase the amount of movement in my life and belly dancing is one of the…

The single song of the universe I’ve always been a huge fan of rebus puzzles – those graphic word games where you have to figure out a phrase based on the way that the text and pictures are arranged. Examples include the word 'close' written twice next to the word 'comfort' written four times (2…

Why do I have dark circles under my eyes? One of my migraine triggers is "lack of sleep". I know this, so, I aim to get 8 hours of sleep a night. Sometimes, like now, in the Australian Summer, that means I have to go to bed pretty early, because my two fur-babies wake up at dawn (5.30am-ish-grrr)…

A letter from my future self Late last year I read a lovely post over on the blog Urban Wellbeing Tips, which was titled "Sunday letter to my younger self what I know now". The idea of such a letter is not a new thing, but Rohitash has a lovely way with words, so be sure to read the whole post on…

Go on: hug yourself! Now that I had graduated from my PhD studies and can call myself Dr Linda, I have no need to read technical books anymore... and yet... some habits are hard to break. As such, I'm still reading a lot of non-fiction works, but now their topic tends to be all things mindful. One…

Make a wish (on an old lady) When I was a child, it was fairly standard to spot the golden yellow flowers of a dandelion in unmown grass, head over, and gently pluck out one of the fluffy-seed-puff-balls. Then you would blow on the poor uprooted plant and make a wish as you watched the…