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24/8/2014 Comments

Carnival!

If you google 'Carnival' endless pictures of women catching a cold turn up. You won't see pictures like this one on the news, but for me this is one of the most fascinating parts of Carnival - Jouvert (a contraction of jour ouvert or 'daybreak') sees a small number of people walking Carnival route the wrong way round at dawn, throwing flour and paint at each other and along the route. I find this magical and inspiring, a real demonstration of the subversive and chaotic, a kind of secret ritual that allows and boundaries the following two days.

Carnival is The World Turned Upside down, a time when some people pretend to be what they're not, things that are illegal at other times are now permitted, and feasting and revelry are indulged. Carnival is not, despite what it may seem, an advert for Top Shop or an opportunity for a politician to make a terrible arse of himself, it's a reminder that racism still exists and that magic remains possible. In the UK it's a farewell to Summer and a blowout before Autumn. Go out and have a ball.

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29/5/2014 Comments

How Do You Get To Work?

If you live in London the start of the working day can be absolutely dismal. There is another way! And as long as employers don't subvert this life-enhancing concept by making staff wrap their ties round their head and jump up and down, this kind of event could alter the way we approach work.

"The [wildly successful] nerds who run IT businesses are much less interested in the "suit and tie" approach to business and much more willing to experiment with any idea which they think will keep their staff enthusiastic and creative."

Watch the Channel 4 News report here. Watching this 3 minute video will set you up for the day!

Mindfulness works. Its venerable parent, meditation, works. Exercise works and most of us find dancing a damn site more enjoyable than running in the rain. Add human connection, no matter how fleeting, and you've got a recipe for joy.

Let me know if you go to one!

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1/3/2012 Comments

Happy St David's Day

Happy St David’s Day!

St David was very active in supressing the Pelagian heresy; that is, that we have free will, Original Sin makes no sense and that we can make choices about who we are and what we do.

It seems counterintuitive to focus on sin and suffering during this glorious spring day, and in fact many Christians won’t, in preference spending time in contemplation of their relationships. Here’s a 15 minute clip of Bishop Nick Baines’ thoughts on the balance between being an individual and being a member of many societies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006xp1x/episodes/upcoming

Christian or otherwise we all need time to think, just to sit around doing nothing at all but instead being in active contemplation of how we are with ourselves, with our family and friends and in relationship to other people too. Therapy is not, thank goodness, an organised religion - any therapist worth the name will be at pains to give you the space to claim personal authority - but we do offer a structure to help get the best out of your contemplation.

There is no original sin, you have freedom within certain constraints and the free will to exercise choices. Where there’s no sin there’s no judgement.

If you get the slightest opportunity today get out in the sun, breath in this glorious Spring and do nothing for a while.

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Carnival!

How Do You Get To Work?

Happy St David's Day

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