How The Words You Use Can Harm Your Wellbeing

Most of us are probably not aware that we use poetic language as a matter of course. Similes, metaphors, images, all that stuff is what playwrights and literary types come up with to convey and illuminate meaning and emotion. Nothing to do with the way ordinary people talk, right? Read more »

How to Renew Your Sense of Purpose

Easter doesn't get much of a look-in when it comes to making resolutions. January is, of course, the top time for vowing to put ourselves through agony as we determine to do the things we believe we should, and beat ourselves up when we have broken every resolution by Burns Night. Read more »

How to Write a Belated Condolence Letter

'Sorry for your loss'. In recent times, this sad phrase has resonated with many, far too many, of us. The expression encompasses what is so hard to express, our sympathy, our awareness of the devastation of death, our inadequacy in the face of grief and loss. Read more »

How to Deal with Social Media Envy

The habit of comparing ourselves unfavourably with other people damages our self-esteem and wellbeing even during the best of times. When we experience more challenging times, it can take very little to make ourselves and our lives feel really rubbish. It wasn’t quite so bad in the olden days when […] Read more »

How Your Personal Values Affect Your Wellbeing

Values are the ideas that define the way we view the world. They are the abstract notions on which we base our judgements of what is important in life. Our values shape our choices and decisions. The way we behave, how we live and work, our relationships with ourselves and […] Read more »

How to Have Good Phone Conversations

At particular periods in all our lives, it isn’t possible to have face-to-face contact with the people who matter to us. It doesn’t matter that much these days, we say blithely, because of all the possibilities for voice and video calls. We can still see each other. We can still […] Read more »

How to Write a Lockdown Letter

You might wonder what would be the point of writing a letter during this period of forced separation and constrained activity. After all, we’ve got the technology which enables us to see and talk to each other, even though we are miles apart. When you can actually get a large […] Read more »

How to Have a Gentle Lockdown

The contours of our lives have changed. For now, we don't have the regular rhythms and rituals which give shape to our days. Without the activities which normally punctuate our waking hours, we are faced with a shapeless mass of time which we need to mould into a recognisable and manageable form. Read more »

Be Wary of New Words that Disguise their Real Meaning

Our language is vibrant and flexible, constantly changing as it reflects the changing nature of the world it describes. Communication has always been enriched by varieties of slang, for example, and by the emergence of new words and phrases that sometimes refer to a new reality, and at other times […] Read more »