Peace in a Pod

Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights. It is literally that simple. A person doesn’t have to burn their bra, grow out their body hair or ‘hate men’ to be a feminist, and whoever told you that has a lot to answer for. Despite significant improvements in the lives of women (in the Western world) over the last 50 years, there still remains a gap between the ideal and the reality of what it means to exist as a woman in society. I don’t plan on getting into every aspect of feminism in one post - to try to do so would be extremely naive - so consider this the first of many discussions around a very meaningful and worthwhile topic. Today I want to get into what it means to be a successful woman. Chats with other women my age and older, as well as reading feminist literature over the last year in particular, have really helped refine my understanding of how success in life is portrayed to women. So basically there is a narrative in society that is sold to girls fro...

Not a day goes by when we don’t come in contact with it. We experience it in real life, on the TV, through the radio, over the Internet. It makes us feel a whole range of emotions. And no, I’m not talking about incessant COVID news updates. I’m referring, of course, to music . While the concept of music is a bit of a tricky one to pin down and define, the Oxford dictionary makes as good a job of it as any: “ vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion ”. Like, how stunning is that?? The amazing thing about music, in my opinion, is how it can be enjoyed by literally everyone - it is deeply personal, it transcends language, culture, generations and nationality and touches us in a way that is very hard to explain. The fact that it is carried through the air via vibrations makes it a multi-sensory phenomenon too, thus opening it up to those who have hearing difficulties, making sure no-one is excluded from t...

I think I have mentioned once or twice throughout this blog that I enjoy a good journal prompt now and again. More often than not, journal prompts look like questions, and they are designed to induce self-reflection which is then expressed in writing. Your response can be as long and detailed or as short and concise as you please, and you needn’t share what you have written with anyone if you don’t want. As I responded to a few prompts over the weekend, sourced from a website called Psych Central , I came across one which went like this: “If I could talk to my teenage self, the one thing I would say is…”, and the first thought that flowed out of my pen onto the page kind of took me by surprise, in a way, because it made me notice something about how I spent my teenage years. My response was this: “I am the source of my own happiness”. I couldn’t help feeling that this was quite a deep, profound thing to realise, almost 10 years on from adolescence. However, when I thought about it furt...

This week we welcome a new month (perfectly rectangular, in case you hadn’t seen the memes) and a new season too, one usually linked with birth and beginning, and a shaking off of the winter cobwebs. If I could convince you to start any new habit this Spring, it is that of meditation. I have spoken about it on this platform before, from what it actually entails to some of the many benefits it reaps. My own mindfulness practice really came to fruition when I decided to download Headspace 14 months ago. I don’t exactly remember how I had come to hear about it - maybe I saw ads for it on social media - but I am so glad I took the plunge and got it because I truly feel that having a structured meditation practice via the Headspace app has helped me weather the stress of everything over the last year. So stick with me for the next few minutes for a little review of the app (which has a 2-week free trial btw - you’ve been told from the outset). Headspace was founded back in 2010 by two guy...