WELLBEING • MINDFULNESS • CREATIVIT Y • ESCAPE

Breathe
and make time for yourself

In step with nature Green dreams Say it your way A word to the wise Time to share Get on board
Be here now Material world Brush with imagination Everlasting blooms of joy Small talk, big picture
WELCOME Life carries on. There might be times when its presence is unwelcome or
intrusive. It can even seem insensitive – how can traffic flow, shops open
and people chatter when a heart is broken? Mostly, however, everyday
murmurs of life bring reassurance, especially when they’re found in
nature – the buzz of a solitary bee, the snuffling of a hedgehog, the
flutter of a butterfly’s wings.

In fact, the sounds, sights, scents and sensations of the natural world
are a remedy for peace and calm at those very moments when one might
wish that everything would just stop, or at least slow down a little. It’s
why so many people love the great outdoors.

Some choose to venture far, tucking an old-fashioned map in their

pocket as they head off to navigate the wider countryside, identifying
flora and fauna en route. Others opt for local green spaces, be it a private
garden, a public park, or, perhaps more unusually, a graveyard, a place
where life and death are inextricably interwined and that can offer room
for humankind to reflect and wildlife to flourish.

Wherever you choose to enjoy nature – and with the warmer days, now’s
a good time to do it – take time to stop, listen, look and tune in to the
hum of all Earth’s creatures. Life can be hard, but time spent in nature
can make it feel that bit easier.

COVER ARTIST
Maggie Stephenson is a US-based artist and illustrator. Born in Poland and raised in Germany,
her work reflects a cultural richness as well as a fluidity of form and colour. To view her
portfolio, visit maggiestephenson.com and follow her on Instagram @ _maggiestephenson_.
CONTENTS
BREATHE ISSUE 40

WELLBEING LIVING
6 Be here now 32 Frozen assets
Embracing impermanence and letting go Exploring the history that feeds
of the past or future allows you to truly into authentic Italian gelato
grab the present with both hands
36 A taste of heaven
Breathe (ISSN 2397-9747) is published by
GMC Publications Ltd, 86 High Street, 10 Say it your way All the way from Florence, gelato master
Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1XN If journalling is becoming a chore rather Simone Spaggiari shares three signature
Tel: +44 (0) 1273 477374 than a pleasure, you could try committing recipes to thrill the tastebuds
your thoughts to audio instead
For editorial enquiries, email:
hello@breathemagazine.com
38 Time to share
14 Discomfort zone Why the act of giving your knowledge,
For article and illustration How to harness the power of skills or objects can be a tonic for the soul
submissions, go to: healthy stress
breathemagazine.com/submissions
42 Wildlife in black and white
Editorial: Catherine Kielthy, 18 Work in progress Badgers are a familiar icon for many,
Samhita Foria, Jane Roe Job hunting can bring about myriad but these stalwarts of the British
Design: Jo Chapman emotions, as well as deeper insights countryside are in danger
Marketing: Anne Guillot, Mario Perez
into your life’s pathway
Production: Jim Bulley, Scott Teagle
Publisher: Jonathan Grogan 48 Life after death
Distribution: Seymour Distribution Ltd 22 A word to the wise Unearthing the changing role of
Printer: Precision Colour Printers Do you heed your own advice to others? graveyards around the world
Subscription enquiries:
T: +44 (0) 1273 488005 or 26 Get on board 52 Jigsaw joy
pubs@thegmcgroup.com …with bellyboarding: it’s fun, accessible Piecing together the many benefits
and more environmentally friendly of getting stuck into a puzzle
To subscribe online, go to:
breathemagazine.com/subscribe than some beachtime pursuits

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and no legal responsibility can be accepted for the
result of the use by readers of information or advice
of whatever kind given in this publication, either in
editorial or advertisements.

Nutritional information given is a guideline only and

may vary due to ingredients/quantities used. The
ideas and suggestions contained in this publication
are not intended as a substitute for consulting your
GP. The publisher disclaims all liability in connection
with the use of this publication.
The information supplied in book extracts is the
responsibility of the book’s original publisher.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means without the prior permission of the
Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd.
© Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd 2021.

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2
MINDFULNESS
58 Small talk, big picture
Idle chit-chat gets a bad rap, but there
can be unexpected joys from exchanging
pleasantries with strangers
62 This life
Looking back on your journey so far can
help bring about a clearer perspective on
how you might like to move forward
64 Parts of the story
Bringing all your conflicting states in
harmony is no easy feat – here’s how
to negotiate your way to resolution
70 Control-panel reset
How to push past feelings of
powerlessness in times of crisis
74 Internal affairs
Ever told yourself you hate the way you
look or you’ll be dead before a project
is finished? Self-talk can be harsh and
damaging, which is why it’s important
to mind your language
facebook.com/justbreathemagazine • breathemagazine.com • instagram.com/justbreathemagazine
CREATIVITY
78 Everlasting blooms of joy
Dried flowers are the fuss-free way to
bring nature’s palette into your home
84 Brush with imagination
Seeing the world anew through the
whimsical works of the Impressionists
88 Now breathe...
Meet the professional flautist who
turned a debilitating illness into an
innovative and inclusive adventure
92 Material world
From books to suitcases and plants to
perfumes, the arrangement of physical
possessions can help bring to the fore
items that best serve the here and now
ESCAPE
98 Lines of beauty
Discovering the artistry and precision
of nature’s symmetry
104 Green dreams
Books for when you need inspiration
to return to the garden
108 Come to life
Some of Breathe’s favourite submissions
from this year’s International Garden
Photographer of the Year awards
116 In step with nature
Why eschewing GPS and rediscovering
the art of map-reading allows a deeper
connection with the outside world
120 Apology required?
Overusing the word ‘sorry’ can bring
about more harm than good
3
 WELLBEING

‘To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all’
Oscar Wilde
6
Be here now
What does it mean to truly live in the moment? Welcoming change and letting go of
attachment to the past or future could open up a world of possibilities
By the time you’ve finished reading this sentence, that moment
of your life when you did so has already passed. Words spoken
and experiences all become history as soon as they’re over. For
some people, this reminder of the fleeting nature of life can be
a cause for anxiety, the feeling that time is slipping away like
grains of sand falling through an hourglass. But if you turn
this around, being aware of the impermanence of life can be a
powerful tool. It can help you begin each day afresh, let go of
ingrained fears and revitalise relationships. It means you don’t
have to be wedded to old decisions or feelings. And at the heart
of accepting and embracing change is learning to focus on who
you are, at this moment, on this day.
Constant change
The idea of impermanence forms a cornerstone of many
Buddhist teachings, with the belief that everything in life is
impermanent, and nothing lasts or stays the same. Trying
to grasp or hold on to the way things were – or even the way
things are today – will only bring suffering, because everything
will inevitably change. This is an essential and inescapable fact
of life. Tides change, seasons change, times change and people
change. The way you are feeling in this moment, as you read
this article, is different from the way you were feeling an hour
ago. And the way you will feel in an hour’s time will be different
again. Buddhists believe that welcoming impermanence opens
you up to the possibility of happiness in the present moment,
and that there is always beauty to be seen and felt in life.
You don’t need to follow a spiritual path to benefit from
opening yourself up to the opportunities change can bring.
Practical life coach Kate Tilston, from South Devon, teaches
her clients to think pragmatically about who they are today
and what they can affect now, to move forward. ‘Each day you
have the power to have a different day, if you are open to it,’ says
Kate. ‘You can’t affect what happened yesterday but you do have
the tools for today.’ She believes choosing ‘to carry yesterday
around with you… can become quite toxic. Some people come
to me saying they’re terrified of change, but what they’re
actually frightened of is the possibilities [change] offers and
whether they’ll be able to cope with them.’
Focusing on impermanence can have a positive effect on
relationships. Think about how different you might feel today
than you did yesterday, last week, month or even a decade
ago. The ‘you’ of today has been shaped by your moods and
experiences. So, it’s only fair to accept that the people around
you could be subject to the same changes and developments
in their moods and opinions too. Following that train of
thought, if you had a disagreement with somebody yesterday,
you can remind yourself that both of the people involved in
that exchange are already in another place. The you of today is
different as will be the person with whom you disagreed. It can
be a powerful lesson in wiping the slate clean.
Kate explains: ‘Grudges can happen when we hang on to
stuff. It’s worth remembering it’s okay to change and there’s
great freedom in deciding that a behaviour no longer suits you.’
She points out that impermanence can also mean showing
kindness and empathy toward others, and allowing them
to move forward too. ‘If you need to have a cross word with
someone, there might be events you don’t know about that
are influencing their behaviour. Perhaps they’ve just had a
phone call with bad news, or reversed their car into a post and
are worrying how to pay for it. It’s not an excuse for others
behaving badly but it can help you to accept people in the
moment, then move on and start afresh in the next moment.’
Starting over
As well as being able to change mindset, the human body
itself is always changing. Individual cells are in constant flux,
growing and dying off. Scientists have estimated the human
7
 body has around 37 trillion cells, each having its own lifespan.
Red blood cells, for example, live for up to four months, while
colon cells live for four days on average. Take a moment to look
at the skin on your hands. The lifespan of a skin cell is around
three to four weeks, so even your skin is ever-changing and
therefore impermanent. If you find it challenging to embrace
change, you could remember how your body is constantly
renewing itself.
One of the most magical things about embracing
impermanence is that it opens you up to possibilities you
aren’t even aware of yet. If you’re busy trying to control various
aspects of your life, it’s worth considering that you’re only able
to exert power over the elements you know about. You can’t
control what you don’t know. Resisting change can be tiring
and mentally draining. It can also be futile trying to defy a
future you can’t even foresee. A good antidote to resistance can
be focusing instead on living an expansive life and, at a more
immediate level, an expansive day. Try opening yourself up to
the idea that even tasks you consider mundane might hold fresh
possibilities. Who might you meet on the school run or while
walking the dog? Where might a conversation take you? What
new opportunities might arrive in your inbox? What could you
see if you took the time to look more closely at the world?
Emma Mumford, a life coach from Dorset, says that if
you can embrace the fact that everyone is living in a state of
constant change, you can also benefit from it and even make
it a superpower. ‘I have a term for it – “cocreating with the
8
universe”,’ she says. ‘It’s about being open to all possibilities
and understanding that the universe might have something
different or better in mind for you.’ She adds: ‘Letting go is a
key step in opening yourself up to the law of attraction. If you’re
trying to control everything, you’re not surrendering to all the
possibilities that are out there for you.’
Wasting time worrying about things that might never happen
could mean missing out on real opportunities, she says: ‘My
mantra is “I deal with it when it’s on the table”. There’s no point
in stressing about things that are in the past or future. You have
to keep reminding yourself that right now, in this moment,
you’re exactly where the universe wants you to be.’
One way of being open to change is to start your day by
reminding yourself that whatever happens, you’ll be okay. Plans
might change, other people might be challenging, but you
have the tools you need to deal with whatever comes. If you
take the fear out of change you can open yourself up to all
ILLUSTRATIONS: KIMBERLEY LAURA WALKER
the good it can bring. So, when you open your eyes each
morning, remind yourself to stay open-minded too.
Words: Jade Beecroft
To find out more about Kate, visit katetilston.
co.uk. For more of Emma’s thoughts, go to
emmamumford.co.uk.
9
10
Say it your way
How keeping a spoken journal of thoughts and feelings can do you a power of good
Have you ever found yourself talking out loud or verbalising
your thoughts and feelings? If you went a step further
and recorded your speech on a device, you would be audio
journalling, the practice of keeping an aural record of what’s
on your mind. Research has shown that talking to yourself is
both normal and beneficial for mental health, while several
studies have demonstrated that journalling is a powerful tool
for happiness and goal-setting. So that gives audio journalling,
which combines the two, the potential to be a double win.
The origins of documenting our innermost thoughts and
feelings through an audio journal is sometimes traced back to
US-born Iolene Catalano, who in the months and days before
her death in 1994 of an AIDS-related illness, reflected on her
life through a microphone. The recordings were collated by
David Isay and released a year later as an audio journal called
All the Way Broken. Through the entries, Iolene describes her
childhood experiences in ophanages, mental institutions and
reform schools, as well as her time as a poet and singer.
According to Dr Raheel Karim, a consultant psychiatrist at
Pall Mall Medical in Manchester who also practises within
the NHS, the process of giving voice to thoughts and feelings
in this way can be just as cathartic as writing them down. For
him, it is another ‘effective tool’ to find emotional release: ‘By
verbalising your thoughts and feelings, you release them from
your brain,’ he says. ‘This verbalisation begins the acceptance
of those emotions, which can help you make better decisions
and calm your mind.’
No filter
When something is written on paper, or in a digital format such
as a text message, the mind has more time to process and think
about what is going to be said. Arguably, an audio journal can
encourage a person to be more openly expressive about their
emotions, says Raheel. ‘When you write, there is a tendency
to fi lter and edit what you record. This means that a written
account is not always the most accurate reflection of how you
really feel. When you talk out loud, you are more likely to
release raw truths that you might censor otherwise.’
He adds that audio journalling is an important tool for
tackling overwhelming moments as they happen, or when
you are feeling overwhelmed reflecting about an event. In the
moment, when emotions are running high, it can also be easier
to press a button on a phone and start talking than to find pen
and paper and begin jotting down thoughts.
Be an observer
Audio journals allow you to step outside yourself and observe
your thoughts and emotions, which is key to healing, says
psychologist Jacky Power: ‘Hearing yourself say it out loud, even
into a microphone, changes your relationship with the feeling
because it brings in an element of observation.
‘This helps because you can then recognise that you’re not
your feelings, which is important, because people can worry
that if they feel a certain unpleasant way, it will never go away.
That’s not true. The pain is in the resistance to the feeling.’
11
 Crying out loud
You might not realise that an event has caused you distress
until you begin to say it out loud – and when you do, the tears
might follow. Sometimes this emotional release can only
happen when a person is alone as there can be a tendency to put
on a brave front in the company of friends or family. But crying
can help in the healing process both emotionally and physically.
Jacky explains that tears cried through feelings of grief contain
a hormone that acts as a natural painkiller: ‘Called leucine
enkephalin, it is only released as you grieve, not when you cry
tears of joy. When you share how you feel and allow yourself
the very natural process of crying, you are helping your body
to do what it does best and soothe your pain, bringing you
back to homeostasis.’
Acceptance
Speaking freely about emotional issues is something Leanne
MacDonald, wellbeing coach and founder of The Everyday
Goddess Revolution, advocates in her work with both children
and adults. She believes that an audio process is a powerful
12
way to voice things you haven’t been able to say out loud
among other people. ‘People often experience inner tension
and uncomfortable emotions because of unmet expectations
of another person, situation or event,’ she says. ‘[Audio
journalling] allows the release of unresolved emotion and it’s
even more powerful when you can listen back to what you’ve
expressed, or convert the audio into a transcript and read it back
as this allows you to see the situation from a new perspective
and neutralise the emotional tension.’
With accessibility a mere click away on a smartphone, why
not give audio journalling a try? You never know where the
journey may lead you.
ILLUSTRATIONS: CAROLINA ALTAVILLA
Words: Gwen Jones
If you’re finding thoughts and emotions difficult to cope with alone,
it can help to talk about it to your GP or health professional. Help
and support can also be found at mind.org.uk.
DIGITAL TALK
There are several apps for audio journalling and most
phones also have an in-built facility, though this is likely
to have fewer options. Here, Dr Karim highlights some
of the benefits of using an app to record your thoughts

