What archetype are you living out? You will be embodying one, whacky as it might sound. Probably more than one, and you’ll outgrow it and grow into a new one, like a snake shedding its skin. We all do. We recognise archetypes in other people, but it’s harder to recognise our own. When we use phrases like: … Continue reading If The Shoe Fits
A.’s car wouldn’t start this morning. It might have been the cold. When we were small, five Hail Marys got our car going when the temperature dropped and the engine hacked like a 30-a-day smoker and refused to budge – it worked every time. Its clogged up mechanical throat cleared and it spluttered to life … Continue reading Prayer Push
When the wind blows for days on end it can be hard to remember what a calm day ever felt like. When you are on long-haul flight you quickly become accustomed to the roar of the engines and it’s only when you land, and the aircraft is powered down, that you realise your earphones were … Continue reading Heart Rules The Head
“I was sick and tired of everything, when I called you last night from Edinburgh. All I do is eat and sleep and sing, wishing every show was the last show.” (Abba, Super Trouper) Ok, in the real lyrics it’s Glasgow rather than Edinburgh, which seems to me such an unlikely city to feature in … Continue reading Super Trouper
Resilience: it has come to be one of those buzz words, a quality we seek to embody for ourselves, our children, our towns, our communities. It is that ability to withstand life’s scouring pad and boiling water, to emerge shiny, free from scrape or scald. Possessing the means to bounce back when the bowling ball … Continue reading Resilience
I was at a lecture last night, part of the Book Festival. All about Muriel Spark, her writing, and how it was informed, sometimes even dictated, by disembodied voices that surrounded her, chirruping. In her more sane moments she believed she was having full conversations with her alter ego within. Other times, when she was … Continue reading In My Head
The desk at which W.S. Graham wrote his poems has found a home in Edinburgh’s Poetry Library. His chair too, though the seat has been put away somewhere, “for the time being,”the man told me. More suitably described, I think, as a table, it looks like something from a farmyard kitchen as opposed to a study. It’s … Continue reading Wheesht
It’s year two of living alone, for the first time in 10 years or so. I had no nervousness about it. Not from the point of view of feeling vulnerable, or frightened by things that go bump in the night. Being on my own in a house has never bothered me. The main thing that … Continue reading Linked Together
‘80% of success is showing up’: so said Woody Allen. He admitted that sometimes it’s much easier to stay at home in bed, but if you want to achieve something – as obvious as it may sound – you’ve got to show up. The great artists, writers, musicians, scientists, sportspersons, dancers - all of them … Continue reading Showing Up
Here’s a conundrum that has been on my mind lately: should there be a level, a standard, a boundary when it comes to sharing? By which I mean, sharing personal experiences or reflections via the medium of writing. I suppose I have come to the conclusion that one’s boundaries are very individual, that they vary … Continue reading Bearing All
