I’m in Tuscany this week being given a timely reminder of reasons to be grateful. At breakfast yesterday the talk, which had previously been dominated by my daughter's misguided childhood belief that a small door into a garage next to the newsagent was, in fact, a nightclub for people with … [Read more...] about How To Get Out Of A Hammock
Gratitude
How To Know What’s Important
I’m sitting working at the dining table instead of my desk because I’m keeping the dog company. She doesn’t care. She is asleep. The big problem with having an old antique pedestal dining table is that it wobbles. It’s bad enough eating soup off it but typing on a laptop sometimes feels like I’m … [Read more...] about How To Know What’s Important
Why I Sometimes Miss Being Sad
Out for a birthday dinner with my family, we are celebrating the end of my son’s teenage years. Talk turns to the recent documentary about Michael Jackson’s alleged child abuse and a discussion about whether the most despicable crimes render art worthless, and I wonder how much art is borne from … [Read more...] about Why I Sometimes Miss Being Sad
How To Be Good Enough At Perfection
While reading an article about a 30% rise in perfectionism I think about the number of times I’ve told my teenage daughter to be less demanding of herself, and then I realise I have rewritten this paragraph at least six times. Once, in a woodwork class at school, I was asked to plane a piece of … [Read more...] about How To Be Good Enough At Perfection
Why You Don’t Need Regret
When I was young I wanted to be an actor. I dreamed of going to drama school and living a life in which I could permanently be someone else, a fact which was part of the motivation and the problem which prevented it from happening. Sometimes I have regretted the decisions I made. Predictably … [Read more...] about Why You Don’t Need Regret