Writing.
I write about life, work, people and place. Expect oversharing. Here are some of my most popular essays from my newsletter, The Primordial Scoop.
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Remember You Are Dust
Lent began this week, marking the 40-day journey to Easter.
It’s an important and sombre time for the devout, mirroring Jesus’s wandering in the desert; hungry, alone, paranoid, scared and in emotional turmoil, which is also how about two thirds of the world feels, all the time.
This year, for thousands of people in Ukraine Lent will not be a symbolic experience, but a very literal wilderness.
New Rules for Resil(ly)ience in 2022
The fragility of the pandemic is still here in our bodies and our hearts. We’re carrying that pain into 2022. But that can work for us, too.
What if my loss of resilience is actually a demand to focus my life’s energy on what matters?
This year, I’ve simply let go of any delusions about my time, energy and money, and how I will manage all three.
I’ve done less in a traditional sense, but I feel like I’ve lived a little more.
Meet Me in the Waves
Today, the nights are longer and the days are cooler. It’s so rare one can pinpoint the turning of time but that day, I could.
Between the sand and the sea, we crossed from infancy to boyhood.
Take It to the Sea
Sometimes we are the current, pushing and pulling and directing the flow of our lives.
Other times, the sands move from under our feet and we’re forced to move too. This year, I’ve experienced both.
Unbraiding Sweetgrass
“Hold out your hands and let me lay upon them a sheaf of freshly picked sweetgrass, loose and flowing, like newly washed hair...Breathe it in and you start to remember things you didn’t know you’d forgotten.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer, ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’
Stop Waiting. Start Being.
Waiting to take action is actually one of my crummiest qualities, along with self-righteousness, inconsistency and all those failed attempts to stop drinking in the week.
Waiting for Friday night. Waiting to lose weight so I can buy jeans again. Waiting for the children to grow. Everything is just waiting.
Is It Time to Stop Trusting Our Gut?
Trust your gut, they say. Your intuition. Your feelings.
But what if your gut is the most unreliable voice you know?
The gut is for younger, bigger emotions. We’re older now and the stakes are higher. With a family in tow and money on the line, it’s time for a new set of skills. I can’t rely on the gut alone.
It’s time for a meeting of head, heart and gut.
Your Mistakes Can Die Tonight.
My friend is low. My friend is lonely. He feels cut off, typing away in a room in a house. Zoom calls are a poor substitute for interaction with colleagues and god knows they’re forcing us to create a whole new work persona, like we weren’t forcing it enough already.
Cheerily smiling and waving into your own laptop. “Yes, I’m good, thanks. Are you?”
Of course not! No one is.
“She’s All Right, But the Goldfish is Dead.”
My brother Declan is five years older than me. He is a journalist, and has lived in London, New Zealand, Istanbul, Athens and now Abu Dhabi.
He lives like an International Man of Mystery.
He is always posting pictures from amazing cities and no one ever knows who takes them. Who does take those pictures? “A friend.”
You’ll Need a Machete Where We’re Going.
This week I had a long conversation with someone I haven’t seen since March, but have known and loved for 15 years.
We talked about work, money, depression, property, pets, children, parents, Ireland, the Cotswolds, gardening and diets. This was all in under 90 minutes. You know how it is with old friends.