Overplanning as Procrastination: Cultivating a Bent Towards Action
You’ve probably heard the quip: “When all is said and done, far more is said than done.” If you have sat through one talk fest too many, you will know that many a true word is spoken in jest. Are there times when our zealous planning and “let’s test that one more time” simply become an excuse for procrastination? Those of you who know me will be aware that I’m alert to the counter to any argument – it’s an art I developed back in my days in the school debating team, and it has served me well. If I had to oppose what I have said, I would...
Read MoreRefresh: Road Rage in London. Reflections on having to give way…
Today’s Refresh post is from 2018, when Rosemary and I got to spend some time at Spurgeon’s College in London while I was on Sabbatical leave. It was an amazing time – rich in so many ways. But I still remember this one jarring incident of road rage which we got to watch (not at all characteristic of our time), and still think about what it has to teach us… Road Rage in London: Reflections on having to give way… Let me start this post with some disclaimers. No, the road rage I am about to talk about was not my own. I have not driven a car in the now 10...
Read MoreWhy Sufficiency Matters…
Perhaps you have heard the story of the wealthy businessman who on a brief holiday to a lonely island encounters a poor fisherman, and buys some fish from him. The fish is magnificent, better tasting than anything the wealthy man had eaten before. He immediately interrogates the fisherman – where did he catch this, was it unusual? The fisherman assured him that it was a typical days catch – nothing out of the ordinary. Quick to see the commercial potential in this find, the businessman gets deeper into conversation with the poor man and asks how he spends his time The man replies...
Read MoreRefresh: What to do with your one wild and precious life? Alcuin’s answer
I do love it when I stumble upon a relatively little known character from history and suddenly realise how much we all owe to them. Alcuin definitely fits into this category. Read on for more of his 8th century life… including his role in devising modern punctuation and the question mark. It’s definitely worth a refresh of this post which originally appeared in May 2022. Wonder what to do with your one wild and precious life? Alcuin’s answer… “Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?” asks Mary Oliver in her poem The Summer...
Read MoreBecause the Goal of the Journey is the Company…
I’ve often heard it said that when we are young, we think that the goal of the journey is its destination. It’s about getting somewhere. As we get older (and hopefully wiser), we see that the goal of the journey is the journey. In other words, what we do is good in itself, and we find pleasure along the way, regardless of if we finish up at some desired endpoint, or fall short of that target. More recently I heard this extended one step further, “the goal of the journey,” said the speaker, “is not the destination, or the journey, but the company we have along...
Read MoreRefresh: From FOMO to Hello to Here…
It can be hard to be “here where my feet are” – especially if we are driven by anxiety over what we might be missing out on. This reflection was originally posted in Dec 2019, and I thought it more than met the requirements to appear as a Refresh… From FOMO to Hello to Here Do you, like me, often want to be somewhere else? It’s not that I’m unhappy where I am, it’s just that in a world filled with many options and possibilities – well, why wouldn’t you explore them all? Those younger than me tell me it’s FOMO, aka fear of missing out. Here’s the irony. FOMO can...
Read MoreBeing Counter Cultural: Opposing the 3P’s of Polarisation, Popularism and Post-truth
I’ve been working through Alastair Campbell’s book, But What Can I Do? It’s a call to relevant political engagement at a time characterised by polarisation, popularism and post-truth. Campbell sees these three P’s as the curse of our time, dangerous tools used by power holders for short term gains at the expense of long term flourishing. It’s hard to deny his analysis. He is adamant that far too many political leaders are simply not “serious” people, but that they are chasing the latest head line to ensure their name is on everyone’s lips. You...
Read MoreRefresh: The Virtue and Vice of Agnosticism
I don’t usually suggest that agnosticism is a virtue, though this refresh post wisely reminds us that context makes a difference, and that it is as well to be unsure about some things. The post originally appeared on 26 June 2022. The Virtue and Vice of Agnosticism We are sometimes too sure of things we should be open minded about, and too uncertain about the things that really matter. Agnosticism, that tantalising space where we see all sides of an argument and put a definitive answer in the too hard basket, is sometimes a virtue, and sometimes a vice. Let me give a few examples from...
Read MoreConnectedness or Autonomy? From Should to Could
The right of each individual to be astonishing, amazing, independent and – well, individual – has never been more firmly asserted than now. You see it in the shift in our vocabulary. It wasn’t that long ago when people would seriously ask what they “should” do. There was a reasonable community consensus of what constituted the good and moral life, and with that consensus, there was some pressure to conform and to do the things we “should” do. Today we are more interested in all the things we “could” do – and tend to get irritated...
Read MoreRefresh: 7 Signs of a Healthy Relationship
This refresh post from 22 July 2021 explores the ever pertinent question of what signs we can look for to indicate we are in a healthy relationship. Of course, if the signs aren’t there, we can move into the “what can we do about this?” territory. Hope it’s helpful… 7 Signs of a Healthy Relationship I’ve been asked the question often enough, “How can we be sure our love will last? How can we know if our relationship is more than infatuation?” Many decades ago I was helped to explore the question by Anthony Kosnik’s (ed) work Human Sexuality: New Directions...
Read More