Several months ago, I spent a lovely day with friends on a warm glass making workshop. Only a couple of hours after I’d got my pieces home, the laptop slid gently onto one of my creations, breaking it into 4. Because of all my hours of yoga & meditation, my first reaction wasn’t anger & to hurl it into the bin never to be seen again, but sadness & disappointment, soon followed by wondering what to do next. I realised I had 3 choices: Leave it broken & throw away the pieces, Do a quick repair so it’s impossible to tell if & where it was broken, To use it as an opportunity to learn Kintsugi, where you take time over the repair & highlight the scars. What is Kintsugi? Kintsugi is a 400+ year old Japanese a repair method where you use gold (or in my case golden powder) in the glue so that instead of hiding the breaks, they’re emphasised. The process is built on the idea that by embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art. Every break is unique and instead of being invisible, each scar is highlighted. Depending on the complexity of the break it can be a lengthy process & it’s an opportunity to create something unique, beautiful and resilient. So that’s what I did. I started asking for help from my husband Roger (as he’s more experienced with glue). We researched & sourced the materials &, … Read more
How many small steps to healing do you want to take?
I have this quote on my website, and I feel that it‘s worth repeating Maybe you’re thinking, “If I just sit here and wait, something will change” and that’s the … Read more
What baggage do you really need?
For many people it’s the start of the holiday season and it made me think about what we really need to take with us and what we can leave behind. … Read more
Learn from Andy Murray how to develop Something Inside so Strong
I’ve been to two events this week where I’ve sung the song “Something Inside so Strong’ and it started me thinking how for me personally having something inside so strong … Read more
How I plan to support childless women
When I set up my coaching business about a year ago, I knew in my heart that supporting childless women was what I really wanted to do, but I wasn’t … Read more
5 reasons you need a guide even when you know where you want to go
A few months ago I decided to change my business to specifically provide support for childless women. Making the decision to change was the easy part. Then I was stuck. … Read more
Which books helped you to come to terms with childlessness?
I saw recently that the book chain Waterstones is inviting readers to name a book that altered their lives, it’s part of a project called ‘The Book That Made Me’ … Read more
How do you nurture yourself and how do you play?
I read in the paper recently that a new international study by the Journal of Consumer Research found that “listening to sad music was the best way to recover from … Read more
Speaking with my Authentic Childless Voice (part 2)
A few weeks ago I wrote about how hard I found it to speak openly about being childless, how by not doing so I was hiding my true self from … Read more
Living a Happy life – what do you want; the importance of values?
Here’s the first in my series on tips and tricks to help childless women live a happy life. This week I’m going to discuss values. Basically the more your values … Read more
Today I’m feeling grateful
Last week I wrote about some of the negatives of being childless, and as I write this the sun is shining (albeit briefly) so I feel that it’s a good … Read more
What’s it like to be childless?
In the last couple of weeks, in a quest to really understand what it’s like to be childless I’ve interviewed almost 20 women. I can’t thank them enough for sharing … Read more
Speaking with my Authentic Childless Voice
I know how hard I’ve found it to speak openly about being childless, and I also know that by not doing so I’ve been hiding my true self from the … Read more
Childless or Childfree – what’s the difference & does it matter?
I’ve been using the term Childless to describe myself for over 10 years since we stopped trying to have children and jumped off the IVF rollercoaster. Having read various other … Read more
beliefs guide everything we do
I’m going to talk about 2 beliefs this time; Have respect for the other person’s model of the world/point of view My previous articles have talked about how we act … Read more