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 …
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 …
In the print edition of Breathe special issue The Power of Less, one feature was published in an incomplete form. We regret this error and apologise for any inconvenience caused. To ensure readers can access the full content as intended, we have made the corrected and complete version of the article available as a PDF. …
Love, laugh… and lift safely is (or should be) the mantra for a healthy life. There are many things they might teach at school – personal finance, changing a tyre, negotiation skills – but something that arguably would be more useful than doing cross-country on a rainy day is learning the proper way to lift. …
Even unzipping the case of a 1960s Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter sends a thrill through the body. Cup of tea on the desk, thesaurus and a childhood dictionary placed neatly alongside, and an intention that here is the time to create. Rolling the paper into the machine, the first line is slowly pondered and, as …
I join the crowd of travellers gasping in awe and staring intently heavenwards, as crackling trails of fire and brimstone streak across the sky, stealing the show from the sunset, which had just seen us raising a rum punch to its everyday golden glory. Like a Red Arrows aerobatics show without the planes, or a …
Have you ever been captivated by a beautifully plated dish of food, only for your first bite to reveal it was more style than substance? Or maybe you’ve turned your nose up at a lumpy, unremarkable stew but then been won over by its depth of flavour. If so, you’re not alone. Sight shapes a …
