Breathe is abuzz now summer’s well and truly here. There are books to be read, ice creams to be eaten, beaches and gardens to be explored and, well, general lazing to be done. That’s the usual plan. But this year is going to be slightly different. Alongside the much-anticipated summer treats are new intentions: being …
Think back to when you were a child… what were your dreams for the future? Did you have any idea of what you wanted to be, of people you hoped to emulate or countries you longed to visit? Back to the present… are you living your dreams? For many people, the answer will be ‘no’, …
A life story can be many things – a tale of unwavering self-belief and an eagerness to tackle fresh challenges regardless of others’ perceptions; a narrative choked by self-doubt, opportunities missed; a chronicle where self-belief is ever-shifting, sometimes towering above the rooftops, occasionally disintegrating in the basement, but mostly at street level, with chances taken …
‘Did I do okay?’, ‘Did I say the right thing?’, ‘Did I seem professional?’. Questions, questions, questions – all hinting at self-doubt, all suggestive of a desire for reassurance and a need for external validation. And all common parlance in the workplace, which, when you think about it, is natural. There can’t be many people, …
Solitary. In Western society, it feels a loaded word, pejorative even. In fiction, the image of a solitary house, be it on the moors, in a glen or sitting atop a cliff often provides the doorway to a wretched history and inhabitants who led the most miserable lives. Similarly, a person who stands, sits or …
‘Do what you want to do.’ On the face of it, it seems a benign (if overused) statement. But what if what you really want to do challenges or goes against society’s norms? In this case, ‘Do what you want to do’ can suddenly feel contentious, complicated and even fraught with difficulty. It doesn’t matter …
Get out more, set ambitious intentions, ditch the morning muffin – advice (wanted or otherwise) comes thick and fast at the start of a New Year. But who really needs to be told what to do (at any time), especially when the person who knows what’s best for you is, well, you? It might not …
It’s good to talk, isn’t it? Well (mostly), yes. But, sometimes, no. And not always because it’s unwanted, but because no one’s listening – not in a way that’s attentive and mindful anyway. And not in a way that will help to ease worries, solve problems or uncover positive strategies to cope with life’s bolt-out-of-the-blue …
Graceful, enchanting, loyal, wistful, ghostly – how would you describe the Moon? Perhaps dependable should come high in the list of adjectives. Visible or not, the Moon is always there, quietly doing its own thing, whether that’s governing the Earth’s tides or providing a celestial calendar in the night sky. The planet’s earliest human inhabitants …
It’s complicated, autumn. Always colourful, always changing, always caressing. Often challenging. The glorious yellows, reds and purples of the falling leaves that elicit gasps of delight from so many also signpost the shorter days to come. Days that for those living with Seasonal Affective Disorder will be marked by unwelcome mood swings, disrupted eating patterns …
