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