What a difference a week makes

I stood in church again last night and actively thanked God for His work in my life this week. It has been a good week, and I think last Sunday was a bit like going through the wash, a renewing and refreshing of my faith.
Don't get too excited! There was no lightning flash or booming voice from heaven. But God has acted and spoken to me. And my spirit is calmer as a result.
The biggest thing this week was starting my Certificate in Counselling and Counselling skills at Birkbeck. Arriving at Goodge Street tube station and emerging into the drizzly windy grey Thursday afternoon, and then making my way to my class through crowds of UCL students, and even passing their students union filled me with a weird but bizarrely comforting sense of a new term at university. Beginnings are always quite stressful, full of anticipation and require concentration. I was quite tired afterwards. I have mixed feelings about the people on my course, my tutor and how the next 32 weeks of study will pan out. I am sure that it will be OK and as a requirement I have to keep a learning journal. I think through this blog I am already learning how good recording can be for reflection and growth so I feel quite positive about that aspect of it.
Perhaps the strangest thing was the general reaction to the 'reading list'. Now I managed to gain a BSc in Psychology with a 2,i and over 70% in my research project and I bought a sum total of three books. Not three books a term or a year but over my entire degree course. This reaction to book buying tells me two things - I am tightfisted and I have the ability to go to a library, use the internet and a photocopier. Anyway there was this great clamor over the list, which some people have and some do not. There was the usual 'it's not available' and 'I bought it yesterday'. Yick. It makes my skin crawl. Its like a competition. CHILL OUT.
But on the whole I am looking forward to it - especially when we start the meatier stuff, rather than rules and introductions.
So yes, a better week, topped off by the purchase of a pair of size 14 trousers!!
H x