Yes, it’s April Fools’ Day but this post is no joke. As April 1 falls on a Sunday this year, I am marking - rather than celebrating - a defining event. For today is the 39th anniversary of the day - Sunday April 1, 1973 - that my lovely dad had a devastating stroke, when he was only 46 years old. While I am not going tell the story of that event right now, suffice to say it changed … [Read more...] about How I let myself become an April Fool…
BLOG
Do you remember when…? No, I don’t…
One of the joys of social media is that serendipitous moment when you find people you’d lost along the way. So it was that I reconnected with an old acquaintance, someone I’d met on an NLP training course more than a decade ago. He has gone on to become a managing director while my path has taken a few twists and turns before ending up where I am today - as a sort of portfolio worker, doing a … [Read more...] about Do you remember when…? No, I don’t…
Is happiness a skill you can learn?
Happiness. Everyone wants it. Some get it, others don’t. The Dalai Lama says it’s the main purpose of life. But what is happiness? How do you define it? Happiness, it seems, means something different to everyone. However, we all agree that it would be a good idea to experience more of it. To me, happiness is a profound felt-sense of being at peace with myself and the world. To you, it might be … [Read more...] about Is happiness a skill you can learn?
Are you camping out in your own life?
Imagine you’re inside a sleeping bag in a one-person tent. You’re all zipped up and cosy, protected against the elements. Only what you don’t realise is that you are not outside at all. You are camping out in the small upstairs bedroom of a large detached house. You do not know you are in a house. You’re so wrapped up in your little bubble that you’ve never even unzipped your tent. If you were … [Read more...] about Are you camping out in your own life?
What to do on blank page days…
I have been a professional writer for 30 years now. There have been periods during that time when I have churned out the words; at others I have been too busy editing other people’s words to write my own; and on bad days I would wake up and realise I was a writer who wasn’t writing. Writer’s block. We’ve all suffered from it at some point in our lives, whether or not we’re wordsmiths. I … [Read more...] about What to do on blank page days…
Who’s in control? It’s not you…
Anyone who has studied human behaviour, Freud, Jung, psychology or NLP would probably accept that the unconscious mind is many times more powerful than the conscious mind. In fact, the idea that our conscious mind is in control is an illusion. The “me” that you perceive yourself to be is capable of paying attention to only two or three pieces of information at a time in a world that throws … [Read more...] about Who’s in control? It’s not you…