1. Control. By releasing thoughts and emotions from your mind

through speech, you are taking ownership of them. This can
reduce the likelihood of becoming overwhelmed.
2. Reflection. Lots of apps provide timeline options, so if you
wish to, you can reflect on your mental health journey and see
how far you’ve come.
3. Documentation. You can note your moments of worry and
anxiety, and then share them with health professionals or trusted
friends if you feel the need to do so. This can be helpful because
when an overwhelming event or emotion has passed, it can
sometimes be difficult to remember it fully and accurately.
4. Immediacy. Triggers that lead to anxiety or a feeling of being
overwhelmed can occur at any time, and come from anywhere,
so an on-demand journalling feature is good for supporting
mental health and tackling emotions straight away.

13
 Discomfort zone
Far from being bad for you, a modicum of stress can
help you feel good, achieve goals and grow as a person
Stress – there’s plenty of information out there on the negative
effects that too much tension can have on your body and mind.
But what if an entirely stress-free existence turned out to be far
from ideal? In fact, what if it wasn’t desirable at all?
Clinical psychologist Lisa Damour is well aware of the harm
that stress can cause when it’s chronic or traumatic. Lisa, who
has a practice in Ohio, US, defines chronic stress as ‘stressful
events that persist without a break’, while trauma is ‘an
overwhelming, harrowing event’. But outside those responses,
she believes that stress is a ‘growth-giving part of life’. Amy
Morin, psychotherapist and author of 13 Things Mentally Strong
People Don’t Do, agrees: ‘Sometimes, people want to eliminate
all stress from their lives, but some stress is good for us.’
For one thing, small amounts of the stuff can create a
powerful resilience by building a person’s ability to tolerate
discomfort. This is important, says Lisa, because being 100
per cent happy and calm all the time is an impossible standard
to meet. ‘It’s problematic to suggest that [good] mental health
should be defined as feeling calm and relaxed all of the time.
That is not possible, necessary or even healthy,’ she says.
‘Instead, we should define mental health as having the right
feeling at the right time and being able to manage it effectively.’
Even a traditionally happy event, like getting married or
bringing home a new baby, can present stressful moments.
However, embracing a small amount of discomfort can help
people prepare for whatever the future holds. And trying things
that are slightly stressful can ultimately help a person achieve
their personal and professional goals.
‘Doing uncomfortable things can help us sharpen our
abilities – such as our emotion regulation skills,’ says Amy. ‘For
14
example, when you’re in an uncomfortable situation, your brain
might tell you to quit or you might think the anxiety you’re
experiencing is a sign you can’t succeed.
‘But when you keep working toward your goal, despite those
feelings, you build mental strength. You prove to yourself you’re
stronger than you think and you’ll develop confidence that you
can handle bigger challenges in future.’
Building mental strength
Caleigh Breen, 30, who’s a hairstylist in Calgary, Canada,
learned this first-hand when she opened her own salon last year.
As a self-confessed introvert with mild social anxiety, she found
the self-promotion that was necessary for her business to thrive
stressful. ‘It goes against some of my core instincts, which are to
stay in the background and not have any of the attention on me,’
she says. ‘But when you run your own business you have to force
yourself to be comfortable being out there, especially nowadays
when social media is such a core part of marketing.’ Facing her
fears made Caleigh realise that she was her own worst critic.
‘Every time I’ve been nervous to put myself out there, I’ve just
decided to do it and see what happens. Each time I did, I’ve been
met with overwhelming support.’
She says being bold and not letting social anxiety call the
shots has built her mental strength and resilience. This and
other stressors that come with being a small-business owner
have taught her that ‘every time I come up against a hurdle and
solve it, the less likely I am to run away from it’. Caleigh has also
learned that she performs ‘a lot better’ under pressure. ‘With a
small amount of stress, I suppose I’m thinking more consciously
about my clients, making them feel comfortable, and listening
15
 to their needs. Maybe it’s because I’m trying to create a calm
atmosphere to lower my own stress.’
A little of what you don’t fancy…
This tallies with a psychological principle called the Yerkes-
Dodson law, which states that stress can improve performance,
up to a point. ‘We actually perform a bit better when we’re in a
heightened state of arousal – at least to an extent,’ Amy says.
‘A little anxiety will get your heart pumping and make you more
alert so you might do better than if you had no stress at all.’ She
warns, however, that there’s a tipping point: ‘Experiencing too
much anxiety can put you in such a heightened state of alert
that you can have trouble thinking and difficulty responding
in a helpful manner.’
Reframing the way you think about stress has been shown
to intensify its positive effect on performance. Harvard
researchers put 50 study subjects in a situation designed to
get their hearts racing and palms sweating. It involved being
evaluated on their public-speaking skills, followed by a tricky
test. Ahead of their speech, some of the participants were told
to ignore the stress they felt. Others were given no instructions
and played video games while they waited. The remaining
participants were told about the positive impacts of stress and
how physical responses like a pounding heart had evolved to
help boost how humans function in difficult times. Compared
to the other subjects, the speeches from this last group were
rated as better and they appeared more confident – they even
smiled more.
Exposing yourself to healthy stress doesn’t mean diving
headfirst into pressurised situations or biting off more than
you can chew. It’s important these challenges lie just outside
your comfort zone (see right), and it’s crucial to take existing
commitments into account – so it probably wouldn’t be wise for
someone already working 60-hour weeks to take on another big
volunteer project. The best way to add healthy stress to your life
is to do something that makes you feel ‘some mild discomfort’,
says Amy. This will vary from person to person. Some might
16
baulk at the idea of meeting new people while others might be
anxious when faced with a workout routine. She says: ‘When
you discover something that you avoid doing because it’s
uncomfortable, that’s what you want to tackle.’
A 2013 study in the journal Psychological Science found that
trying things that challenge you can be good for your brain.
The researchers found that older people who learned new
skills, like quilting or photography, experienced a bigger mental
boost than those who did stimulating but familiar tasks, such
as listening to classical music or solving word puzzles. They
concluded that the enhancement zone, where peak learning
happens, lies just beyond the comfort zone. Lisa agrees that it’s
helpful to push past what feels comfortable. ‘People experience
stress any time they’re working at the edge of their current
capacity – also a time when we tend to expand that capacity,’
she says. ‘When an individual can weather the stressful event,
they come away from it more capable and resilient.’
Stretch for the positive
According to Amy, new challenges help people to learn about
themselves, others and the world, and can help challenge
self-limiting beliefs. ‘You might consider yourself to be
unintelligent, clumsy or socially awkward, for example, but
challenging yourself to do new things can help you see those
labels aren’t true.’ She says the best source of healthy stress,
whether social, emotional, physical or financial, is doing
something that stretches you in positive ways. ‘Creating
new challenges for yourself could help you build
the mental strength you need to reach your
greatest potential.’
Words: Jillian Bell
See right for how to harness the power
of healthy stress ILLUSTRATIONS: KATIE SMITH
POSITIVE STRESS CHALLENGES
It’ll be different for everyone, but the right challenge, according to Amy, will feel a little
difficult. Here are a few suggestions, but you can also design your own (see below):

Shake up your morning routine. Wake up a little earlier than usual and make your bed right away.
Stretch yourself socially. Reach out to five people a week to say hello.
Flex your finances. Try cutting out online shopping for one month, and see how much you can save.
Set a fitness goal. Train for a 5k run or an obstacle race. Or buy a pedometer and set a target of
walking 10,000 steps every day for a month.
Fight public-speaking fears. Offer to lead a meeting or give a presentation to a small group at work
or socially. Or give a short toast at a family event or a friend’s birthday dinner.

If you’re struggling to decide what might work for you, or you’d prefer to design your own healthy
stress challenge, ask yourself these questions:

• Which situations make me uncomfortable?

• What have I been avoiding that could add value to my life?
• What self-limiting beliefs do I hold? How could I challenge them?
• In which areas do I need to build mental strength?
• Have there been challenging situations in my past that led to growth? How were they helpful?

For more information about Amy, visit amymorinlcsw.com.

