“The great of the earth are those who leave silence and solitude around themselves, their work and their life, and let it ripen of its own accord.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Silence and solitude. Silence and solitude.
Do we leave enough silence and solitude around ourselves? Continue reading
‘Do you treat yourself as well as you treat your friends and family?
That simple question is the basis for a burgeoning new area of psychological research called self-compassion — how kindly people view themselves. People who find it easy to be supportive and understanding to others, it turns out, often score surprisingly low on self-compassion tests, berating themselves for perceived failures like being overweight or not exercising.’
This is the beginning of a New York Times article on self compassion. Continue reading
Why are we so quick to beat ourselves up? To criticise ourselves, to judge ourselves, to tell ourselves off?
Why are we so eager to cut down on sleep, to take on extra responsibilities, to push ourselves into exhaustion?
I LOVE jumping in at the deep end and pushing past boundaries and self employment brought me so many! New challenges, new projects, new skills to learn. “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” Whipping myself to carry on and do even more.
Well, yes. Continue reading
To achieve or not to achieve, that is the question.
I recently received a newsletter from my therapist friend Bonnie Miller, with article ‘The Happiness of Non-Achievement’. Now, if you were my client you’d know I encourage celebrating achievements. Writing a list of them even. A long list. Keeping it. Referring back to it.
And here is Bonnie celebrating non-achievement. Continue reading
Even if you think you’ll be leaving your present work, being positive about it now is the best possible platform for change. This sounds counter-intuitive.
Being positive and being at peace will help maintain your energy levels and support your self-esteem which will help when it comes to networking and applying for other opportunities.
I’m now over a year into the process of being and becoming an entrepreneur with my own practice. It’s been an interesting time. I expected running my own business to give me extra flexibility and control. I didn’t expect the process to be an opportunity for so much personal growth and challenge. Continue reading
A friend recently sent me this story about what gives life its meaning.
A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. Continue reading
I’ve been having a stressed few weeks. The old story; trying to pack in too much into too little time and not allowing enough time for rest or doing the things that bring me energy.
I would like to share a favourite poem:
by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold Continue reading
I am writing this slightly under the influence of too much red wine in a local pub which looks a little like a Parisian boudoir…a boudoir with a specialty in Belgian beers and an abundance of sausage and mash. Can there be too many varieties of sausage and mash offered? And the obligatory very expensive crisps which are regrettably very good as well as very expensive so I can’t say I prefer Walkers as I don’t. Although I did refuse a leaving pub bag of chips (see previous post regarding desire to lose weight – doing well so far and don’t want an inebriated desire for carbohydrates to jeopardise days of good work).
So. Relaxation. It sounds a bit of a contradiction, but sometimes I think we need to work at it. Sometimes just lying on the couch and watching Big Brother (resisted it so far this summer) doesn’t cut it. We can retire to bed as stressed as when we first got in from work. Continue reading
Rosalyn Clare - coaching 