Sometimes, I’ve noticed a niggling thought lurking in my mind: “I’m not good enough.” Mostly, in the last few years at least, I haven’t given in to the thought. Instead, I have taken it out into the open, let it have its say and then let it go. Logically, I knew it wasn’t true. Logically, I knew I was as … Read More
Is It Possible to Choose Happiness?
Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness to just be happy. – Guillaume Apollinaire Do you pursue happiness? No? Me neither! I just float around on a cloud of bliss all day, because I’ve chosen to just be happy instead. Ha! As if it was that easy. March 20th is International Day of Happiness, so … Read More
Gifts From the Homeless – a #1000Speak post
Sunday morning, late 2002, York, UK. With my husband and two small children, I stroll through cobbled streets, passing a medieval tower, and a Gothic cathedral. Intricately decorated walls grab our attention, until the children tug our hands. “We want to see the trains!” Our four-year-old stops every now and then to admire pretty things: weeds growing out of ancient … Read More
Life Lessons From a Cat #1000Speak
Yesterday was Sunday, yet Amazon’s delivery company was working overtime and a parcel arrived. It contained gifts from friends halfway round the world. I took the packages out and put them beside the others by our tree, and then I went back to working on a post I was writing for our 1000VoicesSpeak blog. My husband brought a cup of … Read More
What if?
What if? What if we stopped seeing success as material wealth? What would that look like? Would the beggar you passed yesterday be more or less successful than the film or pop star who died this year or last of a drug or alcohol overdose? Would the woman picking tea on the foothills of the Himalayas be more or less … Read More
Can You Let Go of Self-Judgements?
It’s a strange irony that we spend most of our lives not living them, but trying to change what has gone (the past) or control what isn’t here (the future.) The mind is very, very sneaky. We can see where other people do this – and where other people are too this, too that, too something other! But it’s far, … Read More
How To Listen
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” Steven Covey, Author of: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. What is Good Listening? I used to think that being a good listener meant not interrupting, staying silent while the other person talked. I wasn’t sure if I was a good listener, … Read More
How to Connect When It Feels Hard
A few years ago, I realised that the times I felt most hopeless as a parent were when I felt disconnected, when one of my daughters and I had argued and there seemed to be no bridge between us. I’d be in one room, feeling stuck, and she would be in another. I would see a long sad path before us in … Read More
How to Nurture Self-Compassion in Hard Times
It’s easy to be kind to ourselves when life is going swimmingly. Not so easy when the script in our heads isn’t playing out, and life has taken twists and turns we didn’t plan and didn’t want. Years ago, I had a fantasy that it was possible to never feel emotional pain. I’d read several of those “positive thinking” articles … Read More
He Is Worthy of Compassion
A friend and I were walking home after shopping, two days before Christmas. It was already dark, and though I was wrapped in a thick coat and scarf, the cold hit my face. It would freeze again soon. The street was crowded with shoppers, talking, walking, or waiting for buses. A few people walked past arm in arm, on their … Read More
Recent Comments