I finished reading ‘Ikigai’ by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles this week and, towards the end of the book, there’s a chapter on resilience. This paragraph in particular resonated: “Resilient people know how to stay focused on their objectives, on what matters, without giving in to discouragement. Their flexibility is the source of ...

“To compare yourself and your results against anyone is probably like the thief of happiness. —Emma Raducanu” I came across the above quote in an article on the BBC website a couple of days prior to Emma Raducanu’s remarkable win in US Open tennis final in New York. Reading that, it becomes even harder to believe she’s just 18 years ol...

I was grateful for this reminder from Oliver Burkeman in his latest newsletter: “...imagine you were a member of a prehistoric tribe, setting out on a multi-day hunting expedition into the unknown. You couldn't possibly have felt confident, if “confident” means feeling sure of how things will unfold. But there’s a kind of confidence yo...

One of my morning meditations recently included the mantra that makes for the title of this post: “Let us be awake to life.” I find it all too easy to drift through life. Days blur into weeks, which blur into months, which blur into years. And before long, I’m repeating the tired refrain: Doesn’t time fly? I lose sight of the truth tha...

There was an intriguing article in The Telegraph over the weekend about several women who have embraced Orthodox Judaism. I found it interesting on various levels. But there was a sentence that captured my attention where one of the women was describing her first Sabbath: “That Friday evening, as well as eating chicken soup, they sang ...

This from John Philip Newell in his book ‘Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul’ touched a nerve for me over the weekend: “Today we hear many voices denouncing the abuse of the environment. These are important voices, and it is imperative that we listen to them and their dire predictions of the catastrophes we are bringing on ourselves and future ...

I found this quote from Shawn Blanc’s latest newsletter helpful: “Certainty is a destination. Clarity is a direction. Don’t waste too much time in the hunt for certainty, when, often all you need is just a little bit of clarity. With a little bit of clarity, you can start moving in the right direction. And once you’re moving, that acti...

I’m reading a book called Ikigai at the moment. It’s a delightful and insightful read, exploring the lessons we can learn from this Japanese ‘secret’ about living life with purpose. One paragraph about ‘Sunday neurosis’ jumped out at me when I was reading last night: “Sunday neurosis, for example, is what happens when, without the obli...

““You teach best what you most need to learn,” as the author Richard Bach famously put it. You’re drawn to the subjects you struggle with because you struggle with them – because the stakes feel high to you, so you’re motivated to try to puzzle out some solutions.” I appreciated the paragraph above, pulled from the latest newsletter fr...

“Note taking is what happens when we’re quickly capturing content to refer back to it later while we’re listening. Note making on the other hand is when we generate ideas, like when reading. This is when we form our own ideas and insights based on the information we encounter. It’s the process of connecting the dots, or plotting new on...

Om Malik’s latest blog post on how humans today engage with one another is worth sharing in full: “Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn: that is now part of our daily vernacular. Did you see my TikTok or read my Tweet? We don’t interact. We transact. Read the papers, and you will quickly learn that everyone is an influencer or ...

I’m sharing more wisdom today from Saul of Tarsus, the first century writer. Though this particular line may or may not have come from his quill*, the insight is clear (and challenging). In Ephesians 4:2, the author encourages the faith community in Ephesus to be people committed to ‘bearing with one another in love’. I appreciate the ...

“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. —Colossians 3” ‘Clothe yourselves’ is one of my favourite metaphors used by the first century writer Saul of Tarsus. He uses this, and variations of it, in various of his writings when encouraging his readers to live a life of moral virtue. I find this help...

Glennon Doyle shared some astute thoughts in a post on Instagram last week. Here’s what she said: “There is a family next to me at the store. I just heard the dad say to his kid: “Well, it’s brave to go on a roller coaster. And it’s also brave to say you don’t want to go on a roller coaster.” Wanted to tell you something. That is good....

Shawn Blanc wrote about the ‘law of tradeoffs’ in his newsletter this week, saying: “In order to give your perpetual devotion to any one thing it will require the perpetual neglect of many other things. Focus requires tradeoffs.” He then added: “You can only focus on so many areas of life at a time. And you can only do focused, deep wo...

