Slow Journeys in the Same Direction

I’ve often found myself using this phrase to describe my life.  When I had the opportunity to publish a colouring book, I thought it would be a good title for something combining my love of doodling and dreamwhispering. This blog will share the contents of the colouring book to help us identify more about our…

Go slow, take your timeIf you want your dream to beBuild it slowly and surely.Small beginnings, greater endsHeartfelt work grows purely.If you want to live life freeTake your time, go slowly.Do few things but do them wellSimple joys are holy.* The first doodle Go slow, take your time echoes the sentiment of Donovan Leitch’s Little Church,…

To become a philosopher, start by walking very slowly.* On the wall of a hostel in Cowgate, Edinburgh, a neon sign declares: “NOT ALL THOSE WHO WANDER ARE LOST.” For many, wandering is a way of slowing down in order to see more: I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my…

Have you ever been told not to dawdle and to hurry up? We now need to learn how slow down in a hurried world. Doodling derives from the word dawdling, connecting slow images and slow walking. There are many forms of slow walking.  In his book The Lost Art of Walking, Geoff Nicholson introduces his…

Every engaging story has one. The protagonist is the person in the story who needs something and will not give up until they have it.  It begins with an instigating moment – usually within the first ten to fifteen minutes of a movie – either our protagonist comes to the realisation that something must change,…

Here is the first doodle I drew for the book.  It’s where I just had to begin, with a message of wonder. We are a species capable of being both amazed and amazing. There’s a connection here. This is how it is with every child but amazement and amazing appear to wane as we grow…

Our lives are speaking to us all the time. They are telling about what we can do really well, how we flourish, and even what it is we want to do with our lives to make a difference for someone, somewhere. I call these whispers. Almost too quiet to notice. And we don’t have enough…

The status quo looks after itself.  As long as we’re unquestioning, disinterested and disengaged, or feel helpless to act, nothing changes. In mindfulness, this state is referred to as autopilot, life goes on without us stopping and looking more closely, reflecting, or changing direction.  Theory U refers to it as downloading: we simply hit “repeat”…

In Mindset, Carol Dweck includes a page containing eight portraits arranged in pairs.  The left hand drawing in each of the pairs looks as if it’s been completed by a child, the right hand looks to be drawn by adults with reasonable art skills including proportioned features, and light and shadow. It turns out, though,…

Look closely enough and you will spot brown paper packages wrapped up with string, blue satin sashes – as well as bees and their stings, and dogs and their bites.  The Sound of Music is one of my favourite things. I love to watch this film and, with my wife Christine, have been on the…