A close friend of mine recently sent me a link to the You Tube video of Carole King performing ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ in Hyde Park. Watching this (which I really liked) made me think of the words of another favourite song: ‘Lean on Me’ by Bill Withers:
“Lean on me, when you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on
For it won’t be long
‘Til I’m gonna need
Somebody to lean on”
I’m a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s books – having previously really enjoyed ‘The Tipping Point’ and ‘Blink’.
In our pursuit of excellence and our ‘self-help’ culture we place a lot of emphasis on personal effort and perseverance as the keys to success and often attribute lack of success to lack of effort and someone giving up too easily. Continue reading “Outliers”
Two TED talks I’ve watched lately have some interesting views on why we work and what motivates us and to what extent our approach to this is based on outdated (and even disproven) ideas. Continue reading “Why We Work – and What Motivates Us?”
I was reminded recently of something someone said to me a few years ago.
She was in her early forties and said that she’d got to the stage in her life when it was more important (to her) to be kind than to be right. Continue reading “Being Kind versus Being Right”
I caught up with this podcast recently – it was broadcast on ‘Woman’s Hour’, BBC Radio 4, last month.
In this interview, Kim (best know for her role as Samantha Jones in ‘Sex and the City’) talks about ageing, later life without children and single life over 50. She’s very candid about what this means for her and some of the content seems to apply just as well to men facing these type of issues, as it does to women. Continue reading “Kim Cattrall: on ageing, later life without children, and single life over 50”
Walking along the seafront here, today, I was reminded why I chose to move here. I’d toyed for years with the thought of moving to the coast ‘one day’ but, perhaps, in my head, that probably meant ‘when I retire’. I realised nine years ago, though, that there was nothing stopping me doing it there and then – so I did. Continue reading “A Walk Along the Promenade”
This is a book that was recommended to me a few years ago. It’s by James Hollis, is rooted in Jungian psychology, and has the tagline “from misery to meaning in midlife“. Sounds a bundle of fun, I know!
It’s not a very long book, but it’s packed with insight for anyone who thinks they might be having a mid-life crisis and I’ve recommended it to friends, family and clients. Continue reading “The Middle Passage”
Whole People 