Spending time in nature tends to helps us feel calmer, less stressed and more grounded, however it's impact actually runs deeper than that according to a recent article by Earth.com.

We live in a city, in a row of houses near a busy road with 10 steps leading up to the front door. Next to the stairs is a raised flower bed about knee height, full of bushes and plants that mostly just fade into the background of daily life. Sitting in my office overlooking the road, window open in the recent heat, last week I heard a huge commotion outside the front door and a lot of quacking! Out from the bushes and tumbling down the steps emerged a mother duck followed by

As someone whose work often involves helping people slow down, reflect and reconnect with themselves, I found myself unexpectedly moved watching a short film recently of my brother talking about a restoration project at his place of work, Great Dixter. On the surface, it is about craftsmanship, conservation and care for a historic place. Yet underneath it felt strangely familiar to the kind of restorative work I often see happening in coaching and supervision too. The crafts

“Action is the antidote to anxiety.” A wise friend said this to me recently and I have found myself coming back to it. It is one of those phrases that feels immediately helpful, particularly if you are someone who can get caught in your head, circling thoughts or overthinking things. And yet, as we talked it through, I found myself getting curious about it rather than taking it at face value. Because sometimes it feels true and sometimes less so. There are definitely moments

A desire to "be authentic" comes up in many conversations with my clients, particularly when they find themselves in leadership roles believing they need to "be someone else" to succeed.

"How can you say what you mean without being mean?" ~ Kim Scott There’s a particular kind of leadership trap that many thoughtful people fall into. Wanting to be kind, supportive and well-liked… whilst also needing to hold standards, challenge behaviour and have "difficult" conversations. In my experience, too often we swing between the two. We (and I include myself here) either soften feedback so much that the message disappears, or we become so focused on the issue that the

I was recently reminded of the “and stance” from Difficult Conversations. When feeling challenged, many conversations can go wrong in a predictable way as we slip into either/or thinking – this is fair/right/true or it isn’t. Under stress and pressure, humans naturally tend to move towards more binary, black-and-white thinking. We look for certainty, clarity and resolution. This can help us feel safer in the short term, but it often narrows our thinking, increases defensivene

Ever notice when something small happens yet our reaction to it feels bigger than expected or even completely out of proportion? Am I simply overreacting, or is there something more going on? I came across the “book of stamps” metaphor in Transactional Analysis that felt surprisingly accurate for me. The idea is this… Every time you feel something but don’t express it, process it or act on it, you “collect a stamp”. You store it away. You might do this for good reasons: You w

In his lecture from the early 90s, the comedy legend John Cleese brings some simple yet powerful insights into the business world. Firstly, that creativity is not a talent you either have or don’t. It’s a mode of thinking you can enter, if you create the conditions for it. Secondly, that playfulness and laughter signal safely and are a gateway into creative thinking. And thirdly, that there is a clear distinction between being serious and being severe . Two modes of mind He

“When you point one finger at someone else, three fingers point back at you” is a saying I was reminded of while listening to Alexei Sayle’s Imaginary Sandwich Bar, of all things. It’s often used as a reminder about projection, blame and self-awareness.

Based on ideas in her book Insight, organisational psychologist Tasha Eurich suggests one simple way to build self-awareness is to ask ourselves what rather than why.

Stories are the way we make sense of our lives. But what happens when the stories we tell are misleading or incomplete or just wrong? That's an important message from Lori Gottlieb's TED Talk that I keep coming back to. I spend a lot of time noticing how often we become trapped inside the story we've constructed about what’s happening, who’s right, what something “means”, or who we believe we are. And once those stories solidify, so do the reactions, assumptions and patterns

Troubled by questions all my life, Like a madman I have been knocking at the door. It opened! I had been knocking from inside. ~ Untitled poem by Rumi Today I joined a webinar hosted by Inspired to Learn with guest speaker Ross Nichols, editor of Poetry for Coaching . This unique Anthology brings together poems and the stories entwined with them, written by coaches, counsellors and therapists to inspire others with their insights. The session explored the value of poetry in

A conversation I often find myself having with clients is about the never-ending challenge of achieving work-life "balance". Many people find it hard to role model what they believe "good" looks like as leaders, simply because of the sheer volume of what they’re managing. Others are deeply passionate about their work and love fully immersing themselves in it. Whatever your view, work is only one part of the human equation. So perhaps the real question is: can we find a better

I never expected to find myself listening to nearly 30 podcast episodes on menstrual health – yet here I am, and it has been one of the...

Have you ever noticed that once you start thinking about buying a certain car, you suddenly see it everywhere? Psychologists sometimes...

"The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego. The second half is going inward and letting go of it." ~ Carl Jung "In the...

I wasn't feeling "all that" this morning so decided to head to the local beach for a blast of sea air and to clear my thoughts......

In this thought-provoking TED Talk, Psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett challenges us to consider how we are responsible for our...

I've been particularly struck recently by the negative connotion surrounding gossip and how I've come to associate it with with...