17
 Work in progress
The task of applying for a job can go deeper than it seems, offering
insights into your life journey so far and a route map for the way ahead
Applying for a job is a curious business. It can be prompted
by a host of different reasons – a desire to belong somewhere
new, a need for adventure, better pay or more security. It could
be a search for a new challenge, or sheer necessity, that has
you scanning the job ads. Whatever your reason, it can be
nerve-racking as well as stimulating, filling in long application
forms that ask about your full work history, aspirations and,
occasionally, your deeper life ambitions. It’s natural to be left
feeling frazzled, regardless of whether your application secures
you an interview.
If you are called in and get the job, the offer itself might
kickstart a giddy bout of ‘arrival fallacy’ – a term coined by
Harvard psychologist Tal Ben-Shafar to describe the illusion
that once you reach your goals you attain happiness. With the
job offer in place, you might feel elevated to dizzying heights,
with a sense of limitless possibilities unfolding. On the other
hand, if you don’t get the position, just a rejection by email
or post, you might have to contend with negative emotions,
such as being deflated or feeling fearful about what it means
for the future. At these moments, and especially if you receive
a string of rejections, it might seem as if you’ll never bounce
18
back. Rejection rarely gets easier, no matter how many times it
happens. But it’s also common, so if you’re dealing with this, it’s
worth remembering you’re not alone.
Mindset tools
Regardless of the outcome of your job search, the mindset
you adopt can make a world of difference to how you cope with
the situation in hand. The following affirmations can be helpful
in adapting your thinking and reframing your perspective,
but you can also develop your own using personal experiences
(see overleaf):
• I didn’t get that job, but it means I’m not stuck on one route and
there are many other exciting possibilities now open to me.
• This happened for a reason. I’m exactly where I need to be for
the events of my life to unfold as they are meant to.
• I am capable and will learn from this. This is not the end point,
it is an exciting part of my journey.
• I put myself out there, I was brave, and that alone is something
to be commended.
• This challenge was sent to me with a purpose, and I will
19
 understand its lessons in the future, even if I don’t now. I trust
the universe and I embrace and welcome that mystery.
• This gives me the chance to try another career path, one I’ve
always wanted to pursue.
• I trust the process. I am patient, open and flexible. I am as
capable as anyone to grow, adapt and evolve.
• With a fresh start ahead, how might I redirect my energies?
• This can help to make me stronger, and more confident in my
own inner compass to guide me through uncertainty.
The truth is, success with a job application is often down to
factors beyond your control, akin to the interplay between
various cogs turning in time and place. This doesn’t have to
compromise your personal journey, which is one only you can
fulfil. If you feel you’ve learned important lessons from an
interview or even from being ignored or ghosted, you can fit this
into your narrative and discard what no longer serves you.
And remember that landing an offer isn’t always plain sailing.
In recent times, for example, when the pandemic has forced
many to work from home, traditional company hierarchies
20
and working practices have had to change. This has resulted
in more job insecurity and affected individual workloads and
responsibilities. A positive side-effect of recent times, however,
has been a greater sense that your destiny can be in your own
hands and with it, the chance to grow from within. Doing
things that awaken your inner creativity, such as absorbing
the natural world, be that in real life on a nature ramble or via
a screen with online clips of the aurora – can offer a broader
perspective, just as listening to a podcast or pottering around
the house can provide a break from stresses and leave you
feeling refreshed and renewed.
Job hunting can be demoralising, but always try to bear in
ILLUSTRATIONS: CHIARA LANZIERI
mind that there’ll be a host of things going on behind the scenes
that affect a potential employer’s decision-making process. Try
to learn what you can from the experience, including any not-
so-good aspects, and focus on taking small steps to get you to a
space that will bring personal fulfilment. They might take you
to some unexpected places.
Words: Natalia Davies
FIND YOUR VOICE
Using what you’ve learned so far and acknowledging all your achievements,
no matter how small or insignificant they might seem, write down five personal
affirmations that will help you focus on the positive:

1.

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

2.

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

3.

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

4.

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

5.
.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Now, list five experiences you would like to nurture as you move forward.
These can be expressed as short or long sentences, song titles, images or colours:

1.

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

2.

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

3.

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

4.

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

5.
.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

21
22
A word to the wise
You might be great at advising others, but do you practise what you preach?
Being an agony aunt – or uncle for that matter – isn’t always
easy. Those who have taken on the role, often a self-proclaimed
one, will know how fraught with difficulty it can be. While
dispensing words of wisdom can go off without a hitch and
your loved ones will thank you for it, that might not always be
the case. This isn’t said to put you off, far from it. Rather, it’s
to recognise the courage, empathy and care involved in these
efforts and suggest you look after yourself in the same manner.
In other words, you deserve the same attentive treatment you
give others and, importantly, you’re in a position to provide it.
It can, of course, be difficult to know the difference between
good advice and bad, regardless of whether you’re giving or
receiving it, but most would agree that ‘be kind to yourself’ and
‘listen to your body’ are sound statements. They could well have
passed your own lips in the past. Yes, they’re platitudes, but in
the right hands, they carry weight. So, the question is: do you
practise what you preach? When you’ve sat down with someone
and tactfully suggested they take care of themselves, that they’d
benefit from a good night’s sleep or a relaxing hour in the bath,
have you ever spared a thought for your own wellbeing? Have
you actually tried following your own suggestions? Not always?
Join the (crowded) club.
It’s not an uncommon trait (I certainly have it in spades).
Many of the articles I’ve written proffer suggestions on the
theme of self-care, yet I’ve been known not to heed my own
advice. Some days, it’s even left me wondering if I should
be sharing my views when I can’t adhere to them in real
life. If this sounds familiar, don’t worry. And don’t criticise
or accuse yourself of hypocrisy either, as that would be
counterproductive. So, entering into agony uncle territory here,
acknowledge this is normal behaviour, it’s okay, and it doesn’t
mean you have to relinquish your advisory role, so long as you’re
happy doing it. The position is difficult enough without the
added burden of the can-dish-it-out-but-can’t-take-it mentality.
It can also be helpful to establish a check system in your mind
where you analyse advice you give to others, run it against your
own previous behaviour and see if there are any matches. Let’s
say, for example, you’ve suggested to a close friend that they
need a destressing pamper day. Ask yourself if this is something
you’ve ever practised. If the answer is yes and you’ve spent time
focusing on yourself and your needs, that’s great. If it’s no, you
could explore why you haven’t done this. Is it that your stress
levels haven’t ever reached a point where you needed serious
time out? Or have you omitted to look out for yourself? If it’s
the latter, it might be time to follow some of your own advice.
That bubble bath won’t run itself!
Those who fail to practise what they preach, whether
wittingly or unwittingly, will have their own reasons for
doing so. Many will be valid, but some might come from the
subconscious, an element of self-doubt, a voice in their head
saying they haven’t earned it or that they’re not worth it –
neither of which stacks up. If this sounds like you, remember
you are just as worthy of wise and kind words to live by as the
next person. It doesn’t matter if these words come from you or
someone else. By giving yourself the permission and self-respect
to lead by example, you give yourself a big proverbial hug and
build on your sense of empathy and understanding, all of which
will feed into your ability to be an effective agony aunt or uncle.
It’s a win on all fronts.
Not sure how to practise what you preach? Turn over for some
examples of situations and how you might use your own advice
23
 DO YOU HEED YOUR OWN ADVICE?
Consider some of the suggestions you’ve made for others to follow. Have you tried applying any of them to your own
life? If not, could you? Here are four examples of how you might use tips you give to others:

1. Advice: I suggested to Balveer that he talk openly to his 3. Advice: I mentioned to Annie that she should try to find more
partner about their problems, making sure to listen to them fully. time to read since she enjoys it so much.
ILLUSTRATIONS: ALESSANDRA DE CRISTOFARO

Benefit to my life: I feel as though a relationship with a colleague Benefit to my life: I’d forgotten how much I like reading, too,
has become tense, but I’m not sure why. It would actually make and how calming and therapeutic it can be. I’ll aim to go to bed
sense to talk to them without any need for blame or judgment. 30 minutes earlier and start a new book.

2. Advice: I told Nina about the benefits of meditation and
recommended that she try it.
Benefit to my life: I can’t remember the last time I meditated,
it would be nice to find the time to do it again. I’m going to set
aside 30 minutes at the weekend when I close the bedroom door,
sit comfortably and quieten my racing thoughts.
4. Advice: I reminded Ken of the importance of taking time off,
as he’s been working flat out for months without a break.
Benefit to my life: I’ve also been working non-stop recently, and
it’s tiring me out. I’ll take next week off to give myself a rest.
Words: Alex Bowers

24
SUBSCRIBE OR ORDER BACK ISSUES
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CALL +44 (0)1273 488005

Breathe
and make time for yourself
 Get on board
Easier to master than surfing and with less impact on the environment than
bodyboarding, there’s a revival going on at the coast – bellyboarding is back
It’s sometimes assumed that the staycation is a modern
invention, but the reality is somewhat different. In Britain, for
example, staying at home for a vacation took off in the Victorian
era as railway lines began to spiderweb across the country and
entrepreneurs, seeing the potential of coastal regions as leisure
centres rather than mere trade hubs, began building piers and
hotels. Later, in the optimism that swept the country after
World War One, thousands began travelling to the seaside –
and many started trying a pastime they’d only heard about
from their Commonwealth comrades, surf riding. Surfing has
its roots in ancient island culture, and Americans had been
enjoying it since the late 19th century. British soldiers, eager
to recuperate after the war, began to make their own short
boards on which to ride the waves of their home shores.
By the end of the 1930s, around 15 million people were
holidaying on the coast – an era captured in the vibrant and
romanticised railway posters of the time, images portraying
male and female holidaymakers frolicking by the sea. One such
poster, from 1937, designed to promote Great Western Railway’s
route to Newquay, Cornwall, shows women clad in red bathing
suits, playing in the waves on slender boards with curved ends: a
refinement of the traditional Hawaiian-style paipo boards, and
made to suit British conditions. It was at this time that surfing
began to gain in popularity, as holidaymakers endeavoured to
immerse themselves in the experience of the seaside.
26
This love of the coast is key to the bellyboarding experience,
says Jamie Johnstone, owner of Dick Pearce Bellyboards, a
Newquay-based firm that’s been crafting environmentally
friendly versions of the boards since the 1940s. Although
bellyboarding , like bodyboarding, involves catching waves
and riding them lying down, the difference is in the boards’
composite materials, which have an impact on the rider’s
experience of the water. ‘On a bellyboard, in the absence of
plastic and foam, you don’t sit on top of the water,’ explains
Jamie. ‘You’re lower and closer, more immersed in the wave,
more connected to it. It’s a different sensation entirely.’
It’s also one that resonates with many people’s desire to feel
closer to nature, with interest and engagement in activities such
as wild swimming and forest bathing on the rise (see issues 6
and 10). Bellyboarding speaks eloquently to that impulse. The
materials from which Jamie’s company make the bellyboards,
ILLUSTRATIONS: KATHERINE BUCHANAN
as suggested earlier, has another benefit, too. Crafted by hand,
they are constructed from sustainably sourced plywood and
designed to last for life. In fact, they’re still made to the original
Dick Pearce template, with the original tools. Another maker
of bellyboards, Otter Surfboards, which is based in the Cornish
city of Truro, even offers customers the opportunity to craft
their own board on-site as part of a day-long workshop.
It was partly the advent of plastic, plus the rise of cheaper
imports and mass production, that saw bellyboarding fall out
27
 of fashion. At the same time, surfing became more mainstream.
No longer seen as the domain of professionals, surfing as a
leisure activity was promoted as something everybody could
enjoy – an image encouraged in popular films such as the 1959
US teen romance Gidget. Although surfboards are designed with
longevity in mind, the sport itself takes some mastering, and
buying a good board is expensive – costing upwards of several
hundred pounds. By contrast, bodyboards can be bought for
as little as a few pounds, but unfortunately have the potential
to contribute greatly to pollution in the sea and around the
coastline. Indeed, they have often created a large carbon
footprint before they enter the water, thanks to being mass-
produced and shipped from overseas. Additionally, such boards
are usually made from cheap polystyrene which, if broken,
sheds fragments of the material into marine environments.
According to Neil Hembrow of anti-litter charity Keep
Britain Tidy, about 16,000 bodyboards are abandoned around
Britain’s 31,000km of coastline every year – that’s around
one every 2km. In southwest England, where he’s based, 480
bodyboards were collected from just two areas, Cornwall’s
Watergate Bay and Devon’s Croyde beach, over the course of
the 2019 summer season alone. Thanks to the innovations
of Keep Britain Tidy, many of those rescued boards are being
repurposed, for example, as insulation for hives at the local
honey farm, where bees frequently don’t survive the winters.
Others are being sent to a local recycling facility, which has a
zero-waste-to-landfill aim – welcome news, given it’s estimated
that polystyrene takes about 500 years to break down.
Yet however you choose to enjoy the ocean, few would
question that simply being near the sound, sight and smell
28
of the sea is therapeutic, and
being in the water even more so.
Whether you are doing so on a bodyboard
from the beach kiosk, or on a hand-crafted bellyboard,
the important thing is that you are enjoying nature, being
active and, in so doing, boosting your sense of wellbeing. Both
bellyboarding and bodyboarding can be mastered as soon as
the first wave gathers pace – and, given that bellyboarding
has much less impact on the environment, it’s no surprise it’s
enjoying a revival. If you are using a bodyboard and it breaks,
take it home and try to find another purpose for it, rather than
leaving it at the beach.
Location is another factor in the popularity of these belly-
down sports. After all, many of us don’t live in big-wave areas,
such as California, Hawaii, Biarritz and Byron Bay. According
to Jamie, the waves around the UK are often ‘small and sloppy’,
so riding them on your belly, rather than trying to stand on a
surfboard, can be easier too. It also allows you to get the most
out of what surfers would see as a day where they wouldn’t
even consider it worth waxing the boards.
So, how do you start bellyboarding? Simply walk out into the
water until you’re waist-high, then turn to face the shore. With
the board’s curved nose facing upwards, hold it against your
stomach and look over your shoulder. When you see a wave
approaching, kick off and ride it in, holding the board close to
your body. There’s less focus on technicalities, more focus on
fun. And isn’t fun what the perfect beach day should be about?
Words: Sarah Rodrigues
29
 LIVING

