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Latest Posts
What Autism Is For Me
As Autism Acceptance month comes to an end, this blog offers a deep, and vulnerable dive into what Autism is for me, exploring the areas of the spectrum and how…
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The Spectrum, the Spiky, and the Acceptance
CW: Discussion of Suicide rates in autistic and allistic people. In today’s foray into my head, I talk about what the Autism Spectrum is, and why it’s not a line.…
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Frogs and Faces: My Autism Assessment Process
Happy Autism Acceptance month! As part of celebrating this month, it feels appropriate to do a deep dive into my experience of getting a diagnosis. As always, my ponders come…
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When I set out to prove a point; but the point proved me…
It’s been a while Ponderers. As always I hope you’re doing AOK. I haven’t been all that OK lately, but that is ok. The purpose of today’s blog is to…
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The Power of Safe Spaces
As a theatre practitioner and educator there are many crossovers in how I work with people to facilitate and empower their learning. Whether I’m putting on a musical with a…
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Finding Moments of Awe
When was the last time you felt awe? Like really felt it. It could have been feeling in awe of someone, a situation or even yourself. A moment where the…
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The Exercise-Stress Paradox: Why ‘just do it’ is not so simple…
When Saturday rolls around, Ade (my other half) and I head to our local Park Run. It’s a reasonably new thing, but since taking up running it is something that…
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What’s your evidence? A strategy to challenge your thinking
Content Warning: Mental Health, PTSD, thought spirals, suicidal thoughts, negative self-talk I’m sure there are many of us out there who have been met with some pretty scary and potentially…
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Beautiful coincidence or something more?
Having recently enjoyed an episode from the Mel Robbin’s Podcast on Synchronicity, it’s given me plenty to think about. So, buckle up because that’s what this blog is going to…
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The Trick the Treadmill Played…
Taking a slightly more upbeat, but still honest, discussion, this blog was inspired by a recent gym visit. There was something quite profound learned there. If you’re a regular reader,…
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When my brain don’t work like it used to before, and I can’t even spell my name…
Content Warning: mental health, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, ptsd, burnout. This is week eight of my recovery journey. I’ve been learning to slow down, to feel my feelings, to release them,…
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Trudging through treacle and treading a tightrope.
CW: Mental Health, PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, Chronic Illness As I write this, I’m in two minds whether I’ll actually post it. If you’re reading this, obviously I have. For those…
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Truth and Trauma
CONTENT WARNING: Trauma, PTSD, Anxiety and Mental Health The following blog discusses Trauma in a broad sense, as well as PTSD, anxiety, and mental health. It feels like something I…
Keep readingThe Joy of Authenticity in Performance: reflections from a lecturer
I’m back!! Miss me? Don’t worry! Normal service is resuming! It’s been a wild time for me personally of late, which resulted in me having to take a step back…
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Finding Your Clan: fuel for the heart and fuel for the soul.
This ponder follows a wonderful weekend I had recently with my best friends. It’s about the importance of love, laughter, and acceptance. Buckle up, it’s going to get mushy. The…
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Why Personal Finance should be compulsory education (part 1)…
Hello peeps! Hope you’re all surviving out there! Today’s ponder heads into scary territory. Territory that for some is frightening, for others it’s avoided. For many it keeps them up…
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Procrastinator, Imposter, and the Saboteur: Trying to get through the wall.
For those that follow my content regularly, you’ll know that a colleague and myself had a proposed book chapter accepted into an upcoming Routledge companion. If you are not familiar…
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Learn to Visualise: 3 exercises to help you on your way.
Those of you who are regular followers of the Ponders may recall a previous blog post that spoke about Visualisation and what it can do for you. Well today’s ponder…
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Gratitude: why it matters more than ever
Since starting the blog, it has encouraged my own learning journey, essentially the search for insights, knowledge, tools, and resources to help me be and do better in life. Whether…
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Back to Basics: A health overhaul.
We are getting real today, ponderers. Not that we aren’t real in all the other blogs, but we’re heading into deep chats about food, nutrition, binge eating, and general pressures…
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The Power of ‘Sorry’.
Not so long ago on campus I was teaching a 4th year class where we were discussing learning, communication, and accountability. In this class, we were looking at Bloom’s Taxonomy…
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Spoons and Sleep: living with a chronic condition
It’s been three weeks since I’ve managed to write anything for SmartPonders. Not because the ideas haven’t been there – they have! You should see the drafts folder. But rather…
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Communication: How to end Sons of Anarchy before it begins.
We’re taking a little change in direction with today’s blog. It’s a short and punchy ponder! I’ve been having a lot of down-time lately. Between the stresses of work, managing…
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Time: not enough and passing by.
Today’s ponder is all about time. The only commodity that money can’t buy. The moments when we think we have all the time in the world, versus the moments when…
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No Worries: journaling and learning
Disclaimer: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. If you follow my Instagram or Facebook, you’ll have seen I have a recent practice in my life – journaling. I’ve dipped in and out of it in the past where I’ve just had a notebook and written a recap of my day,…
Boundaries: what are they, why do we need them and how do we make them?
Ever since I can remember, I have found it challenging to create and sustain boundaries. There’s definitely been an improvement of late, but I’ll get to that. As well as considering what boundaries are, why we need them and how we put them in place, the ponder today also asks why it’s so hard! What…
Listening to Hear: the superpower you didn’t know you had
When was the last time you really listened to what someone had to say? I mean really listened. That is the ponder topic for today – all about listening, and the difference between listening to hear, and listening to respond. On the BA (hons) drama and production degree I teach on, there are two modules…
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