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.
Moving pictures can do strange things. Evoke memories. Stir old feelings. Videos recorded to VHS from the 90s and early 2000s have a vintage quality to them. Capturing the essence of moments, although clumsily. Filming conducted without the rapid feedback loops of today’s attention economy. Before the long long month… Read More »Choosing Steadiness: Awareness, Trust, and Movement in Challenging Times
Exhausted. Spent. Worn out. All of this, but also exhilarated. Several years away from Muay Thai will do that to you. The pads don’t care. The trainer doesn’t care. And your body? That doesn’t care either. It just responds. The breath rate returns, energy surges back for the session. Adrenaline… Read More »Kickboxing, the present moment, and new beginnings
Depths of despair I lay still. I stared at the ceiling. The orange glow of the streetlight slanted through the naff blinds. That colour reminded me of hope. Not a nice hope, but a mocking hope. Optimism felt fanciful, like a fairytale. Something other people had but never me. I… Read More »Lost in My Own Mind – And How I Found the Way Out
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