Welcome to the first in a series of blogs about completely unknown people who do many little things that change others’ lives. As International Women’s Day approaches and also St David’s Day, I’m celebrating a woman who was the embodiment of his idea that we should ‘do the little things’ – a philosophy regular readers… read more

In the last few months I’ve been discovering a new depth of gratitude for the good and simple things in life: family and friends, the changing of the seasons, the joys of working, the surprising goodness of the average human being, whatever the global context. In part this re-examination, or even re-discovery, of gratitude is… read more

I’ve just spent a delightful 3 days working with a group of Nordic people, just outside lovely Copenhagen. I’ve always found it very easy to work with Scandinavians, not least because of their ability to speak English so brilliantly, so that even in the more challenging territory of emotions they can express what they need… read more

One of my quiet, secret pleasures is mending things. I’m not great with power tools (yet) but pretty handy with a needle and thread. I darn socks, sweaters, the annoying toe-holes in my pricier stockings and sweaters; buttons get sewn on; seams on split boys’ trousers repaired and, occasionally, the sewing machine comes out, though… read more

Imagine going to the zoo and seeing lions forced to sit in the same confined, indoor space for hours, staring at small screens, breaking only to join other lions in crowded small rooms to stare at numbers and account for their behaviour. We’d be utterly outraged. However, I have a very vivid memory of visiting… read more

Like many others, I was very saddened by the untimely death of Charles Kennedy, an ex-leader of a political party in the UK. Many fine words have been written about his character and qualities. I had no personal connection with him so I won’t presume to add to those, but I’d like to comment a… read more

I’ve been frustrated for ages by the way the debate on this issue has been framed and constrained by its naming: ‘work-life balance’. There are several assumptions underlying the term that I want to challenge because I think it influences what is possible in the debate. Firstly. That ‘life’ does not happen at ‘work’. That… read more

I have a small and very silly dog. Despite being both a psychologist and a parent of 2, to my great embarrassment I haven’t trained him very well. I had to call in a dog behaviourist to help me with his over-zealous guarding behaviour. His re-training involves mind-numbingly monotonous repetition of small actions to help… read more