Depression is one of those words we throw around without thinking too carefully about what it actually means or what its causes might be. Is it really appropriate to say that we are “depressed” because someone is late for an appointment or because the central heating has broken down? We have a wonderfully rich English language, and I think we should use it to the full. To me, genuine depression...
I had a long TEAMS conversation today with a friend whom I have known for the best part of forty years. There was no agenda and no particular reason for the call. We simply started talking. It reminded me how valuable spontaneous conversation can be. Many years ago, before instant communication became part of everyday life, if you wanted to communicate with somebody at a distance you wrote a...
I Still Believe Humanity Is Headed For A Mass Awakening Video reading by Tim Foley: I still believe humanity is headed toward a mass awakening, as unfashionable as that is to admit here in the late 2020s. The fashionable thing to say these days is that everything’s fucked and we are headed to our doom, and that if anything changes it will be because the insanity of our capitalist system causes...
Yesterday we had a thoroughly enjoyable day in Bristol, helped considerably by good weather and by one of those intuitive promptings which occasionally tells me that I should be somewhere. I have learned over the years not to dismiss these feelings too quickly. Françoise had some practical objectives. She wanted to buy a new pair of shoes and also look for materials for her painting. My own...
Things That Depress Me There are many things in modern society that leave me feeling discouraged or saddened. Some concern politics, others culture, and others simply the way people relate to one another. Whether or not others share these views, they are the issues that weigh most heavily on my mind. I feel uneasy about what I see as a growing separation between traditional Christianity and the...
You Can't Be Happy Alone – Was Aristotle Right? Aristotle believed that human happiness, or eudaimonia ("flourishing"), cannot be achieved in isolation. He argued that we are social beings by nature and that a life without meaningful relationships falls short of true fulfilment. Modern research strongly supports this view. Robert Waldinger's Harvard Study of Adult Development, which followed...
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Inspired by Samuel Pepys’ Diary 1633-1703
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