‘Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow’s reality’
Malala Yousafzai
 Frozen assets
Delving into the history and traditions of
Italian gelato making throughout the ages
reveals the care and attention that goes into
making each mouthful taste so heavenly
Silky green pistachio. Bittersweet chocolate. A swirl of hazelnut,
or a spoonful of stracciatella, with its chocolate shavings. And
the inimitable fior di latte: a simple ‘milk flower’ made without
even vanilla to distract the palate from the milk, the most
precious of raw ingredients when it comes to gelato-making.
These are the original flavours, the recipes you can find in
ice-cream parlours across Italy – and they’re direct descendants
of the frozen desserts served in Italian palaces and French royal
banquets ever since the 17th century.
Like many of Italy’s best-loved recipes, gelato has a long and
varied tradition that’s deeply woven into the nation’s culinary
tapestry. There’s little doubt a form of this iced dessert came
from Florence, the cradle of the Italian Renaissance. Legend
has it that an artist and architect called Bernardo Buontalenti,
who was recognised for designing many of Florence’s landmark
buildings, first created a type of ice cream for the city’s ruling
32
aristocrats in the 1500s. In a beautiful tribute to the legend,
a custard-based gelato named after Buontalenti can still be
enjoyed in Florence and throughout Italy today. What about
the milky fior di latte? Some claim it was invented by alchemist
and sorcerer Cosimo Ruggeri in the court of Catherine de’
Medici during a cookery contest. The shady figure of Ruggeri
was shrouded in mystery and magic, so it’s perhaps fitting that
the origins of this enticing flavour stem from him. Either way,
it’s believed to have been a Sicilian who first brought gelato
as it’s known today to a wider audience, by selling his frozen
ices in a café in Paris in the late 17th century. Chef Francesco
Procopio Cutò built on Italian traditions of frozen milk and iced
lemonade to bring this new phenomenon to wealthy Parisians.
The reaction was immediate. He was given a royal warrant by
King Louis XIV to sell his confections, and he’s often heralded
as the father of gelato. Francesco’s eponymous Café Procope is
the oldest in Paris, and still exists today.
Rare treat
Making ice cream in those early times wasn’t without its
challenges, however. Domestic freezers weren’t widely available
until the early 19th century and, prior to this, producing the
frozen dessert required salt and ice to keep the temperature
low enough. As a result, ice cream was reserved for special
occasions, and only enjoyed by those with access to an
underground ice cellar. Still, the fundamentals of the product
itself have remained the same today: a mixture of creamy,
full-fat milk and sugar, churned as it freezes to beat out the
air bubbles and ice crystals, and to create a silky consistency.
Gelato might be the Italian word for ice cream, but the two
are more like cousins than twins. They both contain similar
ingredients – dairy and sugar – but these are used in different
quantities. Italian gelato is churned at a much slower speed
than ice cream, introducing less air into the base and creating
a dense and creamy consistency that lets the flavour shine
through. It tends to contain less artificial sweetener, which
again means smaller ice crystals and a silkier consistency.
What’s more, gelato is usually made with milk rather
than cream, so it’s naturally lower in fat than many other
33
34
 ice creams. You can tell a good gelato by the way it melts as you
eat it, without leaving an oily film on the roof of your mouth.
Still, as gelato master Simone Spaggiari points out when
I meet him in Florence, not all gelato is made equal. Simone
runs Sbrino Gelatificio Contadino, a gelateria like no other.
He started the small establishment in 2018, in a quiet corner
of Florence’s Oltrarno district, which has something of a village
community. Attached to his family’s farm near the Tuscan
region of Volterra, Sbrino started making his frozen delights
as a way to celebrate the innate deliciousness of the milk.
‘The cows are out in the fields, eating whatever they find and
feel like,’ Simone says enthusiastically. ‘They’re totally free to
roam, and the consequence is a very particular milk. It has its
own tastes, its own characteristics, and it’s a world away from
mass-produced milk. For our milk-based gelato, we use only
milk that comes from our own cows. For our vegan gelato,
we use fresh fruit from Italian farms.’
Since the Middle Ages, gelato flavours have branched out a
bit, of course. On the menu at Sbrino, you’ll find coffee, Marsala
wine, salted caramel and myriad seasonal fruits. Like many
of Italy’s best ice-cream parlours, flavours are led by natural
ingredients. ‘At the farm around San Miniato we pick forest
fruits, strawberries, peaches, pomegranates, blackberries,
plums, apricots, mulberries… whatever we find,’ Simone
explains. ‘And then because we have access to these amazing
fresh products, we can make an ice cream to match.’
Away from the farm, they also source the finest blood oranges
from Sicily, as well as mangoes and, occasionally, kiwis. ‘We
don’t say our products are organic because we haven’t jumped
PHOTOGRAPHS: UNSPLASH.COM / ALAMY.COM / ©SBRINO
through all the loopholes to get the certificates, but in practice
it’s of a really wonderful quality,’ he says.
When asked about what makes gelato special, Simone is
careful only to talk about his own experiences. For him, it’s
about both the method and ingredients. ‘On an economic level
there are many ways in which people cut corners,’ he says. ‘It’s
always the same golden rule, though: if you work well with good
ingredients, you’ll have something good. For example, you could
use one kilo of powdered milk to make three litres of ice cream,
but the taste just isn’t the same. You could use sugar syrups
instead of fresh fruit, and concentrates and flavourings instead
of the real thing, but the differences are in the end result. If you
find a really good gelateria, they’ll do all this properly.’
Simone’s main advice for anyone making it at home is to have
patience, and plenty of it. ‘It’s best not to try to make gelato
in the afternoon to be eaten that evening, for example – you
should ideally wait at least 24 hours for the flavours to develop.
We call it maturation. It’s the process where the fats and sugars
fuse together.’ Churning it thoroughly is also key. ‘The more
you mix the gelato as it freezes, the smoother and more velvety
it will become,’ he says, proudly showing me the icy milk
swishing around in a stainless steel vat, leaving in just 15 per
cent air for a soft and silky outcome. Ideally, this will be done in
an ice-cream machine, but it is possible to do it the traditional
way over a bowl of salted ice, removing it from the freezer every
half hour to mix it again as the ice crystals are forming.
Travelling deep into the world of Italian gelato, it’s clear that
Sbrino’s rather dramatic mantra – ‘It’s not just a gelateria, it’s
a philosophy’ – rings true. Their frozen offerings reflect a long
legacy of artisan care for products and ingredients, and the
proof is in the flavours, which shine through with delicious
vibrancy. And as the Medici may well have said centuries ago,
there’s quite simply nothing more delightful than dipping into
a freshly made bowl of gelato on a hot summer’s day.
Words: Phoebe Hunt
Read on for a trio of Simone’s scrumptious gelato recipes
35
 A taste of heaven
Simone Spaggiari is founder of Sbrino Gelatificio Contadino, one of Florence’s best-loved ice-cream
parlours. Over scoops of pistachio, strawberry, ricotta and fig varieties, he reveals what it takes to
make authentic gelato, and shares three signature recipes to make at home

RICOTTA, FIG AND WALNUT GELATO

The basic ricotta recipe is a staple that can be used

and adapted time and time again – stir in a bitter
orange marmalade, sub out the hazelnuts for another
nut, or add fresh summer fruit to the mix depending
on your mood.

SERVES 4

• 500ml full-fat milk

• 100g sugar
• 15g carob seed flour
• 100g ricotta
• 30g crushed walnuts
• 30g fig jam

1. Gently warm the milk to 60C/140F in a heavy based

metal saucepan, stirring constantly and checking the
temperature with a thermometer so it doesn’t get too hot.
2. Stir in the sugar and carob seed flour, then blitz with a
hand blender until smooth.
3. Once it’s cooled, add the ricotta and blend again.
4. Pour the mixture into an ice-cream maker and freeze
according to the machine’s instructions.
5. A few minutes before it’s ready, add the crushed walnuts.
Once it’s finished in the machine, stir in the fig jam and mix
gently – you want thick swirls of jam to run through it, rather
than for it all to be dissolved into the cream.
6. Decant into a tub and freeze until slightly more solid.
Sprinkle with more walnuts if you wish.

