The Valuable Time of Maturity

With age, comes, for me, a greater interest in and appreciation of poetry. I hope you enjoy reflecting on this by Mario de Andrade I counted my years and realized that I have less time to live by, than I have lived so far. I have more past than future. I feel like that boy […]

Have you thought about a sabbatical?

A time out to step off your busy life, contemplate a question, or consider your future. Some academics get a chance to do this every 7 years. This often takes them outside their lecturing and other work with students, it is often still work, but different, where they work on academic research and publishing. I […]

Having Fun

There is fun, and then there is Type 2 Fun. These are the activities we only recognize as fun afterwards. They can be physically challenging such as mountain climbing or where there is a fear, perhaps of being laughed at. I do comedy improv classes and hadn’t realized this was Type 2 fun. I still […]

Do you journal?

I do this in depth at different times of my life. I kept a detailed journal whilst preparing for, whilst on my vision quest and for the month afterwards. I’ve also done it as I started new relationships as it helped deal with the feelings of insecurity that ran through my head. Interestingly when I […]

Reflecting on transitions

I created this a couple of days after my graduation ceremony. Life is full of transitions – from the young graduates starting out in life, to major transitions along the way, including on retirement. We can all wonder – where are we going with the rest of our life? Image by Bessi from Pixabay

Time to think

When I need some time out to think things through, I escape to the wood. The peace and calming nature of trees help me to feel chilled and gives my head some space. I like being away from my usual environment, it gives me time to think and reflect and allows my time to clarify […]

Stop being so busy

Busy! I used to work double shifts – there was always so much to do, and I prioritised my work. This past year I’ve spent less time working, I have been more focused, but I have a busy social life. I love new experiences so why stay in when there is a band to watch. I […]

The Benefits of Being Grounded

You can literally be grounded, by walking on earth/grass/sand. And I love to do this as much as I can. When on my Vision Quest, without food, if I felt spacey, I was told to lie tummy down on the floor, to get back in touch with me. Being grounded means being present and at […]

The time to un-become everything that isn’t really me

Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place. Paulo Coelho.   A year ago, I thought this statement was true to me as I embraced my single life and caught up on […]

Who we are isn’t the same thing as what we do?

With my research into meaning after fulltime work, one of the areas is around identity. So much of the conversations we have when we meet someone is around our work. The first question many people will ask is ‘so what do you do?’ And we tell them about our work, or more specifically. I’m a […]