What if holding on opinion is over-rated and not making up one's mind is the better place to be?
I Haven’t Made Up My Mind
Category: Debate
Giving Out
We use the expression in Ireland, “giving out” – I’m not sure how far it travels. It can mean to tell someone off, to complain, fault-find, or to indulge enthusiastically in expressing one’s dissatisfaction with all and sundry. I have a good friend upon whom I rely for our weekly telephone dose of mutual giving … Continue reading Giving Out
Wolves
The world has ground to a halt. Except that the wheels of the world grind slowly, and 2020’s halt felt more like an emergency stop. There we all were, spanking along, foot to the floor, probably on the wrong side of the speed limit, when a shadowy figure ran out unexpectedly. There are no wolves … Continue reading Wolves
Wondering
I was at a writing workshop on Saturday. We had to shuffle on and button up the coat of a character we were writing about, inhabit them and get close, try to see life as they did, think and feel the way they would have. For some writers the coat was made to measure, it … Continue reading Wondering
Quiet Settles On The World
Were you ever part of a conversation that veered into a spat and you longed to have the last word, but the other person wanted it just as badly, so you bickered on, losing yourselves in a futile spiral of words? Then, maybe you were lucky, and you realised the last word didn't matter; that you … Continue reading Quiet Settles On The World
Brace Ourselves For Change
I’m just back from a few days in Ireland, of the Northern variety. There was much talk of uncertainty. T. spoke about her father’s farm, the far fields of which run along the seam of the border. “There’s more talk of Brexit than there are cups of tea taken, and that’s saying something,” she told me. … Continue reading Brace Ourselves For Change
I May, I Might, I Must
Choice: it is, perhaps, the single, most important determinant in how our lives turn out; in how we plough a furrow through this world. Yes, some people, often through fate of birth, are born to a life of enhanced opportunity with an array of choices before them, whilst others are born into a ready-made obstacle … Continue reading I May, I Might, I Must
Polite Conversation
One of life’s biggest challenges is that of speaking up. I’m not talking about making a presentation at work, delivering a wedding speech or any of those other goose-bump inducing public-facing talks. I mean saying what needs to be said in the moment, within a small group, or maybe even one on one. In other … Continue reading Polite Conversation
I Beg To Differ
Since when has it become ok to disagree so violently and impudently? Was it always like this or was there a time when we could listen a little more openly, quietly, thoughtfully? It is an important skill to do so, even if we still end up in the same place of respectful disagreement. Research has … Continue reading I Beg To Differ
My Edinburgh Press 