36

STRAWBERRY SORBET
A quintessentially summery sorbet that’s best
made when strawberries are at their sweetest and
most juicy. Wonderful when paired with either of
the other creamier gelatos, a simple vanilla or more
fresh strawberries.
SERVES 4
• 500g fresh strawberries
• 250ml water
• 50g sugar
• 7g carob seed flour
1. Clean, hull and chop the strawberries into quarters.
2. Warm the water to 60C/140F, checking the temperature
with a thermometer, then take off the heat.
3. Add the strawberries, sugar and carob seed flour to the
warm water and leave for five minutes, then blitz with a
hand blender and pour the mixture into an ice-cream maker.
4. Churn according to the machine’s instructions until it’s
PHOTOGRAPHS: ©SBRINO, SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, UNSPLASH.COM
almost frozen, then decant into a tub and freeze until slightly
more solid.
Recipes as described by Simone Spaggiari of Sbrino
Gelatificio Contadino. Translation by Phoebe Hunt.
PISTACHIO GELATO
The pistachio paste in this recipe can be made in a
blender that can grind the nuts to a smooth paste,
or it can be bought from specialist Italian delis and
supermarkets. Use the best pistachios you can find.
At Sbrino, they make pistachio gelato with Bronte
pistachios sourced from Mount Etna in Sicily, which
are a lush green colour and have an incredibly rich
flavour. Carob seed flour is used to thicken the
mixture and give it a velvety texture.
SERVES 4
• 500ml full-fat milk
• 50g pistachio paste
• 100g sugar
• 15g carob seed flour
• 50g pistachios, finely chopped
1. Gently warm the milk to 60C/140F in a heavy based
metal saucepan, stirring constantly and checking the
temperature to make sure it doesn’t get too hot.
2. Stir in the pistachio paste, sugar and carob seed flour, and
blitz with a hand blender until smooth.
3. Once the mixture’s cooled, pour into an ice-cream maker
and freeze according to the machine’s instructions.
4. A few minutes before it’s ready, add in the finely chopped
pistachio crumbs, keeping some aside to sprinkle on top.
5. Decant into a tub and freeze until slightly more solid.
37
 Time to share
Whether it’s knowledge, experience or materials – passing on what
you know or have is good for the soul, the community and the planet
Sharing is a vital life skill, and something children are
encouraged to learn at a young age. When you share with
others, you discover what compromise and fairness means,
the importance of trusted friendships, and how to negotiate
and cooperate. After you first allow others to use your
football in the playground or tuck into your bowl of jelly at
a birthday party, you become aware how others respond
positively and how their delight rubs off on you, too. It
doesn’t take long to realise that by giving to others, you
also reap the benefits.
People share all the time – families share the sofa and snacks
while watching TV, colleagues divulge personal insight when
facing project challenges, travelling companions share
never-to-be-forgotten moments during adventures overseas.
Knowledge is shared, as are secrets, opinions, birthdays – and
yes, even a pair of garden shears. And the list goes on because
sharing is fun, fruitful, generous and improves personal and
community wellbeing. Whether it’s the friend who ushers you
38
under her umbrella in the rain, or a yoga teacher divulging
personal experience that enables you to stretch further in an
asana, a thoughtful gesture or exchange of know-how signals a
closeness or special bond. It demonstrates someone cares about
you and is happy to help you out – and that’s a nice feeling.
Precious time with loved ones is also something to be
treasured, especially if you can open up about your innermost
thoughts. Telling someone else about your dreams or any
fears you might have demonstrates that you appreciate them
being around, value their company and respect their opinion.
It’s therapeutic and binds people together. Sharing is about
developing relationships and supporting family, friends,
workmates, sometimes strangers. Okay, you might not know
all the other participants in the Saturday-morning park run,
but you’re sharing an interest with them, a running circuit
and an experience. There’s a connection.
It goes without saying that confidential information is most
wisely shared with someone you trust, and the same can be
39
 said about a possession. Allowing a neighbour to borrow a
hedge trimmer or agreeing that a friend can take your e-reader
on holiday says you have faith in them. You’re handing over
a physical item with the understanding they’ll take care of
your property and return it in a similar state. This speaks
volumes. Similarly, sharing wisdom in the workplace builds
trust, especially when you can assist colleagues and pass on
lessons you’ve learned from past experiences. This could be by
highlighting successful initiatives or flagging up those that had
unexpected drawbacks became evident – it’s valuable advice. It
can also strengthen relationships and improve rapport.
Whether a community comes together to organise a village
fete or a parents’ group agrees to take turns to transport
youngsters to a sports club, sharing makes tasks easier. Being
able to divvy up errands and responsibilities eases the load,
and things on to-do lists often get done more quickly – ‘all
hands on deck’ really can be a good motto to live by. Lending
a helping hand and sharing the tidying up and shopping takes
the pressure off a hectic household, but it’s not only about day-
to-day chores. It’s often claimed a problem shared is a problem
halved, and by voicing a worry or concern to someone else, it
can diffuse anxiety.
Although there’s still much to learn about our ancestors
and events from centuries past, the world today wouldn’t be
the same if knowledge, values and craftsmanship hadn’t been
40
passed down the generations. Whether oral or written, sharing
information is crucial for personal and community wellbeing.
It might prompt a young person to follow in their grandfather’s
footsteps, for example, or throw a light on why coming together
as a group can be rewarding and empowering. If a friend whose
viewpoint you value shares their enthusiasm for a holiday
destination, chances are you might book a similar trip. In
the same vein, if they revealed their disappointment with the
services of a travel provider, you’d think twice before using the
same company.
‘Happiness is the only thing that multiplies when you share
it,’ so said Albert Schweitzer, an Alsatian polymath and Nobel
Peace Prize winner. For many people, birthdays, weddings and
special events are more enjoyable when surrounded by family
and friends. Sharing joy increases joy. You’ve passed your
driving test, won a prize, become an auntie, grown your first
cucumber – sharing positive experiences and seeing others are
also delighted for you, reinforces feelings of elation. Sharing can
give much to be grateful for as well as a sense of belonging.
ILLUSTRATIONS: IRINA PERJU
Words: Lorna Cowan
Inspired to start sharing? See right for some ideas
CONSIDER SHARING
1 …your home
If you love your well-appointed kitchen,
south-facing garden, easy bus ride to town,
then why not let others enjoy it, too? Sharing
your home has never been easier, and it’s
not just about taking in a lodger. There are
several accommodation-sharing websites
that assist people who would like to rent out
a spare room (or the whole house) or do a
home swap.
2 …your driveway
Live close to an airport or in a city
centre? You could share your driveway. If
you have outside space to park a car and the
area is unused all day, you could rent it out.
There are services that match drivers with
parking spaces in villages, towns and cities
throughout the UK, some in car parks but
also some on homeowners’ land, such as a
driveway or garage.
3 …your garden
Many keen (and knowledgeable) veg
growers are scuppered by a lack of outdoor
space and ever-increasing waiting lists for
allotments, while some garden owners
are unable to tend their plots. Lend and
Tend links people with gardens with those
who are keen to grow. It’s ideal for those
whose mobility prevents them sowing seeds
or weeding and for city residents whose
interest extends beyond flower baskets. Seed
swaps (see issue 14) happen in communities
all over the country, too, and if you have
tools or garden equipment you’re happy to
share, there are groups for that too.
4 …your dog
Four-legged friends can be shared
too, thanks to sites like BorrowMyDoggy,
which connects pet owners with trusted
dog lovers living locally. Or look for a local
Facebook group, which provides a similar
service. It’s ideal if illness strikes and
looking after Tiger becomes tricky. More
importantly, it offers those who long for
a daschund or dalmatian but are unable to
own one to experience furry affection.
5 …your clothes
Do you have a special occasion dress
or dinner jacket hanging in your wardrobe
gathering dust? Or maybe a coat that never
truly was your colour? Sharing clothes is a
way to look great for a fraction of the cost.
Look into swishing, where you exchange
clothes, shoes and accessories with friends
and family, or organise a clothes swap.
6 …your time
Volunteering is a great way to share
one of the most important, yet scarce,
commodities, while also having the added
bonus of making you feel good. It could be
lending a hand to a struggling charity or
helping chaperone field trips at your child’s
school. It could even be offering advice about
what you do for a living and how you got
to where you are now – there are plenty of
online forums or Facebook groups that will
connect you with current jobseekers who will
value your expertise.
41
 Wildlife in black and white
Badgers have roamed the planet for over half a million years and are known for their strength and
endurance, but these (mostly) monochrome creatures are now fighting for their very existence
A choir of tawny owls trades songs across the valley, as I gaze
up to glimpse the stars studding the dome of the indigo sky,
framed by silhouettes of Norway spruce. Hours earlier, a dusky
hike through Kent’s North Downs led me to this forested
ridge overlooking a scattering of large holes – entrances to an
underground labyrinth, inhabited since 1750 by clans that stay
in its chambers by day, and emerge from its depths into the
darkness by night. As a bright moon rises and the temperature
drops, I draw my blanket close and kneel beneath the trees.
The scent of pine prickles my nose as icy air whispers over my
cheeks, and the cold whips up clouds from each breath. The
three-hour vigil passes swiftly as a dream: lost in thought in
the thicket, mesmerised by the sights and sounds of the dark.
A sudden rustle just metres away breaks the spell, and five pairs
of eyes twinkle in the night, dancing like fireflies across the
forest floor. Shadows shift and sight adjusts to reveal a quintet
of arrow-shaped faces blazed with three white stripes, suddenly
pointing my way. Aiming true, the arrows hit their mark. A
silent hour watching them in nature’s chapel, and all is love.
42
Like the red deer, squirrel, fox and hedgehog, the badger
is a symbol of the British countryside, one of its woodlands’
wild ‘big five’, and its largest surviving predator. Instantly
recognisable with their distinctive black, white and grey hair,
they are ubiquitous from childhood – crafted into cuddly toys,
woven onto sleepwear and entwined in stories, from Mr Badger
in Wind in the Willows, to Tommy Brock in The Tale of Mr Tod,
Rupert Bear’s best friend Bill, the clans of the Redwall saga, and
the Hufflepuff mascot in the Harry Potter series. Even the old-
English word for the badger, brock, is stamped on the British
landscape, with place names such as Brockenhurst, Brockworth
and Brockhampton giving a nod to their wild neighbours.
Primarily nocturnal, spending daylight hours underground
in their sett – a vast, intricate system of tunnels and chambers
– their elusive nature has imbued them with mystery. The
European or Eurasian badger (Meles meles) found across the
British Isles, mainland Europe and parts of the Middle East,
has been linked to good fortune, death and divination, and its
determination to protect its territory and young have rendered
it a symbol of honourable endurance, bravery and strength. scientifically and economically wrong – and goes against all we
For the Native American Pueblo tribes of New Mexico, the know about ecology, good conservation and how we manage
American badger is held as a guardian with magical protective natural areas. It must stop now.’ In autumn 2020, Chris’s
and healing powers, and in Asia, the mujina or Japanese non-profit conservation organisation Wild Justice launched
badger features in legends as a shapeshifter, able to take on a petition calling for an immediate ban on badger shooting.
human form at will. But despite our endless fascination and Drawing more than 100,000 signatories, the petition is now
affectionate anthropomorphising of this most remarkable of awaiting a date to be debated in Parliament. ‘This roughshod
beasts, badgers have been mercilessly persecuted by humans brutal attempt at solving a problem is indicative of a system of
for thousands of years and remain in the firing line today. landscape management which is no longer sustainable,’ says
Chris. ‘We need to work in harmony with nature, not against
Threatened existence it, to ensure the survival of us all.’ A passionate defender of
Since the 1800s, these spectacular beasts have been trapped all wildlife, Chris has a special affinity with these creatures. ‘I
and pitted against dogs in the ‘sport’ of badger baiting, where studied badgers for seven years and spent every night watching
animals fight and spectators bet on the outcome. Although setts throughout the 90s,’ he recalls. ‘Later, I’d go badger
placid when left alone, the badger will fiercely defend itself watching once or twice a year, but recently I started watching
when threatened or attacked, and its strong bite and sharp them again every night at the local sett. I got to know them as
claws make the stocky mammal a match for any canine. Baiting individuals – the grumpy old boar, the lovely sow and her cubs
leaves both animals brutalised, but while dogs are patched up – I felt like part of their family. They came so close to me I could
to battle again, badgers are killed when they can no longer fight. smell them. I can’t describe the joy the contact brought me. It
Outlawed in 1835, badger baiting remains a clandestine blood was profound, reassuring and invigorating. It reforged a bond
sport, despite the passing of the Protection of Badgers Act in I had with them 40 years ago. It was a very powerful thing.’
1992, which forbids any interference with badgers or their setts.
Yet incredibly, the biggest current threat to this native, Domestic life
protected species’ survival comes from the UK government. Members of the mustelid family, which includes otters, ferrets,
Despite strong opposition from top scientists and highly polecats, pine martens and wolverines, badgers can grow up to
respected conservationists including David Attenborough one metre in length and weigh between 10 and 12kg, depending
and Jane Goodall, badgers have been targeted as potential on the number of other badgers and available food nearby.
reservoirs for bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a chronic disease that They live in mixed-sex social groups or clans of between four
affects cattle and other animals. Around 28,000 cows were
slaughtered in 2020 following a bTB incident, and control of
the disease costs taxpayers £100million a year. Sponsored by
the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra), Natural England has been authorising hunting licences
to farmers and landowners to shoot badgers as part of its
bTB eradication strategy since 2013. In that time, more than
140,000 have been killed, representing the largest destruction
of a protected species in living memory.
In January 2021, after ongoing protests against the
controversial cull and a lack of solid scientific evidence linking
badgers to the spread of bTB, Defra committed to issuing
the last intensive cull licences in 2022, stating that the bTB
eradication programme would instead rely on more humane
methods of control including the vaccination of cattle and
badgers, improving biosecurity on farms, restricting cattle
movements and the development of more effective bTB tests.
But licences issued in 2022, or extensions to those already
granted, could allow culling to continue until 2026, putting a
further 140,000 badgers in the shooters’ crosshairs. For many,
the wait is too long, and the damage to ecosystems too great.
‘The government has been ignoring the science and
mistakenly targeting badgers for years,’ says naturalist and
TV presenter Chris Packham. ‘The cull is morally, ethically,

43
44
‘I’m a beast, I am, and a badger what’s
more. We don’t change. We hold on’
PRINCE CASPIAN – CS LEWIS
and eight animals and spend the day safely underground in the
chambers of their sett. These labyrinthine family dwellings
can be centuries old, maintained and renovated by each new
generation, and passed on to the next. Hay, grass, leaves and
moss are gathered and used to keep the chambers comfortable
and warm. The house-proud animals regularly change their
bedding, or will drag it outside to air in the sun and kill off any
pests, before taking it back down inside. The task is shared by
males and females (there’s no bickering over domestic chores
in the badger house). And there’s no messing up the home
either. Perhaps the only other mammal to construct a toilet,
they dig specific holes (known as latrines) for their droppings
around the edge of their setts. Leaving their sett at dusk in the
summer, or after dark in the winter, badgers will sniff the air
and sometimes spend a few minutes grooming away dirt and
dust before heading off to forage. Opportunistic omnivores,
earthworms are their staple diet – they will munch 200 in one
night – but they also eat slugs, snails, nuts, berries and small
rodents and rabbits. While they don’t hibernate like hedgehogs,
badgers do build up their body fat reserves in autumn to get
them through the winter when it’s cold and food may be scarce.
Creatures of habit
Unable to see colour, their view of the world – like their
distinctive facial stripes – is black and white. Although their
eyesight is thought to be poor, they can detect contrast and
shapes, have acute hearing and a sharp sense of smell, using
their earthy scent to mark their territories and latrines,
strengthen family bonds and attract other badgers. They mate
at any time of the year, but a biological process called delayed
implantation means they have just one litter, comprising
between one and five cubs, around February. Born blind and
hairless, they remain in the sett until 12 weeks old. By late
summer, they are generally feeding independently. Badger
watching from April to June offers a good chance of seeing
the cubs, as they follow their hungry mothers on food-finding
expeditions and learn about the delights and the dangers of
the outside world. Family groups will use the same well-worn
pathways to access foraging grounds for generations, but new
housing developments and badly planned roads that cut across
these ancient routes have seen badgers become one of the most
commonly killed species on our roads.
While they can live to be 14 years old in the wild, as many
as 50,000 are lost in UK road accidents each year – a fifth of
the population. It’s another reason to slow down and, where
possible, cycle or take the train instead. Faced with the cull,
habitat loss and traffic, badgers – like so much of the world’s
wildlife – are fighting for survival. With native apex predators,
including lynx, wolves and bears, hunted to extinction centuries
ago, the British Isles is now home to incomplete and unbalanced
ecosystems. As more species are lost, and wilderness makes way
for agriculture and livestock farming, this trophic imbalance
becomes more damaging. ‘If we remove any of the key players
from an ecosystem it has a profound effect,’ says Chris. ‘Badgers
have been around since the Ice Age, and are part of a complex
community of animals. The cull means we are looking at the
extinction of some local populations, which will dangerously
destabilise those ecosystems and render them non-functional.’
Global trend
It’s a story that is playing out around the world. WWF’s Living
Planet Report 2020 revealed an average 68 per cent decline in
global wildlife populations in the past 50 years. The report
called for urgent measures to reverse this trend by 2030 to
avoid irreversible biodiversity loss. Sadly, despite being home
to some incredible wildlife, the UK has been identified as one
of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. More than
one in seven native species now faces extinction – including
the wildcat, hazel dormouse, water vole, stag beetle, turtle dove
and hedgehog – and more than 40 per cent are in decline, which
makes the decision to cull native, legally protected badgers
even more questionable. ‘Badgers are beautiful animals, and
mesopredators [mid-ranking predators] that play an incredibly
important part in the ecosystem, offering a range of mechanical
services,’ explains Chris. ‘While looking for food they snuffle
and turn over soil, aerating it and helping plants to germinate
DUST TO DUST
In 1941, naturalist and author Brian Seymour
Vesey-Fitzgerald revealed that he had witnessed a
badger’s funeral. He watched as an agitated female
excavated a hole in an abandoned rabbit warren,
anxiously shrieking, before being joined by a male
that followed her into her sett. A short time later,
aided by the female, the male pulled a dead badger
out of the sett by its leg and dragged it into the
hole, before covering it with earth. The female
returned home while the male wandered off and
wasn’t seen again.
45

