Category Archives: Personal development

Spanish tales

I watch my 88-year-old mother’s gradual decline and see her reaching for memories sometimes as if they’re a glimmer on some distant horizon. My mother has Alzheimer’s, although it has been kinder to her than to many. She exists mainly … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Fair wabbit

Had I posted last week it would have been the 301st post since I started writing this blog, nearly seven years ago. As it was I was undone by a trip south, via a monastery in Yorkshire, to run a … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Untold stories

If one is asked the same question often enough, no matter how difficult, one sooner or later comes up with an answer that can be given without too much further thought. It may not be precisely the right one, but … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

In memoriam

It has become a cliché of the information age that we remember where we were when we learned of certain events, the death of JFK or John Lennon for example. On each occasion there was something so shocking in the … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

True stories

Last weekend we ran a The Stories We Tell workshop for a group of people who were returning to us for the third time. Of the many striking things about the weekend, the one that most remains with me now … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Dem bones

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned a book by Julia Cameron called The Right To Write. Since then I have been reading what I think of as its older sister, Writing Down The Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. I’ve been … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Morning pages

Some years ago I read a book by the American writer Julia Cameron called The Right To Write. She is internationally famous for The Artist’s Way, which offers a 12-step guide to creative living, but I was drawn to the … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Five lessons

We never stop learning. A cliché, but only because it’s true, or at least should be. So I thought it might be instructive to reflect on a few personal highlights of the past year by asking myself what I have … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Big magic

There’s an extraordinary free newsletter that I have been following for a year or so, called Brain Pickings. I would describe it, somewhat inadequately, as a weekly compendium of excerpts from the best writing by the best thinkers, in the … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Weight

Sometimes you just have to start writing. I’m sorry if there’s a sense of déjà vu about those seven words, but this is another of those increasingly frequent days when as the (self-inflicted) deadline approaches I realise I have not … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments