I know I’ve heard people recently dismissing the concept of lifelong learning as a waste of time, but I beg to differ.  There is something incredibly freeing about the idea that we can develop new skills, change our mind, try something different. On a deeper level, being ‘teachable’ when hard times hit is the only…

I’ve been bouncing from one mood to another about my writing these past couple of days.  Yesterday I heard someone say ‘what a waste of hours’ about an unpublished writer and the dark feeling came over me – have I just frittered away the best part of a year on something that nobody wants to…

Do you ever feel locked in to the way you’ve always done things?  This morning, as I face the chasm of the kids being back at school and the unscalable cliff face of the first draft of my book, I wish I could just change direction.  Away from all the routines that lock me in,…

smile. Those words were engraved into the top of a park bench in Ards Friary, Co Donegal.  Now, you all know I’m partial to a bit of bench sitting, but I’ve never sat on one that had its own instructions. To be honest, I was too distracted by the beautiful view of woodland, golden sand…

He’s only got little legs. Reading this joke and nearly spitting out my tea, I realised something.  Again.  It feels so good to laugh. In the evenings when we’re debating what to watch on TV, I nearly always say, ‘I want something that makes me laugh.’  I spend most of my days hating my inability…

I wonder how many of you ever take time to just sit on a seat in the park.  I never used to; always rushing through on a mission, or not wanting to stop when a reluctant toddler was already taking ages to move along the path.  When I was on the bike, it was my…

It happened when the kids were tiny – wee on the living room rug, sick on the sofa, poo in the corner (don’t ask), scribbles on the wallpaper, rips on their books.  And I don’t recall being that upset about it.  Maybe I was, and I just can’t remember.  It’s like when I used to…

Last night I read something my grandfather had written many years ago, and it confirmed a pre-occupation I’ve had for some time.  Reflecting on the healing of the man beside the pool of Siloam he wrote, ‘I look for God’s power in the smashing of the nations,  I see it in Your healing of the…

I never thought I’d be back in this place – waiting for a moment’s peace, a foot of space, a chance to sit down.  But it’s happening again.  The children are at school, my chores are done, I have the laptop in front of me.  So, what’s different? She’s wet, nippy, always close to my…