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Many of us will be familiar with the story of Narcissus, the flawed character in Greek mythology who fell in love with his reflection after a dirty trick was played on him by an angry goddess.   Poor Narcissus, instead of being grateful that he had been given such good looks and behaving with good…

I was lucky enough to be invited to a (late) Chinese celebration to mark Chinese New Year. I was a bit apprehensive – I only knew the person who’d invited me – because I’m not as informed about the culture as I feel I should be and had very little idea what to expect. I…

I started on this subject before the invasion of Ukraine and it felt a little frivolous to continue considering the enormity of what is going on now within our European borders. However, after some reflection, I’ve decided this idea may not be as disconnected as it first seemed. The life-threatening situation for the poor citizens…

Sorry is a word that many of us find hard to say. Sometimes, it’s not so difficult. You bump into a person, say sorry and move on with the easy acceptance that it was your fault. But it becomes a little more difficult to own up to one’s own errors when there might be repercussions…

I heard recently of the death of someone who died over the Christmas period. It was a sudden unexpected death and it went unnoticed for some days. Friends telephoned their friend over a period of two or three days, assuming they might have gone back to family for Christmas. They left messages and heard nothing…

Sometimes a person’s brain seems to be particularly susceptible to an external message. Say, for example, you’re experiencing a feeling of hunger while not being aware of the actual feeling. You may be watching television and you see someone eating some chocolate. “I know,” you think, “I wonder if I’ve got any chocolate. I feel…

Social media may be punching way above its weight. What was intended to be a great source of friendship across all worlds, seems to have turned into a constant fight fest. Facebook was well-liked until the algorithms meant we stopped hearing what our friends were up to and were instead directed to specific sponsored sites…

  A friend of mine died recently. It was unexpected and the news came as a sudden and great shock. I heard about it via a message from her mobile phone. To read a message from her number telling me that she is no more made it seem all the more unbelievable. Much of my…