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 you can imagine, Stoics have a fair amount to say about emoti

  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 did benefit from the assistance of a care worker.     By way of some background ...   Therapists will often describe activities such as these, to be “ADLs” – activities of daily living.   

  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 loved anymore - lovesickness cured!   Never let it 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 to day care.   In some ways, our positions ar