Phil version 2.0

  “You must philosophise But why must you bore me to tears” (Sandy Denny 1969) Quite a highbrow cartoon this week – Zeno taught Stoic philosophy in the late 4 th  century BCE and he is generally considered to be the founder of this school of thought.   Don’t worry - I’m not about to launch into some philosophical debate! This is just a few words on  an aspect  of Stoicism , that I have been reading about a little, of late.    The point of mentioning it in the blog, is that I am taking something from this philosophy, which seems to be  supportive of my mental health .   I guess that I am trying to use a philosophical idea as part of a “ healing”  process. This is far from a novel idea! Interestingly, an early Stoic called Epictetus saw the role of a philosopher as being akin to a doctor of the soul (by which he will have meant, the mind – so perhaps it would be better think of a  philosopher as a psychologist ).   As I’m sure yo...

  Domestic bliss ... Well, maybe not “bliss”, but “domestic” jobs, anyway ... and yesterday was certainly a “domestic” day, for me.    In the course of a single day, I did all of the following:   ·        Bedding changed ·        Laundry completed and dried ·        House cleaned top to bottom ·        Main weekly food shop bought; and ·        Pasta sauce prepared for this evening’s meal   I guess most of us spend a fair amount of time on these kind of things – I certainly do!    But rather than feeling smug about my achievements, on reflection I should bear in mind that a day like this doesn’t exactly assist with fatigue management and it makes a strong case for better advance planning - did I really need to do them all, in one day? I doubt it!   I am however less tired than you might imagine as I ...

  Let’s start with a little  characteristic digression . Doing so is of course, entirely  in keeping with my new tendency towards disordered thinking and a lack of mental self-control in keeping this in check . Lest anyone think that the foresight evidenced by this paragraph is actually, evidence of  ordered  thought patterns, I should say that I had already digressed, before this struck me, and you are currently reading the product of a later revision.   So – on with the digression:   If anybody cares, I’ve finally understood what this Shakespearian quotation is actually, getting at – all goes to show that I hadn’t read the lines in Twelfth Night that follow right after it.  I’d generally assumed that Orsino craved love and wanted music, so a bit more of it might come his way.  In fact, though, the words that follow, indicate that he is actually seeking a surfeit of love, such that he gets utterly sick of it and doesn’t want to be ...

“Pride comes before a fall”   (or words to that effect - Proverbs 16:18)   Wise words indeed, but for today, I am not planning to extoll the virtues of humility. In the current context, I am using the word “pride” in the conventional sense of a  feeling of self-worth . My “fall” though, is the one that I experienced 10 years ago, and which rather, changed my life. As we will see , the word “before” is pretty important !   As will become apparent, the contents of this post, lend themselves to a sense of boastfulness.    I assure you that this isn’t my intention and by way of anticipatory compensation, I’ll try to keep it pretty short ...      This subject matter was inspired by a conversation I recently had with a care worker. Up until not long ago, he worked overseas as a senior HR executive for a “household name” major corporation. Having just been made redundant, he now finds himself employed in the care industry, in which he delivers day t...