“Where To Begin” by Cleo Wade … that is the question … Over the course of an extraordinary year, I found myself turning to Cleo’s words time and again. Her deceptively simple poems have a way a cutting right to the core of what is truly important. “The Snow Leopard” by Peter Matthiessen On the surface, this is a travel …
When striving for something, we tend to assume it’s a linear, one-dimensional journey – but that is rarely the case. Sometimes it is. The Olympic 100m Final is linear. It’s judged simply on who crosses the line first. You don’t get a head start because of your skin colour. No bonus points for style. A degree is irrelevant. You can’t …
Is the most sensible answer to all the big questions, “I don’t know”? We’re still dealing with the fallout from Covid-19. Will there be a vaccine? How long will it take? How effective will it be? The scientists working on it are doing their best – but no-one can give definitive answers. And if Covid-19 ‘goes away’, how long before …
I was born lucky. I’m white.Male.British.Straight.I have a stable, loving family.I have neither physical nor mental disability.In global terms, my income is top 1%. I did absolutely nothing to earn those privileges. Through blind luck, I have not faced a day – not even a single moment – of discrimination in my entire life. In his 1963 ‘Letter from Birmingham …
What’s the difference between disappointment and regret? And why does it matter? During challenging times, we may find ourselves feeling down about the things that happen – or don’t happen. This is entirely understandable – and it’s important to recognise and acknowledge our emotions, but how we frame things is vitally important. REGRET can be a useful emotion. We feel …
Almost everything spreads – viruses, great ideas, fake news, cat pictures. Emotions. We’ve all experienced it – the person who darkens every room they enter. The person that always seems to lift us up, no matter how bad our day has been. ‘Emotional Contagion’ is a thing. We are influenced by the attitude and behaviour of the people around us. …
Think of three statements that begin with the words: “I am …” Remember your thoughts – we’ll come back to them in a moment. “The Righteous Mind” by Jonathan Haidt introduced me to the concept of WEIRD-ness, where WEIRD is an acronym of Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re pretty WEIRD. In Haidt’s …
There are two sides to this story [as always]. If someone is hurting us we should ask ourselves – what is hurting them? And when we are hurting someone else – what is hurting us? Hurt people hurt people, it is true. But it is usually [always?] a symptom, not the cause.