and grow. They eat and disperse seeds – crab apple trees have
been found growing inside setts – and they help to regulate
populations of small mammals and invertebrates.’ Legal
protections are in place to guard our native species, but as the
cull shows, loopholes allow them to be overruled for reasons
ranging from disease control to infrastructure development.
‘As an active conservationist, I feel an intrinsic sense of
failure that more than 140,000 badgers have been killed in
the UK on my watch,’ says Chris. ‘That for me is very, very
painful, and I will take the guilt to my grave.’ However, while
it’s too late for those badgers lost, there is still time to learn to
tread more lightly on the planet and restore our wild places.
Rewilding projects are gaining pace around the country, from
the Alladale Wilderness Reserve in the Scottish Highlands,
to the WildEast Map of Dreams project in East Anglia. Both
aim to reverse the habitat loss and degradation of land caused
by the intensification of farming by regenerating native
forests and pioneering the reintroduction of native species. In
addition, a dynamic coalition of 70 organisations, including
some of the UK’s biggest conservation groups, is calling on the
UK government to set legally binding targets to aid nature’s
46
MAKING TRACKS
A badger’s paw prints are
around 5cm long and 6.5cm
wide, with five toe pads, long
claws and a wide rear pad on
the fore feet. The hind feet
have shorter claws.
recovery by 2030 through The State of Nature Campaign.
‘Badgers have roamed the British Isles for millennia and are
deeply engrained in our culture. It’s more important than ever
to stand up for their protection and share our love of these
incredible animals, and of all our native wildlife,’ says Chris.
‘We mustn’t ever give up. Like the badgers themselves, we must
all keep ploughing on: our future depends on it.’
Words: Lauren Jarvis
Lauren is a freelance travel writer with a special interest
in wildlife, wellness, adventure and conservation. See more
@laurenjarvistravels.
 BADGER WATCH
What could be better than spending time in the woods, waiting for a badger family to come say hello?
PHOTOGRAPHS: CHRIS PACKHAM. THANKS TO MARTIN NEWCOMBE AT EASTKENTBADGERGROUP.ORG.UK

The Badger Trust will know where setts are located in your area, and some of its local groups offer
badger-watching tours with a guide. But if you want to go it alone, here’s what you need to know...

1. Ready, sett, go 3. A light in the dark 5. Leave no trace

A sett can spread across 100m and have
up to 50 entrances, 25cm or more in
diameter. Look for smooth sides around
the entrance burrows, hairs, excavated
dirt, fresh grass bedding near the holes,
footprints or scratch marks on nearby
trees: all signs of badger activity.
2. Quiet as a mouse
Badgers can be shy, so you’ll need to be
as still and quiet as you can while you’re
waiting for them to emerge. Find a spot
downwind of the sett entrances, and
make a comfy camp before sunset – you
could be there a while! Wear warm
clothing that doesn’t rustle when you
move and don’t talk.
Badgers are nocturnal but crepuscular
(active at dawn and dusk) in the
summer months. To be able to see them
in the dark, without scaring them away,
you’ll need a torch with a red-light mode.
You can transform a regular torch by
covering the light with red film – a red
transparent sweet wrapper also works.
4. Respect the wild
Badgers are a protected species, so
never disturb them or their sett, and
always keep a respectful distance from
the animals while you’re watching them.
If you’re lucky, an inquisitive one might
shuffle your way, in which case, stay very
still, keep calm and enjoy your magical
close-up encounter.
Don’t forget to take everything out of the
woods with you after you’ve finished your
badger-watching experience. Use your
torch to check that absolutely no rubbish
is left behind.
How to help
You can help to protect badgers and
their habitats by supporting the work
of organisations including the Badger
Trust (badgertrust.org.uk), The Wildlife
Trusts (wildlifetrusts.org) and Wild Justice
(wildjustice.org.uk).
To find out more about The State of
Nature Campaign and sign the petition,
visit wcl.org.uk/state-of-nature-campaign.

47
 Life after death
Globally the role of graveyards is changing, allowing these once sombre places of reflection
to turn into thriving ecological utopias which support a host of flora and fauna
In the small Cornish village of Crowan, a quaint granite church
is surrounded by green fields. Its modern cemetery sits outside
of the original 15th-century churchyard walls. It’s a quiet place,
with a manicured lawn and neat rows of stones. But next to
it, the old churchyard is a mass of colour – swathes of ox-eye
daisies lean lazily against lichen-crusted headstones, buttery
primroses peek out from clumps of grasses that surround the
graves as birds titter from the branches of old oak trees. This is
just one example of how in recent years, there’s been a shift in
the way that burial grounds are managed, with a focus being
placed on their life-giving qualities. Traditionally associated
with death, many cemeteries are now providing a home for
nature and a space for wildlife.
Many people are aware of the climate crisis that the world is
facing but with the direct threat to human survival often taking
precedence in discussions, it’s sometimes easy to overlook
how the Earth’s environments are suffering, and biodiversity
– the variety of species with which we share the planet – is
falling. Last year’s State of nature in the EU report revealed that
39 per cent of birds and half of amphibian populations were
struggling, and over a third of habitats were in poor condition.
Habitat destruction, pollution and the introduction of invasive
species are all issues threatening flora and fauna around the
world. But as we continue to champion and build on our green
48
spaces, churchyards can be hidden oases in the concrete jungles
of towns and cities – vital refuges for nature.
Outdoor religious spaces vary across the world, but many
have been in situ for a while. Most of the time, despite the
graves that have been dug, the land lies undisturbed. Beneath
the earth is flora that’s been growing for hundreds of years,
some of which are rarely seen in other habitats. The soil is often
free from pesticides and herbicides or agricultural run-off, all
of which can be damaging for natural habitats, making these
spaces perfect for nature to flourish. From creeping ivy to
clumps of fungi, rare types of moss to ancient trees lining the
outskirts, graveyards are home to an important array of species.
The Living Churchyards project is a UK scheme that
champions the kind of restricted management that helps to
preserve this biodiversity. This could be in the form of not
using pesticides, limiting grass-mowing – for instance, once a
year around October to allow native plants to flower and seed
– and encouraging wild plants to grow and animals to make
their homes there. The management of such places still takes
time and care, with jobs typically including creating ponds,
compost heaps, log piles and rockeries. Most of the work is
done by volunteers, who often feel as though they’re also being
given new lease of life. This is the case for 64-year-old Barbara
Reed, a former retail manager who has been volunteering in
 ‘The poetry of the earth is never dead’
JOHN KEATS
Essex for the past three years and has found the work uplifting.
‘I have met new people and am spending more time outside
in nature. I find it calming and fun, and it’s given me new
excitement in my retirement.’ Some Living Churchyards groups
have seen anecdotally that interest in this volunteer work is
steadily increasing, however national charity Caring for God’s
Acre has concerns that in rural communities, the opposite
might be true. It offers resources for those who wish to manage
burial sites for biodiversity and notes that in rural areas with
ageing populations the number of active volunteers might
be decreasing. Urban communities, where families are often
involved in the church, are possibly better placed to attract a
younger set of helpers, however this is yet to be supported by
official research.
In England and Wales there are more than 20,000 burial
grounds, encompassing different cultures, religions and
timelines, and around 6,000 of these are now cared for with
wildlife in mind. But getting more burial sites on board isn’t
without its problems. One issue is mindset. For many people,
the idea of ‘neat and tidy’ is more aesthetically pleasing than a
tangled mass of plants, but this is something those in charge
of the living churchyards are hoping to change. ‘It’s about
communicating the message,’ says Robert Moor, coordinator
of the Cornwall Living Churchyards project. He suggests this
can be done with ‘lots of signs and labels to show people the
work that’s going on’. Investment is another difficult area.
Robert, who has managed the Cornish project for many years
and overseen various developments, explains: ‘Funding can be
a sticking point, but we need more people to invest in our green
spaces and their future.’ Changing management techniques can
sometimes mean an initial increased spend on tools, seeds or
materials to create homes for wildlife. In the long run, however,
a hands-off approach is likely to be more financially prudent,
as it negates the need to hire expensive management firms or
purchase costly (and environmentally damaging) chemicals.
Some churches have teamed up with their local Wildlife
Trust in order to benefit from expertise and potential funding
50
options. One example under Robert’s care is in St Uny, which
overlooks the Celtic Sea. The management of this 12th-century
burial ground changed with support from the local Wildlife
Trust and it was one of the first cemeteries to become part
of the local Living Churchyards project. Previously managed
for a manicured look, less frequent mowing and the disuse of
pesticides have transformed the landscape. Pyramidal orchids,
meadow vetchling, ragwort and knapweed are among some
of the colourful wildflowers thriving between the graves,
however, the most exciting is the field scabious. This species
provides food for a rare solitary mining bee, the large scabious
bee (Andrena hattorfiana), an endangered insect that can live
and breed within the churchyard walls. The site has become
a popular space for visitors and Robert hopes that alongside
other similar projects it will prove how beautiful these natural
churchyards can be if allowed to thrive.
All around the world, these spaces are providing important
homes for nature. The Jewish Weissensee cemetery in Berlin,
Germany, has nearly 400 plant species, 10 of which are on
the protected list. A large study in Poland revealed that after
botanical gardens, cemeteries had the largest numbers of
plants, and in Australia, some churchyards are home to rare
native species, such as the white box tree. And of course, along
with diverse flora, also comes a variety of fauna. In Chicago, in
the US, 22 species of birds were recorded in 10 cemeteries, and
in New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery, a new species of beetle,
the wood-boring jewel beetle, was discovered among the 478
acres of land.
They might not be the first places that come to mind when
considering the ecological crisis, but burial grounds can provide
ILLUSTRATIONS: JOHN HARMER
an important place of refuge, reflection and restoration, for
humanity and nature. Instead of just looking at them as part
of the past, perhaps it’s time to see churchyards as an essential
part of the future.
Words: Alexandra Pearce-Broomhead
HOTBEDS OF RARE FLORA AND FAUNA
• Cornwall’s Minster Church in
Boscastle is home to one of the UK’s
largest maternity roosts of greater
horseshoe bats, a vital safe space as
their population is estimated to have
decreased by 91 per cent since 1900.
• Lichens, which are made up of
fungi and algae and/or cyanobacteria,
can be found growing on gravestones
and church walls, with some being
centuries old. Endangered by increased
pollution, they find a more welcoming
habitat in churchyards, where the air is
often cleaner.
• Numbers of orchids are struggling
worldwide, however a study in Albania
found that 29 species were present in
166 cemeteries, with most supported
in Muslim burial grounds.
• In London’s Highgate Cemetery, a
rare species of spider was found, having
been undetected for 150 years. Meta
bourneti preys upon woodlice and small
insects that live happily in burial grounds.
• Previously declared extinct, the
white-flowered plant Spiraea crenata,
or scalloped spirea, resurfaced in a
Pannonian burial ground in Hungary
in 2000. In fact, 12 populations of the
species were found after 294 cemeteries
were surveyed.
Want to get involved?
If you’d like to start volunteering, the
first step is to speak to those who
manage your local burial ground. You
don’t need to be religious to get involved
and there are lots of different faiths
taking part in the movement. If no local
group exists, you could consider joining
forces with like-minded people to see
if it’s possible to set one up. For
support in getting started in the UK,
visit caringforgodsacre.org.uk.
51
 Jigsaw joy
When it comes to giving your wellbeing a boost, it could be as accessible as piecing together a puzzle
There’s a quiet movement going on in the world of
entertainment – and it doesn’t involve apps, screens or the
latest technology. The humble jigsaw puzzle is enjoying a
resurgence. What was once a childhood pastime has been
adopted by people of all ages, thanks to its simplicity and
accessibility. Jigsaws are inexpensive, can be done by anyone
of any age, alone or as a group, and require no special skills
or equipment, apart from a flat surface. What’s more, mental
health experts say puzzling could even boost wellbeing because
it’s an engrossing activity that provides a chance to unplug and
de-stress. Jigsaws require your full attention and give a real
sense of achievement when they’re completed. Some studies
have even shown they can help ward off cognitive decline and
be useful for patients with dementia. There really are so many
reasons to get puzzling. Here we explore just a few…
Educational origins
Jigsaw puzzles have been around since the 18th century. London
engraver and cartographer John Spilsbury is believed to have
produced the first in 1760. The earliest were used to teach
geography, with maps mounted onto sheets of hardwood and
cut into pieces. It’s thought the royal governess used them in
lessons with the children of King George III. But it wasn’t until
the 1880s that they became known as jigsaws – thanks to the
tool used to cut out the shapes. Cardboard puzzles only became
popular in the early 20th century, when during the depression
years they became cheap, long-lasting and recyclable forms of
family entertainment. In more recent times 500- or 1,000-piece
puzzles have become an increasingly popular hobby for adults as
well as children. The world record for the largest commercially
available jigsaw is held by a company called Grafika, for a puzzle
called Travel by Art, which has a staggering 54,000 pieces.
Universal appeal
So why are jigsaws so appealing? For a start they’re easy to
obtain and can be enjoyed by pretty much everybody. They’re
relatively inexpensive to buy, but if you don’t want to splash out
then many libraries, community centres and charity shops also
52
have them in stock. Puzzles can be a great communal activity, as
you can sit around a table on a rainy day with family or friends,
spread out the pieces and work as a team to put together the
picture. But conversely, they can also be enjoyed solo if you’re
looking for a restful yet engrossing activity to complete alone.
Put your phone on silent, switch on some gentle background
music and enjoy a calming break from the bustle of modern life.
Then there’s the positive mental impact. Research by US
firm Sanesco Health shows that when engrossed in a jigsaw
puzzle, you use both hemispheres of your brain. The left is
the analytical side, which sees all the separate pieces and
attempts to sort them, while the right is the creative side, which
looks at the bigger picture and works intuitively. When you
exercise both at the same time, you build and increase brain
connections, which in turn boosts cognitive function, including
your ability to learn and remember. The completion of a puzzle
can also release a shot of dopamine, a chemical that increases
feelings of happiness.
Brain food
Psychotherapist Rakhi Chand, from London-based Chand
Counselling, says that puzzling is ‘ridiculously healthy and
empowering’. She likes to buy her puzzles from charity shops
and says jigsaws are beneficial because they’re a mindful
activity. Rakhi explains: ‘By this I mean awareness is brought
to direct experience in the present moment. Given that anxiety
and depression are linked to difficult feelings about the past or
future, mindfulness is an antidote, and so puzzling is a balm
for these mental health problems.’ She also says doing jigsaws
helps to slow the mind and gives the puzzler a break from
information overload. She adds: ‘In the modern world, much
of our experience – and now expectation – is of immediate
gratification. Puzzling is the antithesis of this. Doing a jigsaw
confronts one with their relationship to patience.’ Focusing
on an activity like a puzzle, without other thoughts and
distractions entering the mind, can be a form of meditation.
Jigsaws also have some famous fans. The Queen is rumoured
to be a puzzler and Microsoft’s Bill Gates told The Telegraph
53
54
 that he liked to take wooden jigsaws with him to relax on
family holidays. Actor Patrick Stewart has stated in numerous
interviews that he enjoys a good puzzle and Wolverine star
Hugh Jackman posts videos of his jigsaws on social media.
Even rocker Ronnie Wood has gone on record in the Daily Mail
saying he enjoys jigsaws because ‘they’re good for the brain’.
Scientists agree with Ronnie. Numerous studies have
reported associations between engaging in mentally
stimulating activities and resistance to cognitive decline.
One 2012 study conducted by the University of California,
Berkeley, looked at the brain scans of healthy older people with
an average age of 76, patients with Alzheimer’s and younger
participants aged around 25. They found the adults who had
participated in more mind-stimulating activities, especially
in their early and middle years, had the least amounts of a
protein called beta-amyloid in their brains – a marker for the
development of Alzheimer’s. The older participants who had
done activities like puzzling and reading had brains comparable
with the participants some 50 years younger.
And it’s never too late to start taking action. Some companies
are now producing jigsaws specially designed for people with
dementia. The Alzheimer Society of Canada says that exercising
your mind daily with activities such as puzzles can keep your
brain stimulated and help to slow the progression of brain
ageing. It advises playing games that challenge the mind,
including jigsaws.
Puzzle life
ILLUSTRATIONS: SASHA CHAGINA
How do you choose the perfect puzzle? It should be challenging,
but not frustratingly difficult, so pay attention to the age group
it’s aimed at on the packaging. Try to pick one that piques
your interest – there are thousands of images to choose from,
including landscape scenes, favourite cartoons and even fine
art. Returning to puzzle fan Hugh Jackman, for example, the
actor live-streamed a video of himself completing a 1,500-piece
puzzle of van Gogh’s famous painting Starry Night. The image
you choose can also increase or decrease a puzzle’s difficulty. A
busy picture with lots of different colours will be easier for you
to process and slot together when broken into pieces than an
image with less detail or large blocks of colour – such as a sky.
Valerie Coit, from Minnesota, is president of the USA
Jigsaw Puzzle Association and regularly takes part in jigsaw
competitions, where participants do the same puzzle against
the clock. She can complete a 500-piece jigsaw in under an hour
but admits that for many puzzlers, the attraction is more about
losing yourself in a mindful activity than trying to get it done as
quickly as possible. ‘Puzzling has always been a part of my life,’
she explains.
‘As a child I remember every Christmas we’d sit down as a
family to do a big puzzle. Now I tend to always have one on the
go, laid out on a table in my home, which I will spend time on
every day. It’s definitely something that I would turn to in times
of stress or anxiety – it’s very engrossing so it’s a way to focus
entirely on something and tune everything else out.’
Valerie also says that puzzling has become a surprisingly
social aspect of her life. She regularly completes jigsaws with
her partner and takes part in contests as part of a team. The
Association runs online competitions, socials, a Facebook group
and even swap communities, where participants can exchange
their completed puzzles so they always have something new
to try. She adds: ‘People don’t realise there’s a real social side,
which for me has become so important – a big part of my social
life now revolves around jigsaws and I’ve made some wonderful
friends. It’s very inclusive and I love the physical act of piecing
the parts together. It gets those endorphins going and when
I complete one, I feel a real sense of accomplishment.’
Words: Jade Beecroft
55
 MINDFULNESS

