Years ago I had the honour to be a birth companion for a friend. She had never had a natural or normal delivery and as this was to be her last baby she really hoped to have a more positive birth experience this time. We were both very excited and had made plans, but as is . . . → Read More: Being Human: Under Pressure

Years ago as a student nurse on a night shift one of my patients fell out of bed. She was an elderly lady with dementia, and very distressed. It was not uncommon in those days to be left alone and unsupervised on a ward at night and to have one qualified nurse ‘keeping an eye’ . . . → Read More: Being Human: Judgement Calls

I am very much an all or nothing kind of person. I am EITHER going running, eating quinoa, reading philosophy and flossing my teeth OR crashed out on the sofa watching crap TV and eating family sized packs of Kettle Chips. There is an element of compulsion, or obsession in everything I do. I have always . . . → Read More: Being Human: Get into the Groove

In our culture the idea of slowing down tends to be associated with old age or infirmity of some kind, rather than something we would do by choice to enhance our health and well-being. It is not unusual for someone to comment “Oh poor thing, he is slowing down” when they observe someone who has become . . . → Read More: Being Human: Slow Motion

This week after nearly two months of uncertainty and fear, I felt eerily calm. Although there have been some loosening of the restrictions of lockdown, we are undeniably still a species in crisis with no solution yet to the ravages of this virus, yet I felt this slowing down of my frantic energy and for the . . . → Read More: Being Human: The Eye of the Storm

I am sick of the word ZOOM. Up until 6 weeks ago I thought it was just the mechanism that enabled a camera to focus and capture images clearly. And I am really REALLY sick of looking at screens. We are so reliant on the internet now to see and speak to each other, and whilst . . . → Read More: Being Human: Out of Focus

Long before this current situation arose I had been playing with the idea of taking a sabbatical from work. I have been running the business now for 14 years, and have another 14 to go before retirement so it seemed like this would be a good time to pause, maybe for a few months or more . . . → Read More: Being Human: is a change as good as a rest??

photo by Peter Rodgers

Feeling Wobbly?

In the last four weeks we have all experienced massive amounts of change in our lives and have all coped in different ways. I have been hearing from students that they are not sleeping well, finding it impossible to ‘switch off’ or feeling very lethargic. I have been experiencing high levels of . . . → Read More: Being Human:Feeling Wobbly?

“This pandemic experience is a massive experiment in collective vulnerability. We can be our worst selves when we’re afraid, or our very best, bravest selves. In the context of fear and vulnerability, there is often very little in between because when we are uncertain and afraid our default is self-protection. We don’t have to be scary . . . → Read More: Wise words from Brene Brown

When you look outside the window, the natural world is moving rapidly into Spring, birds are collecting nesting materials, new growth is sprouting from the ground, and the daylight hours are getting longer. But we humans are in crisis. As I watch the robin in my garden flitting about, I wish as I often do that . . . → Read More: Being Human: what we can learn from the natural world