Essential reading on attention and why it matters. Our experience, our lives are made up of what we pay attention to and so attention is a route into the life we want to have. Attention can be a choice and it can be cultivated. A key text on ‘flow states’…
Author: Sonia
The Outrun, Amy Liptrot (2016)
This autobiographical work about alcohol addiction sets Liptrot’s recovery against the wild landscape of Orkney (where ‘the sea has enough power to throw a seal over a fence’). Sober, she feels ‘like a fraud accepting praise…because I want to drink and feel it’s impossible that I won’t again. Yet I…
End Emotional Eating: Using Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Skills to Cope with Difficult Emotions and Develop a Healthy Relationship to Food, Jennifer L. Taitz (2012)
DBT is one of the ‘third wave of behavioural therapies’ originally developed to help those in emotional pain and who as a consequence self-harm. Mindfulness and acceptance are key elements of DBT. Forget willpower, self-control, motivation and learn about awareness, urge-surfing and treating yourself with kindness. Much of this is…
Writing down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg (1986)
This book was recommended to me by a lovely teacher that I trained with, my only regret is that it sat on my shelf for about 15 years before I got around to reading it. This is a liberating read – and if you want to write but are beset…
Autumn Equinox and Turning In
Summer’s ending inevitably brings a little sadness with it. There’s a distinctly autumnal turn in the evening and I’m already…