Are you using your smartphone too much?
Photo credit where due, it’s not mine. I have been thinking about my phone. A lot. Too much. I’ve been thinking and touching it so much that before our family holiday I’m seeking to get things back in proportion. In this post I’m sharing possible solutions to my imbalance because I know many other bright, capable people are thinking too much about theirs too. Come to think of it, it’s not the phone element of the phone is it? It’s the apps. It’s the software... Read More
Psychologies September Issue
A pleasure to collaborate again with journalist Elle Tucker on a piece entitled ‘The work less live more diet.’ Elle came to me asking for my views on how to achieve work-life balance to which I said I don’t believe in it and shared my thoughts on boundaries, appreciate inquiry and intuition. Elle lapped it up and so the ‘holisitic approach’ was added to the feature. Elle road-tested the approach and reports, “Chivers’ plan offered small... Read More
Boundaries are better than ‘balance’
Through my work I have the privilege of hearing other women’s aspirations, concerns and insights into the minutiae of what it takes to be at their best. One thing that comes up time and again is boundaries. Not the leylandii/neighbour dispute type, but the demarcations we use to ensure we spread our energy around a range of pursuits. In this post I’m offering boundaries as an alternative to pursuing ‘work-life balance’ - a phrase I detest. ‘Work-life... Read More
The Triple Burden
Rummaging around my PC looking for an article I thought I’d written, I found something else I started writing over a year ago and never quite finished before forgetting about it. I give you an eplanation of what the ‘triple burden’ of motherhood is and why it’s an issue. Let me know what you think: The Triple Burden: Bad Behaviour, Broken Heating and a Burgeoning Workload? I have turned to writing to stave off the tears prickling behind my eyes. For the... Read More
Working Mothers Holiday Enid Blyton Style
We’ve been a long time in Noddy Land in our house (no really, this is a literary reference not me berating myself for a series of school girl errors of late ha ha!) and have recently moved on to Enid Blyton’s The famous Five. We’ve started with Five on a Treasure Island which is the first of Blyton’s much loved middle class, isn’t-life-wonderful, childhood adventure stories of five little poppets doing wholesome things together on holiday. By page two I decide this is... Read More
Family Flourishing
It seems like the advertising world beat me to ‘my’ great idea four years before I had it. Whilst I’ve been writing my book (Mothers Work! Published by Hay House, June 2011) I’ve been thinking up ways to drum up interest in my work as coach and author. It’s not enough to have a NEW book these days, you’ve got to have side issues that make for interesting stories in glossie mags and newspapers in their own right before you’ll get a plug.... Read More
The ‘I’ in To-Do List
As well as writing weekly professional and domestic to-do lists I keep a third that’s all about me. Things I want or need to do for myself this week. Why do I do this? Because if we don’t replenish, refill and take care of ourselves what chance do we stand of being able to take care of others? Like the orange Easyjet man reminded so many of us this summer, “In the event of an emergency, fit your own lifejacket and breathing apparatus before attempting to... Read More
