Ten reasons

I was recently approached by the editor of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s spirituality journal “Thresholds” to write a piece for their upcoming Ten Reasons: a series that will focus on why therapists chose to integrate their faith as part of their therapy work. It was timely, as I have felt these past …

Ocean and waves

In a post a few weeks ago I mentioned that one gauntlet thrown down by the Buddhist path is to hold simultaneously two, apparently contradictory “truths”. The Tricycle magazine’s website explains… “The doctrine of two truths—the absolute and the relative—holds that there are two ways of viewing the world: as things appear to be, and …

Into the fertile void

Its in! Just moments ago I pressed “send” on an email to the editor at Routledge…and my finished book manuscript is off. This morning, I took myself for a celebratory breakfast at my favourite cafe. A moment to pause. I felt pretty content but pondered whether it was because I have been working on finalising …

The road (is) home

As a Buddhist, it isn’t unusual to have thoughts about “path”, but at this time of year it always very much at the fore. Each ‘twixmas’ I spend those ‘in-between days’ reflecting on the year just gone, and feeding any insights into the year ahead. I have been doing this same process for 12 years …

Coming of age

It IS sinking in. This week, I received a author’s pack from Routledge, the publisher of my first book “Weaving the paths of Buddhism and Psychotherapy: the practice of human being”*, and today I have been spending time acquainting myself with the procedures between now, final submission, and ultimately, publication. I sat on my sofa …

Letting it sink in

I am landing at my desk after a celebratory bike ride and breakfast at my favourite local cafe: The celebration? The publishers Routledge are offering me a contract for my book: “Weaving the paths of Buddhism and psychotherapy: the practice of human being”. I heard on Wednesday, and since then I have been too busy …

Words

There is one song (outside the back catalogue of Wham!) that comes back to me as an anthem of my childhood in the 1980s – “Words”, by FR David (please only click that link after a deep breath, and forgive the 10 year old me). I found it enchanting, playing it over and over again…something …

The practice of human being

At last, my book wobbles its way toward its date with destiny – this week I submitted by proposal to the publisher. I am both jubilant and relieved…and now I must wait for the commissioning editor’s verdict…so throw in a measure of anxious waiting into that emotion cocktail too. The book is entitled “The practice …

It’s all about soul

…or at least, its more about soul than I once thought. There have been a few events in the past couple of years, the pandemic years, that have brought “soul” to my attention. So much so that it has been an unexpected addition to the book I am writing. As a Humanistic psychotherapist, my training …

Cultivating 20/20 clarity

One of the hardest themes to write to in my forthcoming book was that of ‘karma’. Thankfully, I have a trustworthy mirror providing feedback on my first draft – my meditation mentor Crystal with whom I have worked with for nearly 10 years now. Over that time, Crystal and I have cultivated a relationship described …