Humanity

Primum non nocere

Lying on trolleys like some discarded sacks Waiting for a passing nurse to offer solace Patients cry for help and family stand, wide-eyed Drinking in the scene-of harried staff who Rush around - no time to stop and care, Too busy meeting targets, managing flow....

Re cultivating the need to nurture

“By the time you are 50, it’s either God or the garden,” said a close friend a decade ago when she was approaching her half century. At a decade younger than she was, I had laughed, pointed out that it had always been the garden for her, and that I couldn’t see me...

Relying on the comfort of strangers.

“He sails out of Southampton.” “Yes!” “I remember when he was born. You were so excited; your first grandson.” I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but I couldn’t really help it, given I was early, my stylist busy with her previous client and there was nobody else in the room....

Respecting: a Lesson in Generosity

A glorious May in a Northern city. Being out in the empty streets at 9 o’clock in the evening was strangely soothing; people had gone home from their offices, the shops were closed and the large, black buildings had heaved a sigh and settled down for the night. I...
Remembering what we believe in

Remembering what we believe in

"Assumptions!" declared a voice. I looked up to find a tall man in a cassock and dog collar, clutching a bible to his breast. “It’s all about assumptions,” he repeated, looking triumphant. Assumptions, I wondered. Was that a book of the bible I had somehow missed in...

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Revolutionary: Spaces for Listening

Revolutionary: Spaces for Listening

What do you gift yourself when you have everything you can buy and are unable to have what you really want, for your birthday? I was supposed to be working abroad, in my favourite country with my favourite colleagues and when that was cancelled due to Covid, my team...

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Remembering that kindness works both ways

Remembering that kindness works both ways

When my husband was called up urgently in the evening by a consultant haematologist to come into the acute assessment unit at the local hospital, on the same day as he had had a routine blood test at the GP practice, this was never going to be ‘normal’. My husband...

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Recalculating the impact of change

Recalculating the impact of change

A phenomenon. Live Aid. 1985. Hundreds of music industry people coming together, free of charge, to produce the world’s biggest cross continent concert to help others less fortunate than themselves. Where were you for Live Aid? This was a recent question on one of my...

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Remembering Dolly and the nurture of nature.

Remembering Dolly and the nurture of nature.

It is Autumn now and I still really miss her.  Every morning, that leap of joy as I went downstairs to see if she was still with us, and in the warm, soft evenings, talking gently under the tree, her eyes following me, knowingly, wise beyond her years.  She...

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Really, really want

Really, really want

In the words of the 1990s pop song, what do we want? What do we really, really want?  From life? From work? From each other?  Many people have asked this question over the centuries and most of the time the answers are a variation on the same theme. As human...

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Realigning our priorities

Realigning our priorities

Five people, strangers, met one sunny Friday in early September. They had not met previously, but had come together with one sole purpose in mind – to create. Standing around in an airy workshop, stuffed to the rafters with material, tools, objects and knick knacks,...

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