Wretched Contentment

Wretched contentment is a state of happiness that is akin to a calm-looking lake that hides dangerous, swirling, even chaotic undercurrents, hidden below the surface, sometimes, so deeply below the surface that they may never make their presence known at the surface level. Wretched contentment is often a side effect of colluding with mediocrity- where…

How wretchedly content are you?

This is a self-assessment questionnaire that looks at wretched contentment. You can read more about wretched contentment here. (Read it after doing the test) Score these from 1 – 10 where 1 is “This describes me least” and 10 is “This describes me most” 1. I have enough money (with some on top) but it…

Cave Story

A traveler walks a long way and comes upon a cave. He walks into the cave for its coolness, to be out of the hot sun. There, in the centre of the cave sits child beside a clear round rock pool of water. The traveler approaches the child who smiles back at him. The child…

Putting the Past in Front of You

It’s always bothered me that, in hypnosis, going back into one’s past can involve something called “regression”. In politics, when something is referred to as being a “regressive step”, it is meant negatively, a going backwards, a reversion to an earlier state that we had thought we had improved upon, or let go of. Regression…

5 Ways to Refresh Your Thinking

The start of a new year can be a good time to refresh your thinking about your business or creative project. But you can refresh your thinking any time. Any day can be day one. We can all get stuck in our modes of thought. We can end up recycling the same ideas and this…

Finding the right coach or mentor

In recent years, a vast number of people have become coaches, mentors, therapists. personal trainers – you name it, there’s now a helper for it. Some of these people are highly “qualified” and have taken formal routes through universities and colleges to get qualifications that are recognised by professional bodies. Others have gained various kinds…

Paying a Visit to Number One, Rock Bottom

I once went to a two-day conference on the theme of “suffering”. Why would anyone want to spend two days focused on suffering? Well, it was one of the most inspiring conferences I have ever been to. There was a singer from Somalia who had found her singing voice and an ability to create uplifting…

Burying Your Head in the Clouds

For many people these days, doing the ground work has become boring. For others, the will power needed to ground things simply isn’t there. We’ve grown up in an age where many things are immediately available, where waiting for things is unacceptable and even uncool. Patience is beyond many people, and setting firm foundations seem…

The Dangers of Compulsive Light-Heartedness

Humour can be a wonderful thing. When all around us (and maybe inside us) is falling apart, humour and the resulting smiles and laughter, can make our world more bearable. There is plenty of evidence that humour can serve a valuable purpose in a crisis. It has been documented as a way to treat depression…

The Dangers of Being in a Conversation with Ourselves

“A little less conversation, a little more action please” Elvis Presley We all talk to ourselves. If ever you’ve been alone and shouted out “Damn!” (or much worse), you’ve been talking to yourself. Some people talk aloud to themselves whilst they are doing something, or thinking about something. Most of us keep that conversation inside our heads. Being in…

The Graveyard Activity

Overview of the activity This is a powerful activity that can be used to explore career, personal development and biography. It takes many people into a zone of discomfort, a topic that they may not want to explore, so should be taken with this activity. We should be sensitive in choosing it and also throughout…

How Unleashing Your Potential Might Just Turn You Into an Asshole

This is an ugly story, though personally I think it is rather beautiful… Greetings. I’m an asshole (spelled arse-hole in England). I’m not speaking figuratively. I’m speaking literally. How am I managing to talk to you? Out of my ass? Certainly not. There is no ass for me to talk out of – just the…