Pause for thought

It's interesting to note how people respond to being awarded a Thinking Blogger's Award.
I'm just so uncool, going all gushy and emotional. But that's me. In the middle of a very emotional time, feeling very low so a boost of any sort is welcome. No explanation needed really.
What seems universal, apart from a pervasively more restrained response than you'll find here, is the difficulties those bestowed find themselves in when it comes to bestowing.
It took The Goldfish a long time. She'd been nominated more than once, and deservedly so.
But what has emerged is the discovery of more blogs that will make me think. This makes up for all the humming and haahing. Take a look at Flawedplan's site.
She is one of Goldfish's five, and having been over to Writhe Safely, I know it will become a regular read for me too.
That is one of the great things about the Thinking Blogger's Award. You get introduced to more brilliant writing. She and thememoryartist (another exceptional blog about mental health) are beacons in the dark world of fucked-up psychiatric systems.
On looking around my favourite regular blogs, I discover that many, if not all, have already been given this award. But hey, I have also discovered two new sites that will be on my links list very soon. And then there's all the links from BADD to do too...
I'm going to have to break the rules slightly with my nominations as some have been nominated before. But these are all people who have been making me think in the past few weeks, and indeed the last few hours.
Oh, and The Goldfish, of course, who nominated me, so I guess I can't do it back because that would be just silly. But she makes me think a lot.

1. Spotted Ele at The Bipolar View. Her writing resonates with truth. She is a strong, determined and caring presence on the web.

2. An Unreliable Witness for this because it was so beautiful it made me sit at the piano and actually dream up a response in music. Which was a very special thing to happen.

3. Marmite Boy for his BADD entry, and a recent post on accessing public transport which is a heartening and positive read.

4. Astrid's Journal because this post reminded me of the importance of positive thinking. She also writes cogently on the media and representations of disability here

5. thememoryartist because, in the spirit of new discoveries through this award, this post stood out as something that could certainly make mental health professionals (and I use that term loosely) think.

The participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme

3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).