In the words of the 1990s pop song, what do we want? What do we really, really want? From life? From work? From...
Identity
Re entering the wonderful world of work.
For the first time in six months, I felt I had a place in the world again. Six long months of uncertainty, of...
Re-evaluating: limbo or life?
My husband is 53 today; I will soon join him in the same age. We have been married for 21 years. It is a hot day so we...
Re-filling the tank
I’m on count down. Annual leave minus 10 days. If all goes to plan (no local lockdown!) I’ll be going away; an escape to the country, to the coast; a relatively unpopulated area that I’ve spent a couple of weeks exploring most summers for the last few years. A...
Reaching inside to find a friend
Trust. Who do you trust? With your secrets? With your wellbeing? With your life? Who can trust us? Who would we go out of our way for? A number of people. We do regularly. Our family, our friends, work colleagues. Who would we lay down our lives for?...
Reinforcing the need for creative compassion
It was Christmas Eve when they came in, cold, a few snow flurries. He had been on the floor for several days after his fall, and she, as old as her husband, but suffering from dementia, was confused and upset. She had managed to put a blanket over him and a pillow...
Re-defining paranoia
“I’m probably being paranoid.” How often have you said this, as a preface to saying something you suspect will be dismissed? How often has a friend or colleague said it? And what does it mean, in our common usage of the term? Paranoia as many of us will...
Re-naming: who are we?
"What's in a name? That which we call a roseby any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) I don’t know about you, but nowadays I am rubbish at remembering names. My neurosis reaches a critical point when at social gatherings I am expected to...
Re- directing: a strange encounter
I was 27. It happened in a grimy, makeshift shopping centre in northwest London. Not a market, not a mall. Just a thrown together collection of plywood partitions, most spaces empty, a few selling tarnished metal jewellery, the type that turns your skin back,...
Remembering examples of humility
Many years ago when I was new to working with doctors, I met a professor of cardiac surgery. He was approaching retirement, white hair, half moon spectacles, and was the most gentle, enquiring, curious participant on the courses we were running about Supervision. So...
Recognising leaders
There’s only room for one sun in the room, I thought, watching as my colleague held forth yet again. Only happy when at the centre of a group, talking, less good at listening and desperate to do anything to avoid being alone. You would think that the sun, as the...
Re-questioning: who am I?
Who am I? What am I here for? Where am I going? Is this it? These are just some of the existential questions that escape from their dungeon in the darkest recesses of my mind from time to time. Along with the crazy comparisons – she has a chair, he’s running a...