Category: Writing
-
Restlessness
The dark side of the imagination I’ve always been restless. It’s served me well much of the time. I don’t accept things because ‘that’s how they are’. I don’t accept ‘that’s how I am’ either. I ask ‘why?’ I ask ‘what about?’ (of myself and of the world). I wonder, mull and imagine different. Imagination…
-
In fear, calm
Yesterday I had an angiogram. It’s a strange procedure. A tube is stuck into the vein in the wrist, pushed up the arm and across the chest. It connects with the heart. A large, white, sci-fi looking camera/x-ray manouvres across my chest — remotely controlled. There’s a large TV screen to my left dotted with…
-
The Joy of being Left Alone
See that small mark? It’s almost nothing. I’d miss it if I wasn’t looking. Two days ago it was the focus of everything. Through that small hole, a tube was inserted. Through the tube, dye was injected into my heart. I lay beneath a huge camera which revealed the deepest workings of my physical being.…
-
Spring Arrives Suddenly
… but ‘sudden’ is an illusion…… Photo by Casper van Battum on Unsplash Spring arrives suddenly. I walk the wild of my garden, amid young trees that one day will be a forest if left enough alone. They’re beech trees. The deep brown leaves of last year cling on through the winter, clothing them in…
-
The Interconnected Self
From very early in life we’re taught to live a lie. I call it the myth of The Isolated Self. We’re taught to believe we’re separate from other people, nature, the world, even from those closest to us. Writer Charles Eisenstein calls it ‘the myth of separation’. Like all myths, it contains some truth. We’re…
-
I talk to my car
He makes me a better person. I talk to my car. Doing so makes me a better person. I also talk to my cooker, paintbrushes and washing machine. Sometimes I talk to the gravel on the drive, but I admit I worry the neighbours might hear. My relationship with things I talk to is real.…
-
Joy is your Birthright!
Do you believe in the wisdom of Joy? Joy’s not a destination you trudge towards through valleys of misery. Joy is the path. Joy is your guide. Joy is the clean air you breathe, the water you drink, and the birdsong you hear as you travel. Joy is the life-force. It’s our birthright. A child…
-
The most toxic thought of all.
It’s the most toxic thought of all. It underlies much unhappiness, self-sabotage, violence, anger, deceit, and so many other of the world’s ills. It’s a thought none of us are born with, but most of us learn. It takes many forms, but at foundation it’s simple this: ‘I’m not good enough.’ Sometimes it appears as:…
-
Adapt or Reject?
When the world seems impossible….. Fit in/drop out? Adapt to ‘the system’/leave the system? Accommodate to the world/imagine new worlds into being? I write these as binaries — suggesting an either/or response. They’re actually dyads — two perspectives required for healthy growth. We live in times of exceptional, unsustainable and inhuman stress. The societies we’ve…
-
It’s not your fault
…but might be your responsibility. For many of us, surviving is pretty tough right now — financially, emotionally, in terms of mental and physical health, maintaining relationships and community connectedness, keeping alive the spark of passion and joy. There’s a lot of pressure. Most of us feel it. All of us see how the pressure…