Category: Writing
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A path through the mountains
Embracing contradiction and developing adaptability There’s an old story I sometimes tell. It’s from one of the many Buddhist traditions. It goes like this: Some students go to their Master, and say: ‘You’re a fraud! We don’t want to study with you anymore!’ The Master smiled softly and stroked his beard (for this story comes…
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Self is a fiction
You’re not a thing, you’re a relationship How can we live authentically, when we’re each such a tiny part of a vast universe? How do we combine self-care and individual fulfillment, with social engagement and ethical, altruistic life-choices? How can we align our needs, desires and obligations without exploiting others or the earth? We start,…
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Snow
How to build community Where I live, community still matters. People wave when they drive pass. If I’m out walking, often drivers stop to say hello, or ask if I want a lift somewhere. Often enough I don’t lock the house when I go out. If I ask a neighbour for help, I know it’ll…
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We can do this. It takes guts though
To make the world better, we must imagine better. The future is made when we all become artists. ‘Why can’t things be how they used to be?” ‘I remember the good old days…’ ‘Everything was better when we were kids…….’ A brief glance at literature from the last thousand years suggests people have been lamenting…
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Take Action
However inconsequential it seems, an action achieves more than words. The slaughter continues. As you and I go about our day, a population deprived of fundamental rights for decades shelter from carpet bombing. Women, children, men, desperately hunt for food and water to survive the day. Children without parents howl in bombed-out buildings they once…
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A World Without Words
I’m finding it hard to write these days I’m finding it hard to write these days. Writing is a gentle place for me, but I struggle to go there. So much to be said, and no words adequate to the saying. How to address the enormity of the horror in Gaza? How to talk, without…
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A day of darkness
And I was so full of good intentions Some days you stride forward. Some days you stay still. Some days you must walk away. I woke today full of good intention. I reached my desk with a clear mind. Then a shadow fell. A conversation yesterday came back and I heard it differently. I wondered…
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What doesn’t kill you…
Calling bullshit. ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. Bullshit. Let’s kick that into touch for a start. What doesn’t kill you can still hurt like hell. It can break your spirit. It can destroy your self-confidence. It can make you scared to try again. It can darken your world. It can snuff out your…
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Right here, right now, you’re good enough
A principle to live by Lack of self-confidence is brutal. Every decision is tinged with anxiety. Each step is hyper-vigilant. Any set-back triggers a confirmation bias response — ‘I knew I’d not be able to do this….’. Opportunities are problems. Challenges are defeats. One set-back wipes out ten successes. We’re told to change our thinking…
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Seasons of the mind
For many years I travelled continually. I was away from home for months on end. Often I’d be packing suitcases for a new trip before unpacking from the one just finished. I saw many wonderous things and worked with extraordinary and beautiful people. I saw the world. But I lost contact with the earth. However…