The Best Morning

When you look at the state of the world (and the weather) at the moment, especially in the media, it could be easy to think that we’re nearing the end of days. So perhaps it can be difficult to see that there is good in the world and things for which you need to be […]

Doing Nothing Is Actively Doing Something

Today’s my birthday. ‘Happy birthday’ you say. Well thank you. That’s very kind of you. But what am I doing on this ‘special’ day you may ask? Well, I have taken the day off work and my only plan is to meet Mrs Away From The Noise for lunch later. Other than that, I’m doing […]

What Are Your Forbidden Colours?

Even though I have lived in Andalucia in the south of Spain for over nine years, I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to the fact. It’s 11.30am on a Tuesday morning and I’m having a coffee in a typical bar in Granada. ‘Forbidden Colours’ by David Sylvian and the late Ryuichi Sakamoto has just […]

How Do You Know That You’ve Finished Creating Something?

How do you know that a lyric, song, story, painting or book is finished? Have you said what you needed to say? How do you know? Have you hit the target number of words for your book? Have you found a colour and shape in your artwork that fills your soul? But again, how do […]

Memento Mori on the Metro in Granada

I’ve just got the bus to the metro stop and am now on the tram on the way into town. Granada. Where I live now. Again. I first lived here for two years when I came to Spain in 2014 after living in London. I lived in a small village in Almeria in the south-east […]

More Beautiful For Having Been Broken

I was recently reading about Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing pottery. Other than being aesthetically pleasing and delicately minimal, what caught my eye was the underlying motivation behind it being that gold or silver lacquer is used in the repair process on the understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken. […]

How To Be Who You Are

Being who you really are can be challenging. Maybe your opinion differs to the ‘group’ or you don’t feel confident enough to say what you think even though you’re sure you’re right. Perhaps you’ve spent years being somebody else and you’re not sure who you really are anymore. Whatever it may be for you, rest […]

What Won’t Happen If You Don’t Do It?

Fancy a challenge that will give you some clarity in your personal or professional life? The question in the title of this post may initially sound odd with its double negative, however it is in fact part of a set of questions called the Cartesian questions. I’ve noticed that my coaching clients often find these […]

How To Be Happy Being Slow

I love listening to podcasts and while looking for some new ones, I recently noticed a facility on my podcast app where you can ‘speed listen’. I presume that the objective of this is that the faster you listen, the more you consume, the more productive/better/faster you will be in your own life and this […]

Why Do You Do What You Do?

Is it money, fame, and glory? This can be true to varying degrees for many people, but if you are not one of those people, what is your real motivation for doing what you do? I watched one of my favourite films ‘Sideways’ last night. Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it! At the very […]

I Don’t Care What You Do. I Want To Know Who You Are

It’s the question we always hear whenever we are at an event or social gathering. Once we have broken the ice and found out the other person’s name, what is the default first question of the ‘conversation’? Our first question to a complete stranger is to find out what they do during the day to […]

And What If You Had The Time?

What would you really do with it? Nobody seems to have any time these days. But people have always been busy. There have always been families, jobs and social lives to consider. We have more ever-improving technology than ever to make our lives easier so we can ‘save time’ to enjoy our lives more. But […]