‘I have realised that the past and future are real illusions, that
they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is’
Alan Watts
58
Small talk, big picture
Idle chat isn’t always silly. It can be playful, perk up your day and reveal profound
truths – if you give it a chance and work at it
In the light of recent times, when human connection has
been in short supply, small talk has taken on a new meaning.
No longer the rather dweeby and less interesting relative
of meaningful conversation, chit-chat has grown large in
importance. With no soirees for most of a year, small talk’s had
little chance to corner us in the kitchen at a party as we politely
dance with it, plotting our exit. Instead, it’s entertained us as we
queued outside supermarkets, two metres apart. So, what’s the
big issue with small talk?
I once read that small talk was the equivalent of dogs sniffing
each other’s bottoms. I must confess, I’ve never liked it (small
talk, that is), even though I’ve been praised for my skills in it.
I’ve always felt it’s an exchange of questions from one person
who didn’t really care for the answer, with a half-hearted
response from the other. And it’s been suggested my dislike
of idle chatter is laced with snobbery. I’ve looked at this and
wondered whether there’s some truth in it. Do I think small
talk’s beneath me? The answer is no. I like deep and meaningful
conversations, but I don’t want to engage on that level all the
time. I don’t want always to work that hard. Conversation needs
to be many things, such as the soothing balm to a hard day at
work, and wise words to life’s conundrums – and the rest in
between. It turns out, however, that I’ve failed to understand
the point of small talk. It took a trip to the shops to illustrate
its importance.
A little while ago, I struck up a conversation with a stranger
at my local supermarket while waiting to pay for groceries. The
stranger, looking as bored as I was, initiated the conversation
with a smile and a nod of the head, a non-verbal exchange
of pleasantries. The conversation started, rather typically,
with a note on the weather. This led to a discussion about
gardening – how morning frost can kill off newly planted bulbs.
The exchange snowballed into talking about the different
species of birds we’d seen in the garden. And without even
noticing it, an in-depth conversation unfolded. Have recent
global events made our world smaller, or bigger? Perhaps we
wouldn’t have noticed the birds before the world was forced to
a standstill? Perhaps we wouldn’t have struck up a conversation
so casually and with so much ease had it not been for our
collective experience and noticeable ennui? We both agreed
that, strangely, the world had become bigger, because if you
concentrate on any one thing, it becomes a world of its own.
We were now experiencing life under a microscope, where
before we were experiencing it as an overview. This debate,
which involved so much honesty and exploration, had
started with the weather. And after having it, I felt the same
satisfaction I do after eating a good meal.
On the subject of small talk, comedian and writer Stephen
Fry likened it to throwing a ball between yourself and another.
The trick is not to keep the ball or drop it – it needs to be
kept moving, back and forth. Small talk, when done well, is
a constant and seamless exchange, weaving words together,
ending with a patchwork quilt of sentences. It’s a great swim,
not against the tide, but with it. It’s a polite dance, where you
waltz your partner in the throes of a heart-to-heart. People
assume that intimacy can only be present in conversations with
depth. But I’ve changed my ideas about this. There is intimacy
in exploration and the getting-to-know part of the beginnings
of dialogue. You pull out your antennae and feel your way
through a stranger. You invest a little of your precious time to
get the measure of them, assessing whether they belong in your
tribe or not. There’s depth, intimacy and a lot of meaning in the
smallest of chat.
If you think about some art forms, from paintings to novels,
they start with a rough idea. A fashion designer will sketch
out their design, and a novelist will start with a first draft.
Philosopher and author Alain de Botton sees these first artist
impressions as a version of small talk. On his School of Life
59
 website, he discusses the artist John Constable painting 50
studies of the clouds above Hampstead Heath. In this way,
Alain suggests the humble beginnings of dialogue are akin to
the makings of great works of art. They start small with layers
added and built upon.
If, like many people, you can’t get your head around small
talk, you might think of it as the first building block to having
a decent discourse. It needs to start somewhere, and it needs to
start small. Don’t scare off a potentially good conversationalist
by talking about the secrets of your heart. You might strike gold
and find they’re on your wavelength and could in time become
a friend. But going too far too fast is akin to asking a new date
what they think about having kids – not advisable or sensible.
Low-key chitter-chatter can be seen as an adventure, where
you allow yourself to fall wholeheartedly down a rabbit hole.
Where will this conversation end up? Nobody knows. But the
value of mundane chat has been taken seriously in academic
circles: in February, BPP University Law School, which has
campuses across the country, launched a ‘business small talk’
module to help students prepare for the world of work. Georgie
Nightingall, who is involved in designing and running the
course, says small talk is important for opening social doors.
‘We often talk about good conversation as if it’s just exchanging
information,’ she says, ‘but my experience with – rather, my
addiction to – good conversation suggests it’s more about
expanding your perspectives and your relationships.’ She
60
adds: ‘Breaking the mould of repetitive or predictable questions,
and giving a conversation partner honest and creative answers,
can help to move small talk into deeper connection.’
My thoughts on small-scale chatter haven’t been led
by snobbery, but by impatience and a desire to unravel a
conversation and get into the heart of it and ignore the chit-
chat waltz. I can now see it as a kind of foreplay before the big
event, the reward might be substantial dialogue, but small talk
is the necessary lubricant. Every conversation has the potential
to lead to a philosophical place that’s deep and enlightening,
should you wish it to. A friend recently told me he didn’t mind
the beginnings of a dialogue with a stranger that might start
with the dreaded weather. ‘That’s not small talk, that’s getting
to know someone,’ he said.
Like everything else in life, how we perceive a topic is a
matter of interpretation. Someone’s comment about a sunny
day might be a clue to how they feel about life, be it joyful or
less so. Or an aside about their journey could be a reflection of
their personality – meticulous and a little obsessive, or carefree
and breezy? To dismiss small talk as banal nonsense ignores its
ILLUSTRATIONS: ILENIA ZITO
true function. There are hidden depths in seemingly mindless
chatter, and throwaway lines can be a gateway to people’s souls.
And that’s deep.
Words: Kiran Sidhu
TALKING POINTS
• At the beginning of a conversation, be natural, don’t force it, let it
develop organically.

