September 23, 2009
In this TED talk Philosopher Alain de Botton invites us to examine our fixed notions of success and failure and suggests that snobbery may play a part in our enjoyment (or lack thereof) of our work. It’s a useful and interesting perspective on the current un/employment crisis. The comments stream…
September 22, 2009
My website was hacked earlier in the summer, which caused some hiatus in my publishing schedule – of course one delay led to another and before you know it weeks have passed. The extended break turned into something longer than expected but also provided an opportunity to think about use…
May 8, 2009
Season 2 of In Treatment is already underway in the US – Paul has 4 new clients and has decided that his sessions with Gina are therapy and not the confused hybrid of therapy and supervision from Season 1. What I like about the series is that it gives some…
May 4, 2009
Kindness is in danger of disappearing – it has become our “forbidden pleasure” and something “we feel consistently deprived of” – so say Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor in their new book On Kindness. The book is an impassioned plea for the return of kindness in a selfish age…and was…
December 3, 2008
Damien has a lovely idea which I have benefited from in the past few days. It being the season of goodwill and all of that, it’s worth noting that this can be done in many many ways. Right now with the recession biting and many good people being let go…
November 7, 2008
Some people who are ambitious and want your job will never say they are ambitious and want your job. They will say your hair looks nice today. And then when she has become your boss and you ask for a raise, she says your hair looks nice today but she…
September 14, 2008
I was saddened to read of the death of Wexford teacher Eileen Flynn. In 1982 Flynn was sacked from her job as an English and History teacher at the Holy Faith Convent in New Ross, Co Wexford because at the time she was living ‘out of wedlock’ with a separated…
August 18, 2008
Can you fake being personal? In our rush to offer solutions to clients’ problems we often (too often in my opinion) eschew the personal and embrace the professional. We really don’t get the value of being “ourselves” because somewhere along the line we’ve learned that to be ourselves is to…
July 1, 2008
I’m in a down town, crowded trendy bar a couple of nights ago and I find myself talking with a charming New Yorker who, on discovering my surname, asks if it hails from a small town in the north west of Ireland (it does). And on proffering his own in…
June 29, 2008
I’ve written about conductor, teacher, speaker and writer (The Art of Possibility) Benjamin Zander here before – and in this superb TED talk Zander outlines his philosophy of possibility in a passionate and witty presentation that had me smiling all the way through. Using a Chopin prelude (the one with…
