“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill Churchill’s words feel like a useful reminder of what’s needed for the times, indeed any times, we live in. He led a nation through the darkest of days, calling into service the hearts and courage of his...
‘What our deepest self craves is not mere enjoyment, but some supreme purpose that will enlist all our powers and give unity and direction to our life. We can never know the profoundest joy without a conviction that our life is significant – not a meaningless episode.’ Henry J Golding There’s so much talk about...
Have you noticed how often heart comes up in our everyday speech? Take heart, put my heart and soul into it, heart in the right place, heart of gold, wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve, heart in your mouth, change of heart, heart to heart. I could go on, and you will have your own...
As leaders and conscious people, we are encouraged to come into contact with our own personal purpose, our ‘why’ – individually and within organisations. Why do we exist, what is it that we are bringing into the world? In what way are we adding value, something unique or important? Why is the world better for...
‘A sense of the universe, a sense of the all, the nostalgia which seizes us when confronted by nature, beauty, music – these seem to be an expectation and awareness of a Great Presence’. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin This beautiful quote by philosopher Teilhard du Chardin describes both the accessible and ‘everyday’ portals to an...
Trust. It’s such a small word for such a huge concept. Being clear with ourselves who and in what we trust is what helps us to navigate life – to work out where our safety and freedom lies, emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. Understanding our relationship with trust is also important. Knowing whether we are...
We all know that love is a word, a sentiment, a feeling that we most closely associate with loved ones, family, friends and so on. We don’t often use it in a wider context within say our work life or our wider connections. Some of this could be because we have confined our understanding of...
When we think about finding our way, of having the right directions we may think of Sat Nav or Google maps. If we’re old school we might be drawn to maps and atlases. Hopefully we’ll have a bit of a sense of direction and a little bit of luck too. Yet there’s something deeper and...
Down the ages we have seen seemingly impossible feats achieved, immense tides turned to flow in a more positive direction, hatred, violence and division move into a space of forgiveness and reconciliation. Lincoln’s abolition of slavery, the defeat of Nazism, the ending of apartheid in South Africa, the peace process in Northern Ireland are just...
As each day brings us more difficult news about the state of our world it would be easy to withdraw, to hide, even to wither under the onslaught, especially if this is layered on top of more personal challenges in our daily lives. Yet now, as never before, hiding isn’t an option. We need to...