You can think about the human personality as a number of layers, each folded around early ones, rather like an onion. At the centre are the youngest parts of you, on the outside you older parts. While the skin we present to the world is adult, at our centre we still carry a part of … Read more
I recently took a trip up a road once described as the “most dangerous road in Europe”. It is the road that leads into the mountain region of Tusheti in the Georgian Caucasus. The road is a rough track with many hairpin bends and sheer drops, rising up from the Georgian plains to a pass … Read more
Unreal City, Under the brown fog of a winter dawn, A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many. Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled, And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. Flowed up the hill and down King William Street, To where Saint Mary … Read more
Maybe I’m getting to be a grumpy old man, but I get irritated by the modernist urging to be positive. Think positive, be positive, say “YES!” to life. Excuse me, but NO! Positivity and ‘yes’ have their place, but my experience is that often the difficulty for people is saying ‘no’. Without ‘no’ the world … Read more
Right now I’m feeling anxious. The catch on the boot of my car has broken, locking in a bag with my diary inside. The local garage has no time, and I’m waiting for a call from another mechanic to find out if he has time to get my boot open. Only a small anxiety, perhaps, … Read more
It’s good to make contact, isn’t it? By contact I mean the whole array of human contact, be it friendship, intimate relationships, acquaintance or nodding hello to someone you pass. Of course it’s a good thing, or so I assume. But is withdrawal and solitude also a good thing? It seems so, as when not … Read more
A depth without flesh resting in my chest, bleak Without desire. Cheerless yet comforting, Open to sorrow, accepting shadow, quiet. An ebony man uncurls, unfurls and stares with cobalt eyes Right into me. No genteel sheet hides his skin No gauze shades his eyes. Blue black he gleams, A twisted smile twitching his mouth’s corner. … Read more
I have limitations. They teach me. When I was young, I didn’t really think about limitations. You may remember the feeling of being immortal and indestructible – then along comes something and ‘bang!’ – you’re more Clarke Kent than Superman. As I get older I have more aches and pains, can’t drink as much, can’t … Read more
It’s tempting to look at a new piece of technology, such as Facebook, and think of it as either a ‘good’ thing or a ‘bad’ thing. I’m certainly guilty of trying to decide on those terms, rather than thinking about if and how I want to engage with something new. I think everything has a … Read more
I don’t much like affirmations myself. I think they can work well for people, but I personally I prefer a more tangible and symbolic approach. Affirmations work by re-programming how you think over time, to turn negative beliefs into positive ones through a process of hard work and repetition. Where they can fall down is … Read more
