How many photographs do you take in a day, or a month, or a year? Today is National Camera Day. Now that so many people have phone cameras in their pockets or bags 24/7, photography has obviously soared – and this has an impact on how we experience the world around us. It might makeContinue reading “Moments That Matter”
Tag Archives: mindfulness
Calming Calligraphy
Just like mindful sewing or colouring, calm calligraphy is growing as a wellbeing activity. When the printing press was invented centuries ago, people feared the end of handwriting and handwritten lettering like calligraphy. Now we are in the digital age, calligraphy really might have become a dying or lost art. But it is alive andContinue reading “Calming Calligraphy”
Places Of Hope
How do you feel on entering a cathedral? You might feel awe, wonder, discovery or excitement. It might feel familiar or unfamiliar, welcoming or daunting. Some people going into a cathedral will have faith, some will have little or no faith, others will be wondering or seeking. Thinking how cathedrals might be places of wellbeing,Continue reading “Places Of Hope”
Across The Globe
How will you mark World Art Day on 15 April? Perhaps by looking at a familiar painting you know and like, or maybe by discovering new styles and traditions. Perhaps by looking only, or maybe by getting out paints and pens yourself as well. Like so many of these special, named weeks and days whichContinue reading “Across The Globe”
Concrete Cows
A few years ago I heard about Providence Youth Club in Battersea, London, welcoming a group of farm animals from The Shallowford Trust’s Dartmoor farm to a local city carpark for a week. Londoners could come to see the calves, lambs and pigs in the straw in pens just across the street from shops andContinue reading “Concrete Cows”
Endless Possibility
In my house sits an old guitar, unused for many years. Sometimes I’ve wondered about learning to play, but still haven’t taken the plunge. All I remember about the one and only time I went to a guitar class (at a music club for young people, when I was about 12), was all the talkContinue reading “Endless Possibility”
Day By Day
Are you a creature of habit? I know I am. I do like to be spontaneous too and to try different things, but I find that life works better if I follow a routine. Working for myself from home that’s particularly important – but in other parts of my life as well, routine really helps.Continue reading “Day By Day”
Earthbound?
In a basket where I keep cards and letters, I recently found a greetings card sent in 2009, with a very striking image. It’s entitled “Trees Amid The Waters Near Taponas, Rhone, France” and it is an aerial photograph taken by Yann Arthus Bertrand during the floods of March 2001. Seeing this image made meContinue reading “Earthbound?”
Art As Tool
The more I experiment with art for wellbeing, the more possibilities emerge. I’ve written before about “art as refuge” and “art as tool” – the two distinct ways I feel art can help wellbeing. Art as refuge is the more familiar of the two to me, and I still think this has immense impact byContinue reading “Art As Tool”
What’s New?
It may be my inner nerd, but I like September and the idea of new beginnings – back to work or school, activity gearing up again as holidays recede. No, I don’t like the darker evenings of autumn – or the thought of winter ahead – but I do like its fresh start. It’s aContinue reading “What’s New?”
Medley 