The Reward is the Journey

My body tells me it is unhappy.  Physically, 2016 does not feel to have got off to the best start for me...   I have been plagued by several bugs which feel to have got me in their grips one after the other.  Or perhaps I have failed to shake off the original which has lurked within my system. We are beyond honey and lemon.  I have exhausted my supplies of Echinacea drops and Manuka honey.   Paracetamol, ibuprofen and decongestant have all been surrendered to.  And now antibiotics have been introduced to the mix.  I must confess to feeling somewhat self piteous.  In all likelihood I have a chest infection.  I only hope it will respond to the prescribed penicillin. As my GP efficiently signed the script that had only just emerged from the printer, we discussed how long I was to consider myself 'signed off' for.   As a self employed practitioner I have nobody to give my sick note to, but my doctor knows that its best...

The trailer promised great things.  Eddie Redmayne for one.  His performance as Lili Elbe (born Einar Wegener) was masterful.  Set in 1920s Copenhagen, I wonder how much things have really changed?  I felt the film portrayed very accurately the awful cost born by so many of the trans* community as they navigate worlds in which they feel bound to conceal their true selves beneath constructed identities.   As a therapist who specialises in working with gender issues I have the privilege of supporting gender variant, queer and querying clients who do not fit neatly into the boxes so many quarters of society still seek to prescribe.   To speak of the challenges this presents hardly does justice to the daily battles being fought that the cisgender majority are unlikely to ever face.  Unless of course, that cis individual is in a relationship with a trans* person...   This was, for me, what the film spoke to most directly observ...

I have had a cold since Boxing Day. Having been celebrating my apparently indestructible immune system in the lead up to Christmas, I fell at the first hurdle and have been limping ever since.  My friend and colleague Sarah tripped on New Year's Eve and fractured her fifth metatarsal.  Our workshop could not be better timed... 'Shattered but still whole' has been something of a mantra for me at different times:  the challenges life throws at us can often feel to shatter the bodymind, mindfulness has helped me to remain connected to a sense of wholeness, come what may. The opportunity to practice alongside others is always a privilege.  Yesterday's workshop which we had given the title 'Let it Begin with Me' at the dawn of the new year was a particular pleasure, and I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on what we do when we set our intentions - both for our practice and beyond. Intentions, like seeds, are what we plant, in the service of an eventual yi...