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool. —Richard Feynman” I started reading The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef last night. It’s a book focussed on helping people get better at seeing clearly and rationally. Much as we might like to think otherwise, this is no easy task. She starts...

“Do you ever wonder why Western atheism is on the rise? Why does the Christian West, by far, produce the highest number of atheists? What I believe, and have dedicated my life to reversing, is that we have not moved doctrine and dogma to the level of inner experience. As long as “received teaching” doesn't become experiential knowledge...

I’m reading John Philip Newell’s delightful book ‘Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul’ at the moment. The most recent chapter I read explored the role of the imagination in Celtic spirituality. I found this quote, talking about C.S. Lewis, sagacious: “He saw that the world of the imaginal is not simply fantasy, that it can be a pathway into deep...

I appreciated this Hasidic proverb I stumbled across last week: “While we pursue happiness, we flee from contentment.” This suggestion that seeking happiness moves us away from contentment is profound and provocative. But there’s wisdom to be considered here. Happiness is a temporary state, dependent on circumstances. But contentment e...

It’s always tempting to wait for birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, or other special occasions to let friends and family know that we love and appreciate them. Most gift-giving and note writing is saved for those predictable moments in any given year. Which is fine! I’m not suggesting we stop using these moments to show our love for ...

I try and read a chapter of Scripture most mornings. Today’s chapter was from a segment of an ancient letter written to the church in Philippi some time in the first century AD. These two verses jumped out at me, mostly because of how counter-cultural they sound to our modern ears: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in h...

Seth Godin published a thoughtful and thought-provoking piece on his blog today about the future of the office. He starts out by reminding us of something that’s easy to forget: “The office is a fairly modern phenomenon. We got by for millenia without them.” After reflecting on how work has worked for the last forty years, his comments...

I had a conversation with a friend of mine from Germany a month or so ago. We ended up discussing our relationship to the past and to the future. In the midst of our back and forth, I ended up saying this: “We look to the past nostalgically but we look to the future fearfully.” It’s a generalisation, but there’s a kernel of truth here....

I was away on holiday last week – hence the lack of blog posts. We had a family trip in a caravan that was a lot of fun. Weather wasn’t amazing, but we enjoyed lots of day trips and had an all-round a good time. And, surprisingly, I managed to read two novels while away. I say surprised because, as I’m sure any fellow parents with youn...

One of the books I dip into periodically is called Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter by John Philip Newell. It’s a collection of morning and evening prayers for each day of the week. One line, in the Tuesday morning collection of prayers, has been leaping out at me these last few weeks: “Let us serve love with our strength this d...

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard myself telling my daughters to ‘just be nice’ to each other. I can say that it’s a lot. I found myself thinking about that word ‘nice’ today. It’s a strangely bland and yet deeply powerful word. On the one hand, it can feel like a nothing word; a lazy descriptor for something we cannot think o...

Austin Kleon shares some great thoughts on curiosity in a recent blog post of his. He starts by sharing sharing a quote from Jason Sudekis, discussing his approach to playing the character Ted Lasso: “What if you played an ignorant guy who was actually curious?” Austin then points to another quote, this one by Mike Monteiro: “The secre...

I came across an article on the TED website this week about rest. It’s easy to think of rest as something singular. And, not only that, something we merge with sleep. But we’ve all experienced those times when, despite a good night of sleep, or a decent period of what we thought was rest, we don’t feel rested at all. Why is that? It’s ...

Tim Harford’s recent column for the Financial Times, reproduced on his blog, addresses the challenges of living in an increasingly cashless society. What is the main challenge? How easy it is to spend money! With contactless payments, Apple Pay, Amazon’s one-click payments, it’s never been easier to spend money. Online stores have, oh-...

As some of you may well have picked up, we’ve been isolating as a family for the last 10 days. Today was the first day we were allowed back out following Imogen, my youngest daughter, getting Covid. The main thing that struck me throughout this time has been the kindness and generosity of friends, family, and neighbours. So many people...