I didn't see the Northern Lights 😔 And yet, I did. Thanks to all the people here from Orkney to Bristol and points in between who shared their beautiful photos and words of awe. It's one of the wonderful things about this place.

in a moment's breath
all the pieces jostle still
apart together

Remembering someone you love who's died doesn't fit into neat boxes or picture frames on a mantelpiece. What and how I remember is more a collage of jumbled layers & textures of a life lived with wit, wisdom, & wonder. Yes, and some woe. It's all of it. When & how it was, and is.

It's that time of year again when the Choisya (Mexican Orange) flowers make their joyful appearance.

Sunshine in the city

Today I've been reminded how meaningful it is just to listen to each other, and to say how we really are without feeling we have to dress it up in any way. While that might sound ridiculously simple, it really isn't. It's a tender thing. And that's exactly why it matters so much.

The same words heard from
different perspectives shifts
how meanings are felt.

There's something joyful about connections happening between people, ideas, places, hopes. Yet, connections are best left to unfold naturally. If they're at all forced or obligated, they won't feel natural & are unlikely to last. Even if such letting go goes against the grain.

It's about remembering that spaciousness and making the space for connections will always matter, even (especially) when it doesn't feel like that.

'Take back control' - of what, for whose benefit? 'What the public want' - really? Says who, exactly? 'We have a plan' - to do what, for who, & why? These & other misleadingly meaningless platitudes cynically repeated over & over have cheapened politics. And they damage us all.

A walking collage

I've had enough of hectoring 'interviewers' who ask closed questions in the cynical pursuit of sensationalised polarising sound-bites. This is a time for sound, robust, & emotionally intelligent political dialogue. It's long overdue.

People are essentially well-meaning... And it feels really important to remember that.

This really. So much this.

'When our work is rooted in love, we seed more love. Loving action connects us to a feeling we know and something all humans need and desire at a fundamental level.'

Read this brilliant blog if you need heartening this morning.

This choir is centred on believing in each person with our whole hearts, and empowering each other to navigate ourselves through whatever challenges that arise with care, curiosity and love, supported by a loving intergenerational community of people and the wider natural world.

'One movement won’t do it, movement everywhere might... ‘now or never’ serves us far better than ‘us & them’.'
Heartfelt blog on the moves we all need to make towards relational public services. It just makes sense. Honest & resonant learning shared by Mark Adam Smith & team.

A Friday evening stroll by the river. Perfect start to the weekend.

‘Why posthumanism? And why now? Ethics and method for complex times’

Thrilled to have this blog post published ⁦today ⁦BERA⁩ bera.ac.uk/blog/why-posth…

In the midst of frenetic busy-ness, there's no space to reflect on how you're doing, notice how it really feels. When we have a bit of uninterrupted space to hear ourselves think, let our feelings be, it's not that we reach magic solutions. It's that we can remember we're human.