Blog
The Life-changing Magic of Presence
I often think about a wonderful woman who was a patient of mine a few years ago. Let’s call her Lucy. She demonstrated the life-changing magic of Presence When she first came to see me she was already seriously ill with stage four breast cancer. This means that the tumour cells had spread beyond the …
Read MoreWhat mindfulness is not
There is a common mis-conception abroad: that mindfulness is about emptying your mind. It is not. You cannot empty your mind. If you did, how would you know that? The very effort of trying to push away thoughts makes them push back stronger. The effort itself arises from the thought, “I must not have that …
Read MorePeople who take care of people
The sad truth is, people whose professional roles require them to take care of others are often the worst at taking care of themselves. The NHS is groaning under the strain. The NHS is of course, not a thing but a vast complex sprawling system of people. Dedicated staff, be they doctors, nurses, admin staff, or …
Read MoreBreaking Bad
Whether it’s driving a car or negotiating the daily journey to work, we are all creatures of habit. Billions of nerve cells in our brain have, thanks to repetition, memory and learning, wired in patterns of behaviour like grooves on a record. All good…. except when the automatic behaviour is detrimental and we can no …
Read MoreThe Kindness Habit
“The Kindness Habit: transforming our relationship to addictive behaviours” is out now on Amazon. The book is a warm, compassionate and open dialogue between Christopher Dines, Dr Barbara Mariposa and an anonymous fellow traveller on the road to recovery. The authors share their experience of letting go of “false friends” (addictive behaviours) and their understanding of the healing …
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