Author: Frances Masters
Tim’s life had been getting pretty difficult recently. He loved working in London, but the commute to his job in the City was taking him longer and longer. ‘I can only do one stop at a time now’ he told me. ‘It would be funny if it wasn’t such a massive problem. It takes me...
Read MoreRachel, at 22, had not expected to become pregnant so soon after her marriage. Although not planned, she soon got used to the idea and started excitedly looking forward to having a baby. She told family and a few close friends. She started shopping for baby clothes in her lunch hour at work. Then one...
Read MoreSeventeen year old Katie sat uncomfortably on the old green velvet sofa in my office, with a look that reminded me of a rabbit caught in headlights. Eyes wide, she described how her mother had encouraged her to go and see her GP when she discovered that Katie had been self harming. The GP had...
Read MoreDo you suffer from upsetting and unsettling physical or emotional symptoms that started after a traumatic event, like a death, a road accident, a burglary, an attack or some other event which caused you distress? Perhaps you are a returning veteran and experienced something in your tour of duty you keep trying to put to...
Read MoreI was fortunate enough recently to spend some time in the company of the Venerable Lama Ngedon Drime. Lama Drime, or Saddhu as he likes to be called, describes himself as a ‘kick-ass monk’. It’s fair to say that, in his teachings, he strips away all the ‘bells and smells’ of popular meditation practice and takes...
Read MoreYou would have to have been living on another planet not to notice the current trend for adult colouring books. They’re everywhere. Adult colouring books have rated consistently high in the Amazon bestsellers’ list for quite some time now. People are voting with their feet…and their wallets. Is it a trend? Is it a craze?...
Read MoreAre you frightened of public speaking? If so, you’re not on your own. Surveys show that most people rate death lower than public speaking on the list of things they would rather avoid. Amazingly, that means that, at a funeral, much of the congregation would rather be in the box than standing out front giving...
Read MoreWhen I saw him for his recent therapeutic coaching session, Peter described himself as feeling ‘level.’ It was, he said, a good feeling, and quite different to the emotional highs and lows he’d experienced over the last few years, when life events seemed to have run away with him. A series of losses and bereavements...
Read MoreI’m a big fan of mindfulness. It is a part of my daily personal and professional practice. There is building evidence about how helpful it can be for anxiety, depression and the difficulties we can all experience as we try to manage and regulate our powerful human emotions. But I heard a story just the...
Read MoreMindfulness is all about focusing; about paying attention in the here and now, in a detached and non-judgemental way. It is both the art and the skill of being present; of being aware of your awareness itself. It is a way of being truly conscious. So many of our responses are unconscious; if we are...
Read More
