Psychologies

I enjoyed your feature ‘Love stories’ (March) to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Your case studies’ accounts were so encouraging, and it made me think about my own relationship. Love isn’t perfect, it isn’t a fairy tale and it doesn’t always come easy. Bu

THERE IS GROWING patient-led and evidence-based demand for integrating complementary therapies into mainstream cancer care. Among these is meditation. Researchers in New York tested the effect of teaching a loving-kindness meditation practice to pati

Do you a Lodestars Anthology is an independent journal that explores one country every issue – an inspiring scrapbook of its natural beauty, as well as some of the characters who embody the heart of the nation, taking a personal, crafted and slow app

Did you know that only one in 10 people in Britain is consuming the recommended 30g of fibre a day? To help the nation get FibreFit, Ryvita has launched the #Ryvita30in30 FibreFit challenge. You can take part and discover how easy it is to get mor

Many of us are feeling depleted after the challenges of the past year. Travel and personal restrictions, isolation, homeworking and homeschooling, not to mention worries about our health and that of loved ones, relationships, work and money. A lot

Psychologies cover star and Radio 2 DJ Sara Cox told me months ago about the time she texted Davina McCall. ‘Davina, being Davina, rang me straight back – which is lovely,’ said Sara. ‘She put me in touch with success coach Michael Heppell, which was

After 25 years at the forefront of coaching and coach training in the UK, I remain  fascinated by the psychology of human experience and behaviour. As pioneers of coaching to the highest standards, our focus is to inspire personal growth and make the

There was a time, in my early teens, when I was obsessed with those ‘choose your own adventure’ books. At the end of each chapter, you had a choice of what happens next, with each taking you down a different path to a different ending. Instead of wor

THE FIRST PEARL of wisdom my mother forgot to roll my way was that my inner child would live on inside me like a needy miniature doppelganger, and that I would have to continue parenting her when our darling mum vacated this earth. I call her neggie

YEARS AGO, I DISCOVERED an exercise in a counselling book that both scared and excited me. I started using it with groups and the impact was amazing. But it took courage and staying power to get people to commit to trying it. I would sit in rooms and

Donna* told me that she and Adam had been living together for a year. Adam had two teenage children, who spent three weekends a month with them. Donna explained that Adam and his ex-wife got on and that his ex was happily remarried to a man named Dav

People don’t think twice about taking a selfie, but drawing one? Now there’s a challenge. Many of us know that creativity can help us through difficult times but, when it comes to drawing, we tend to look outward for inspiration. We draw things that

Despite the very best efforts of our education system, it is struggling to cope with fully supporting the emotional wellbeing of our children within the curriculum. Have you ever felt that you would love to help, but were powerless to act? Well, here

I REMEMBER WALKING INTO the interview for my first job, hanging my jacket on the chair and revealing enormous sweat patches under my arms. I was mortified and lost concentration. I stumbled through, only to get flustered by the most obvious questions

DO WE KNOW when we are being oppressed? Recent global events have  thrown a light on oppression in society, but what about in our personal lives – what does oppression look like? It can affect how we live our lives, even when we are unaware of it.›In

Writing in her beautiful visual diary, The Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us, Emma Mitchell notes: ‘Taking a daily walk among plants and trees is as medicinal as any talking cure… even if it’s only for five or 10 minutes. Seeing the blackthorns and li

Anxious and uneasy Frazzled and fragmented Restless and understimulated Unsettled and directionless You’re looking elsewhere for answers Other things take priority You seldom feel as if you have time to spend outside It’s not scheduled

American poet Molly McCully Brown came into the world ‘blue and tiny and sparring for my place in it. Two pounds with my fists up’. Premature and starved of oxygen, her identical twin didn’t survive the birth, while Brown was diagnosed with cerebral

AS I WRITE THIS at my desk in Devon, sunshine slants over my fingers through the window and, on the bank outside, there is a cascade of blooming daffodils. I am infused with the hopeful warmth of lemon yellow. The heat and light of the sun is always

Descending into the blue, joy surges through my body as we float over a dramatic underwater cliff. Hard and soft coral is framed by a school of yellowtail snappers, while inquisitive Caribbean reef sharks swim close by to give us the eye, their bodie

SOME MIGHT SAY the benefits of fermented foods are anecdotal, but they have been eaten for millennia for their health-giving properties. You could look at them as a demonstration of a long-standing give-and-take relationship with our microbial world.

I’ve resisted and resisted again, but it’s deadline day and I simply have to tune into Harry and Meghan’s podcast, Archewell Audio. The problem is that, being of a certain vintage, when I think of Harry, I think of a posh bloke in a fleece tumbling

LIKE OUR GARDENS, we are ready to embrace the new season and bloom. The passing of the spring equinox means warmer, longer days and the gardening season has begun. Lawns can have their first cut, seedlings are ready to be planted out and pots and flo

Let’s face it, life is busy, with constant demands on our time, so it’s no wonder we get to the end of the day tired and scratching our heads for dinner ideas. Takeaways are tempting but knowing a couple of quick alternatives in the kitchen can save

Pronto! Arctic Intenso coffee, £1, groceries.morrisons.com; Merchant Gourmet Cajun-style lentils and beans, £2, waitrose.com; Firelli hot sauce, £3.95, and Booja Booja Easter vegan truffles, £9.99, both amazon.co.uk; Berczy sparkling water drink, £2.

IN OUR STERILE, tech-dependent world, it’s easy to lose touch with one of our greatest resources – nature. In this Dossier, we explore how communing with Mother Nature can help us heal, and reconnect with what matters most. Anita Chaudhuri talks to e

1 Try to rekindle the amazement that had you as a young child encountering the joys of nature. As adults, we can become jaded and take magnificent places and creatures for granted. 2 Go out when it’s windy or raining. Wild forces can remove you from

• Start a nature collection: ‘Every time I go for a walk, I fill my pockets with tiny finds, such as an acorn, an empty snail shell or a pretty stone,’ says author Emma Mitchell. Pick a theme – you could choose a colour or collect different types of