Philosophy for me is a combination of the study of ideas and the use of one’s own mind to reason with them and better appreciate the experience of existence. Here are my writings that relate to philosophy or are philosophical in nature.
It’s in his kiss Did you know that men who kiss their partners before leaving the house reportedly live, on average, four years longer than those who don’t? This is an intriguing finding. Surely there’s more going on here? More than the simple act of a daily kiss? It is… Read More »Improve your quality of life: More affection and question your thoughts
Hard rain. Torrential rain. Rain that drums on the roof like it wants to get in. Accompanying gale force winds. Whipping through the trees, whistling and howling. Change has come to the weather. The last week of ice and frost with its pleasant, expansive open blue skies has given way… Read More »Change and Enlightenment the Zen Buddhist Way
Acceleration. It feels good to be moving. Hitting the pace. Autumn sunlight caresses the skyline and the bright yellows and subtle browns of my window view begin to blur as the train picks up speed. Swiftly approaching 120 miles per hour. Positioning my mind to have a good day, I… Read More »On Personal Development: Building People and Having Faith
Scary Times I close my eyes. Blackness. Solitude. Fear of the unknown. I picture horrendous things out there in the darkness. My inner voice tells me they want to harm me. Shadow beings with teeth like knives and creatures with many horns and limbs. Crawling, scrambling somewhere out behind the… Read More »How does storytelling create reality?
Why philosophy books though? I’ve come to realise that the only paper books I hold onto these days are philosophy books. I have never been a voracious reader but for some reason I have accumulated nearly a library on things related to Zen. This includes the topics of Buddhism generally,… Read More »Best Zen philosophy books for beginners
A nearby temper tantrum Today, I witnessed a horrendous tantrum. I was waiting in a queue to pay for lunch at Thatcham garden centre café. I had my two young children there with me. As I was keeping an eye on them clinging to my legs, I heard an awful… Read More »Learning from children: adopting a playful attitude to life
Do you feel lucky? Here’s the good news. It’s simple. You can be more lucky in your own life straight away. Right after reading this blog post. You’ll need to get to grips with two points. Let me explain. First you need to accept that luck is all relative. Once… Read More »On perspective: How you can improve your luck in life
Finding the Human Spirit during the American Election The Human Spirit is something to be recognised. It is something to behold. Examples of it can be found in the most unlikely of places. Yesterday morning I watched the entertaining anchors on CNN attempt to bruise each other’s egos during their… Read More »On the Human Spirit: Inspired by Josephine Baker
Seeing in 2009 Challenging negativity can take many forms. Just over a decade ago I saw in the New Year in a yurt in some woods in Gloucestershire. It was a great party. People danced, drank, smoked and had far out conversations. One conversation has stuck with me all this… Read More »Challenging Negativity
Every Day is a Good Day I look deep into the eyes of my son and I see my likeness. It is a moment of joy, of perfection. He is happy here and I am happy to be in his presence. The now tired plastic rocking horse lies cast aside… Read More »Every Day is A Good Day: How a little bit of Zen can help lift our mood
Prayer’s place in the human psyche Saying one’s prayers and the act of praying in general is something that an increasing majority of people in the UK are giving up doing (if church attendance statistics are anything to go by). Even many church goers who attend for socio-cultural reasons may… Read More »Prayer compared to Meditation: Dealing better with Ourselves and Others
An idea for what people believe At present, I find myself blessed by recent weather, and still mostly a man of well-balanced leisure time. In light of this, I have taken all of the opportunities available to get out and enjoy the outdoors before the UK winter really closes in.… Read More »On belief: Do people believe in their ideas or reality?