Summer of Shifts

Summer of Shifts A Companion to Stepping Back Without Losing Yourself Some seasons change everything. Summer of Shifts traces one of mine: a summer of endings, rediscovery, and renewal. 📘 Free to download; this companion guide offers a glimpse into the lived experience behind Stepping Back Without Losing Yourself, exploring what it really feels like […]

Stepping Back Without Losing Yourself

Walking Gently Into What Matters Now After decades of striving, many of us reach a quiet turning point. We’ve achieved much, yet something inside whispers that it’s time for a different rhythm, one shaped less by pressure and more by presence. Stepping Back Without Losing Yourself is a deeply personal guide about what happens when […]

When Music Finds You Later in Life

In the wood, I’ve been listening to the sound of falling leaves, acorns landing with soft thuds, the sharp bark of deer, birds calling through the trees, and the low rustle of wind through branches. These are the sounds that usually fill my days there. But every so often, I’ve stepped back into the world […]

Finding Purpose in What Hurts

I hadn’t planned to see I Swear. A film about Tourette’s, full of shouting and swearing? I hesitated. But I watched the trailer, funny, tender, clearly more than a simple “feel-good” story, and sensed there was something deeper. So I booked a seat. It turned out to be one of those rare films that stay […]

ThriveSpan: Walking Gently Into What Matters Now

A reflective philosophy for later life, ThriveSpan charts a more conscious path through ageing, where wellbeing, purpose, and reflection meet, and where life continues to unfold with depth, creativity, and renewal. As we move through midlife and beyond, many of us begin to ask deeper questions about how to live meaningfully. ThriveSpan offers a more […]

The Six Arts of Confucius: Lessons for Later Life

Earlier this week I wrote about attending the Confucius Festival. It was a fascinating experience, but for me it didn’t feel quite enough. Later, looking back at one of the photographs I’d taken, a poster listing the Six Arts of Confucius, I realised I wanted to know more. Some of the arts made sense straight […]

Finding Calm at the Confucius Festival

This week I found myself at the Confucius Festival in Gloucester. I hadn’t planned to write about it, but the experience stayed with me. There was food, conversation, drumming, even a puzzle involving numbers – yet what lingered most were the lessons about community and responsibility between generations. I thought I’d share a little of […]

A Birthday in the Wood: Stories, Memories, and What We Hold Close

This year, I chose to spend my birthday at my wood. It felt right, a return to what I did on my 65th, when I marked the day with reflection, looking back at the year gone by and forward to what might come. I’d already had a week of holding space for a Vision Quest, […]

How Do You Begin Your Day?

A Woodland Reflection on Morning Practices This morning, as I stepped out of my car and into the quiet embrace of the woodland, I paused, breathed in deeply, and noticed the subtle shifts that signalled my arrival. The scent of the earth, the birdsong, the stillness. This small act, this moment of presence, is part […]

A New Start, at Any Time

A woodland reflection by Dr. Denise Taylor This time I filmed from a different part of my woodland, my base camp, where logs are stacked and thoughts are often stirred. What emerged today was this: we can choose a new start any time we like. Not just at New Year, not just when life forces […]