Language is a strange beast. It’s essential to articulate needs, facilitate transactions and transmit vital information. But humans also use it in another crucial way: to deepen personal connections. From social chitchat at work to a heart-to-heart with a friend, when you’re in a room with someone, it’s language that you turn to, intersected with …
As you push on the bookshop’s heavy glass door, the little bell tinkles its welcome and invites you to step over the threshold. With a deep intake of breath, you absorb the scent of fresh paper and new print. A glance reveals shelf after shelf of colourful paperbacks and dust-jacketed hardbacks, some placed spine-on, others …
As sunshine warms her cheeks, Kirsty listens to the hum of bees pollinating the nearby lavender plants. Her little garden, once unkempt, is now full of flowers, an abundance of roses in soft pinks and vibrant apricots. But the garden isn’t just for show: it’s planted in memory of her grandmother, who passed away a …
In this issue: Shades of nature – Truly, madly, deeply – Strength for starters – Heart of the action – Purls of wisdom – Best served warm – Rooted in remembrance – Primal instinct – Take the high road – Sip and savour There can be many reasons to tell a white lie. Thanking someone …
Don’t sweat the small stuff, they say. Look at the bigger picture. Don’t get bogged down in details. But we’re on a rock spinning in outer space: everything’s small stuff. Our entire existence, from first breath to last, is a whisper. As individuals, we don’t matter. Our only significance is as a part of the …
You might be familiar with the phrase ‘Let sleeping dogs lie’, but it’s cats that are some of the laziest creatures in the animal kingdom. According to the Sleep Foundation, domestic cats sleep for around 12-18 hours a day in a polyphasic sleep pattern, meaning they sleep for multiple blocks of time, rather than one …
How do you show appreciation and affection for someone you care about? Perhaps you’re a person who responds to physical touch and you love to greet friends with a warm hug or give colleagues a pat on the back. Or maybe you prefer to put a lot of thought into selecting the perfect birthday gifts …
One of my notebooks is labelled ‘Compost Heap’. It’s where I jot down thoughts, stick in pictures and save interesting articles that have caught my eye. I use it to scrawl mind maps of ideas that come to me out of the blue, usually when I’m trying to fall asleep. The writing is spidery and …
In this issue: Ode to autumn – Rights and wrongs – Blowing in the wind – Displays of affection – Same old scene? – A cosy night in – Mushrooms in mind – Eerie in the everyday – An invitation to hope – Wild about sleep Imagine the scenario: it’s your 10th birthday, and you’re …
Tired but happy from a day spent working in the fields, you sit on the warm porch of your dream farmhouse, listening to the gentle rumble of cicadas in the trees, and watch as the golden sun slips below the horizon. This blissful scene might sound a world away from your living room sofa, especially …
