Question: what do you do when someone places what seems like an insurmountable obstacle in front of you? Do you try to climb over it? Squeeze round the side of it? Or just give up and back off? Or do you play with the metaphor to see if there is a solution your conscious mind hasn’t yet come up with? OK. Let’s play. What kind of obstacle is that obstacle? It is a great big boulder that has been … [Read more...] about When is an obstacle not really an obstacle?
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No more Nice Girl: unleash your Inner Mean Bitch…
I used to believe that I wasn’t an angry person. That I didn’t “do” anger. I avoided loud people, rarely had arguments and condemned aggression. Anger did not fit into my self-image. No, I was the nice girl - calm, balanced, sensible, controlled, reasoned, a people-pleaser. All sweetness and light. Except that I wasn’t. A covert hostility lurked beneath the surface, which manifested itself in … [Read more...] about No more Nice Girl: unleash your Inner Mean Bitch…
Finding a safe space in the pages of an old book
I want to talk about books. Not just any old books - I mean the books that either sit on your shelves, unloved and unread, or the books that you keep for years after you’ve first read them, waiting to be called to them once more. One of the books that had languished unread on my shelves for some time was Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. I bought it years ago when it was … [Read more...] about Finding a safe space in the pages of an old book
Would you don the invisible cloak of leadership?
According to Lao Tzu, the father of Taoism, a leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it all ourselves. I resonate with this idea of collaborative leadership that empowers others. But I don’t expect old Lao Tzu would have imagined that his wisdom might also apply to women, who I believe are particularly skilled at … [Read more...] about Would you don the invisible cloak of leadership?
Hope is kindled by letting your light shine
Sometimes metaphors jump out at me. Often they come in the form of dreams, or in a turn of phrase; sometimes one can emerge from a comment overheard on a train. But my current favourite metaphor is appearing in the real world - first of all in the form of the Olympic Torch and its nightly ceremonies; then during the Diamond Jubilee - the lighting of the beacons. I wrote about this in a previous … [Read more...] about Hope is kindled by letting your light shine
Are you a woman clothed with the sun?
As the sun rises at about 4.45am tomorrow morning, you may - if you have the correct eyewear and the sky is clear - witness a truly rare astronomical event. Only seven of these events have been recorded since the invention of the telescope, and they occur when Venus passes in front of the Sun, creating a dark spot that travels across the Sun’s surface. These Venus transits come in pairs … [Read more...] about Are you a woman clothed with the sun?