My mother died on November 5th 2007, quite suddenly after an illness of less than 24 hours. Apart from the shock which followed I was already in the midst of a particularly difficult phase of life. On top of that, after she'd gone, I came to realise that the relationship which I had always … [Read more...] about How I Learned To Appreciate My Mother
Relationships
Why It Doesn’t Matter Who Is Right Or Wrong
This week I seem to have been struck, from all angles, by examples of injustice. Bad behaviour too easily tolerated, disappointment coupled with powerlessness, and all of it coloured with a wash of “how can I get my view across so effectively that others change theirs?”. It’s hard when we’re fixated … [Read more...] about Why It Doesn’t Matter Who Is Right Or Wrong
How To Be A Parent
This week my son hit eighteen years. For a while now he has been taller than me, more stylish, and it’s been years since I could have had any chance of helping him with maths homework. He has, like most his age, become a nocturnal creature at the weekends, going out when I am beginning to think … [Read more...] about How To Be A Parent
Why Trust Is Elusive And What To Do
“I want to do it, but I don’t trust myself to get it right”. It’s a phrase most of us have used at one time or another and one I hear on most days in one way or another. The immobility caused by a fear of failure or the desperate need to sustain success is a steely paralysis. I recently watched … [Read more...] about Why Trust Is Elusive And What To Do
The Three Lives Of Healthy Relationships
Listening to the radio this morning Griff Rhys Jones is talking about a film he has made for the BBC exploring Great Britain. As I listen he expounds a view I have always held hard, that these shores are full of wonder and beauty of which many of us are unaware, never fully appreciate and live in … [Read more...] about The Three Lives Of Healthy Relationships