Read our posts about Soul

29Jan

Why Carmel Allen Founded Kiss It Better

Louise Chunn

empathy

Soul

Cosmetics can get a bad rap from serious-minded people, but sometimes a lipstick is much more than an indulgence. Carmel Allen has used lipsticks to help raise £800,000 for research into childhood cancer with her charity Kiss It Better, which celebrated its 10th birthday today. I remember where the whole thing started.   Carmel was a much-respected beauty director on the glossy magazine that I was editing. One morning she didn’t turn up for work – and phoned to say that she didn’t know if she could ever work like that again. Her baby Josephine, who was not even one, ...
» Read More

27Jan

Meditation: My Journey Begins

Nick Duerden

meditation, stress

Soul

I have never had much time in my life for peace or quiet, and have never really craved either. My mind is a happy hive of perpetual activity, everything churning away up there all the time, day and night. My wife points out, with reason, that I never sit still, never stop. At night, I dream of work, and on holidays, thanks to technology, I take it with me. In sleep, I grind my teeth. The RSI I developed 20 years ago was put down to overwork, poor posture, bad habits, a lack of inner calm. My solution was to start swimming, every day. I swam fast, faster than people in...
» Read More

23Jan

Culture tip: The Reason I Jump

Jon Madge

books

Soul

Knowing what we’re really thinking is an elusive enough goal, knowing what someone else has on their mind is harder still, and what if that person thinks in an entirely different way? That’s often how the minds of people with autism are depicted: qualitatively different and impossible to understand. The Reason I Jump breaks through a lot of the misconceptions surrounding autism and gives an insight into how the author, a person with autism himself, sees the world. Translated, and featuring a forward, by acclaimed author David Mitchell, the book is a combination of...
» Read More

19Jan

Four Thoughts on Anxiety About Ageing

Anne Karpf

self, women

Soul

1. Why are some older people described as 'still beautiful', as though age mostly erases beauty? Banish the words from your vocabulary, along with other self-deprecating remarks about ageing bodies, and admiring comments about people who don't look their age. Train your eyes to recognise and your language to include 'old and beautiful'. 2. We read so often about frail old people yet resilient, engaged, vital and outraged ones surround us. If they're not in your family seek them out as your friends, especially if you're young: it will help dispel the...
» Read More

17Jan

Culture Tip: Searching for Sugar Man

Camilla Nicholls

culture, films

Soul

The story of loss and love in Searching For Sugarman delights therapist Camilla Nicholls
» Read More

17Jan

What Lena Dunham's Girls Can Teach Us About Female Friendships

Terri Apter

friendship, TV

Soul

In popular culture female friendships have often been portrayed either as giggly gossips or as catty and competitive, while girls (and women) themselves are on a quest for an ideal girlfriend - a soul mate who always understands them, with whom they share all intimate secrets and with whom they never argue. For giggly, think of the Sex and the City quartet doubled over in wicked laugher at the men they take to bed; for catty, think of Lady Edith doing her best to ruin Lady Mary’s chances for happiness in Downton Abbey, for the ideal, think of sweetness between...
» Read More

16Jan

Are We All Creative?

Jon Madge

creativity

Soul

Accessing creativity through workshops at Cass Art
» Read More

09Jan

Can You Teach Yourself to be More Empathetic?

Roman Krznaric

empathy, relationships, self, wellbeing

Soul

Roman Krznaric explains why empathy is an essential element of wellbeing
» Read More

08Jan

The Restful Mind

Jon Madge

meditation

Soul

Gyalwa Dokhampa has earned an international reputation for making the life-changing parts of Buddhist thought approachable and easy to understand
» Read More

07Jan

Let’s Do Lunch – in a Graveyard

Ann Treneman

books

Soul

When I tell people that, for four years, I have spent most of my spare time in graveyards, they always look a little alarmed. They shouldn’t. In the process of writing and researching my book Finding the Plot: 100 Graves to Visit Before You Die, I have visited scores of graveyards: grand and tiny, Victorian and modern, manicured and tumbledown.  Not depressing, nor weird, they are fascinating places with so many things to notice: those names (like Myrtle, Ethel etc) you’d forgotten existed, intriguing epitaphs, and some amazing monuments which, in places such as Highgate in...
» Read More