Apparent contradictions can hold such wisdom. “Less is more” was popularised and advocated by the minimalist designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Fellow architect Frank Lloyd Wright retorted “…only when more is too much.” Both these two ideas have validity in building our lives. For many, this is the season for starting afresh: New Year …
Read more “Minimise to maximise: cutting through speed and busyness”
The month of January is named after the ancient Roman god of Janus. Usually depicted as having two faces, looking to the future and to the past, he represents gateways, passages and endings. However, given the festive season isn’t always a time of good will, for some his mythical role as presiding over the beginning …
Read more “Under a blue sky: dealing with the after effects of Christmas”
I’m looking forward to the festive season this year. It holds an opportunity: a time to get together with friends, family and generally unplug from an ordinarily busy life. However, I haven’t always felt this positive anticipation about the winter break, so I can understand the statistics that uncover another somewhat ‘darker’ side to December …
I enjoy taking models from Eastern and Western ways of viewing the world, comparing them, contrasting them and working out how they can be integrated. I’ve long been a seeker, and I relish the challenge: looking at two supposedly distinct systems and seeing how they provide a combined (superior?) wisdom. Certainly as I deepen my …
Over the summer months, while I was catching up on the latest in the cycling world, I came across this quote from Lance Armstrong “My therapy is riding my bike, playing golf and having a beer”. Armstrong finds himself involved in a legal battle since he admitted a history of doping that carried him to …
In my last post, I talked about the difficulties people face in working through emotions. Whether it be new clients to therapy, or novice meditators it is difficult to convey the importance of exploring the felt sense of anger, hurt, rejection, guilt. It is tempting to stay in the story, retreat to the head – …
“I don’t want to feel this way anymore” “If I let myself cry, I don’t think I’ll ever stop” “I want the pain to just go away” It is common for a person starting counselling to spend the first few sessions recounting the stories that have brought them to see me; why they feel stress, …
How mindfulness meditation helps me be a better therapist to my clients In the coming months I am delivering mindfulness workshops to practitioners within the counselling and psychotherapy profession. It is incredible to witness the growing interest to mindful living generally; I am especially pleased to see my profession placing value in the practice of meditation. There …
Read more “Sitting on the cushion, stepping up to the plate”
There is no doubt about it, sport is lucrative business. For a country like the UK it also plays a huge part in our Nation’s identity. One only has to look at sporting participation data since the 2012 Olympics, the recent media coverage of the Commonwealth Games, and (much to my own delight) the crowds …
Ever since I started meditating 5 years ago, I have made the time and space to go away on a retreat at least once per year. Last year I was fortunate to go away twice: once to Vermont in the Spring, the second trip to Limoges in Central France. This year I’ve not been able …