• Trust your instincts and be ready to pick up on something someone says, however
slight it might appear, which you can then develop into a deeper conversation.

• When engaged in small talk, don’t be looking over the person’s shoulder or around
the room. They deserve your full attention, for however short that time might be.

• Remember, small talk can be enjoyable, and can make your day nicer just by the
sense of friendliness it can convey.

• If you’re stuck for something to say, reflect on your surroundings. Is there an

interesting painting on the wall? Did you have an eventful journey?

• Take note of what someone is choosing to talk about. It’s a clue to their
personality and might reveal their interests and background.

• Don’t be afraid to direct the conversation, especially if your small talk partner isn’t
very chatty.

• If you’d like to get a better feel for small talk, take note of chatter at parties, in the
supermarket or in the queue at the post office. Listen to what people are talking about
and watch their body language.

Don’t be afraid of shutting down a conversation if you feel you’d rather it didn’t carry
on, or you feel uncomfortable. Never feel obliged to divulge any personal information no
matter how much someone else might seem happy to share. Your privacy and safety are
of the utmost importance.

61
 This life
When a look back at the past can provide a creative approach to the future
When you want to know where you’re going, it can sometimes
be helpful to reflect on where you’ve been and acknowledge
how far you’ve come or, put another way, to piece together
a timeline of your life. This isn’t, however, always a
straightforward task. Events are forgotten, achievements
overlooked and fun underestimated. Creative writing exercises,
which focus on the past and are both powerful and insightful,
can help to make it a little easier. They can, however, arouse
strong emotions, so during your reflection it’s often helpful
to keep a separate sheet of paper to jot down any thoughts and
feelings that come to the fore.
62
The exercises and note-taking are both rich and exploratory
processes but if, at any point, you feel overwhelmed, stop
writing and do something that grounds you in physical reality –
focus on your breathing, go for a walk or make a hot drink. One
way to keep your sessions emotionally comfortable is to set a
time boundary, between 10 and 20 minutes is effective for each
exercise. If you feel you need more time, that’s fine, but stop and
notice how you’re feeling so you can stay present.
First, make yourself comfortable in a space where you’re
warm, safe and unlikely to be disturbed. Then use the prompts
here to help you with your short timeline reflection exercises...
 1 Key events
Which are the important ones that define you as a person?
What life-changing moments have you experienced? Present
them as a mind map, showing any links between the pieces.
Alternatively, you could write a top 10 of pivotal events, or
draw a timeline, numbering each year of your life and adding
significant events.
Importantly, there’s no need to rack your brain and record
every single occasion. This can overload your mind and
become overwhelming. Instead, focus on what feels special or
significant, or just on thoughts that pop into your head. After
listing the key points, expand upon them. What were you
thinking and feeling at the time? Where were you? Who were
you with? What happened that made it life-changing?
2 The great failure
Think back to a difficult time – maybe a lower-than-
anticipated exam grade, a friendship that ended, a job that
didn’t work out. Was there a silver lining, no matter how small?
Did the setback set you on a different course that proved more
rewarding or fulfilling? Write about so-called failures that
turned out all right in the end.
3 Beyond the photograph
Old pictures can be useful reminders of events, thoughts
and feelings. Asking friends and family for images can also
help to widen your view. Have you ever looked at a photo and
thought more widely – about what was going on before and
after it was taken; other conversations that happened on that
day; or people and places that were around? Choose a photo
and write about what lies beyond the image.
ILLUSTRATION: AGNESBIC
4 Favourite humans
From your earliest childhood memories, think about some
of the people you’ve cherished. Now, put them into different
time frames. You could, for example, put one or two names into
age ranges, starting at 0-5 and then going up in five-year blocks
to where you are now. Write about your favourite memories
with each person. These could be tiny moments, snapshots or
a brief history of the relationship.
5 Old chums
Ask a long-term friend to share some of their memories
of you, including their favourites as well as the highs and lows.
What do they recall as your funniest shared experiences? Write
notes or, if they’re happy to do it, record the conversation. You
could even have a writing workshop together recollecting your
own stories and sharing with each other.
6 Happy memories
Evidence from a study published in 2019 at the University
of Cambridge suggests that remembering more positive
than negative life events ‘may help build resilience to stress
and reduce vulnerability to depression in young people’.
Often, however, people dwell on difficult occasions rather
than focusing on the good times. Call to mind your happiest
moments and write them down. Then expand upon each
memory and bring it fully back to life by remembering any
sounds, smells, tastes, textures and sights.
7 Lost ambitions
Is there something specific that brought you joy in your
childhood? What did you want to be when you grew up? Write
about the topic of lost ambitions. It could be anything: landing
that dream job, trying out new recipes, planting a veggie patch
or learning to dance. The recollections could point towards
a new direction in life or a way of increasing fulfilment from
existing pastimes.
Words: Kate Orson
Creating a timeline can be a powerful experience. If you become
overwhelmed, stop immediately. If the feelings persist, talk to a
trusted friend or family member. You could also see your GP or
a trained professional. The mental health charity Mind also has
helpful advice – visit mind.org.uk.
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64
 Parts of the story
Whether it’s fear and confidence or doubt and belief, there are times when our different
states collide. Understanding why this happens can lead the way to resolution
People comprise different parts. These include roles such as
friend, parent, gardener, runner and colleague. They also entail
varied characteristics, including a desire to learn new things, to
relax, to be level-headed or be a little wild.
Parts are sometimes referred to as ego states. This concept,
which stemmed from the work of neurologist Sigmund Freud
and was taken up by other pioneers in the field, has been
developed by professor Gordon Emmerson, founding director
at Resource Therapy International in Melbourne, Australia,
and author of Ego State Therapy. In his book, he explains how
individuals are ‘made up of an ego family of states. You are… a
number of different states; each has its own feeling of power,
weakness, emotion, logic or other personal traits’.
Ego states, which are a normal function of the psyche, are
usually created in response to a new experience, frustration
or trauma. ‘Most start in childhood,’ says Gordon, ‘and as the
repertoire of states increases, fewer are formed in adolescence,
and fewer still in adulthood.’ These states or parts, which
serve different functions, protect and help people to cope
with life. It’s perfectly normal, for example, for more than
ILLUSTRATIONS: SILVIA STECHER
one to be functioning at the same time. Generally, they only
cause problems when two parts are in conflict and it prevents
personal progress.
For instance, one part might be keen to promote a business,
to go out and give talks while another doesn’t want to stand up
and be seen. Both parts, and their responses, are likely to have
been established in childhood, but sometimes the messages get
muddled and this can be seen in adulthood when a conflicting
part pushes back, generally as a way of offering protection.
Connecting the parts
When this happens, it can be useful to explore what’s going
on and to try to discover why one part is discouraging
or sabotaging the pursuit of heartfelt desires or bringing
unhappiness. One way to do this and to find resolution is
through parts therapy. Although historically it was employed
mainly by hypnotherapists, for the past 30 years, ego-state
therapy has also been used by many psychotherapists. It
has also been used by eye movement desensitisation and
reprocessing (EMDR) practitioners – including psychologists,
hypnotherapists, counsellors and psychotherapists – in the
treatment of acute and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.
With awareness, a felt sense and conflict-resolution skills, it
can also be used as an independent tool for day-to-day inner
resolutions. It’s particularly effective where a person has already
tried several approaches to overcome an issue but they still feel
at odds or conflicted. Learning how to identify and negotiate
with our ego states (see overleaf) can help to explain how
personality is structured and provide an approach for lasting
change. According to Gordon, it can also help with physical
health and lead to an improved inner dialogue and a greater
understanding of the self.
Turn over to get aquainted with your conflicting parts
65
 HOW TO IDENTIFY CHALLENGING PARTS
Grab a notepad or sheet of paper and make a list of situations that feel:

• Conflicted. Perhaps you want to move to the countryside for more space and nature but
equally you really enjoy the social aspects and choice found in city living.

• Ambivalent. Is there a part of you that would love to have kids and another part that
really doesn’t like the idea?

• Confused. Are you keen to get a promotion at work but something feels awry and you
can’t put your finger on what it is?

• Stuck. Maybe both you and your partner want to get married, but you can’t seem to
progress things despite their willingness and enthusiasm.
• Contradictory. Do you publicly profess to be a dedicated environmentalist but never
remember to put out the recycling?

Now, read back on what you’ve written. Does it provide any new or surprising insights? Are
some situations repetitions of the same thing? Are two or more of your answers linked? With
this in mind, it’s possible to view the parts more closely and work at ways to resolve any that
are in conflict. Here’s how:

• Identify both roles. You could refer to the two parts as ‘conflicting’ and ‘motivating’.
First, try to identify the latter, the one that is keen for action or change. Next, pinpoint
the former, the part that is thwarting your preference or desire on a deeper level.
• Cultivate compassion. A motivating part might express itself with a lot of energy and
sometimes aggression towards its conflicting counterpart. Keep in mind that both parts
– and many others – make up you. They are there to help. Try to observe and regard
them with acceptance and compassion.
• Work towards resolution. Once you have identified the conflicting parts you’d like to
work with, think about giving them the opportunity to communicate and come to an
agreement on how to work together. This can be done independently using dialoguing
(see right), self-hypnosis (see overleaf) or writing tools. Alternatively, you could work with
an appropriately qualified psycho- or hypnotherapist.

66
HOW TO NEGOTIATE FOR RESOLUTION
Dialoguing

First, give each of the motivating and conflicting parts a name. For example, the former
might be a desire to start a business, this feels full of hope and excitement – let’s call it Skye.
The latter is safer in the job it knows and might be wary of self-employment, let’s call this
Sam. You could write or draw a character sketch of both and label them with their respective
emotions and attributes.
Now, take two or three minutes to tap into the feeling and sense you get from each part
(eyes can be closed or open). Next, allow the two to converse for between two and 10
minutes, without stopping to ponder, edit or correct the script. Here’s an example of how it
might begin, but the idea is to chart your own conversation between the conflicting parts:

Skye: Hi, Sam, will you talk to me?

Sam Well, I will, but I’m worried you’re going to make me do something I don’t want to do.
Skye: I promise I won’t. I’d just like to talk.
Sam: Okay, ask me a question or make a statement and I’ll respond.
Skye: What is your job?
Sam: This feels really odd! Okay. I’m here to protect you in case something happens.
Skye: Thank you for protecting me. Can I ask, what are you worried about? What is it
that you need?

Acquaintance made, the conversation can continue as you desire. Other questions you
might include are: What’s important to you? What’s worrying you? What do you need? How
do you feel? Is there something you have to tell me? Tell me something important. What’s
on your mind? How can we work this out?

It might feel as though you’re making it up, and really, you are. Remember, however, that
you have all the answers within. It’s perfectly natural to feel self-conscious. Try to keep
going with it, even if it does seem a little strange. The insights and details that emerge
can be surprising.

Turn over for a self-hypnosis sequence

67
 Self-hypnosis

This might sound daunting, but it’s more straightforward than often imagined. The main
elements include your preferred method of relaxation, visualisation and self-guided prompts.
Here is one example:

1. Relax. In a quiet space, take a few deep breaths and close your eyes. Aim for five to 10 minutes
of relaxation or mindfulness, using the breath as an anchor.
2. Feel. Gently, invite each part, one at a time, to rise. Tap into what you feel when each one
stands up. From which part of the body does each part surface? What feeling does it embody
– fearful, curious, angry, excited?
3. Name. Try to cultivate a strong sense of each part. You might like to attribute a colour, shape or
name to identify its characteristics.
4. Communicate. Ask each part if it is happy to talk to you today. Wait for a felt response. This
might be a feeling or sense in your body or mind. Invite each one to speak to the other in turn
and see what they have to say. Act as an intermediary. Encourage open dialogue.
5. Negotiate. Sometimes the conflicting part might not want to stand back. If that happens, you
will need to negotiate. Always be patient and wait for at least a couple of minutes in between
each question if need be.
6. Explain. If need be, tell the conflicting part that another area is unhappy and that improved
communication between it and them might encourage harmony. Suggest that a few small ideas
or tweaks could make both happier.
7. Summarise. Outline the role each plays. For example: ‘Conflicting part, can you see how
important it is for motivating part to deliver a confident presentation?’ or ‘Motivating part, can
you see that conflicting part is trying to protect you?’
8. Resolve. Try to come to a resolution. Ask the conflicting part if it can work in unison with its
motivating colleague. It’s akin to trying to resolve an argument between friends.
9. Gratitude. Remember to thank each part for the work it’s doing to protect you and help
you grow.
10. Stay in touch. You might need to return at a later point to explore any unresolved areas.
Remain diplomatic, friendly, compassionate and grateful.

Words: Leah Larwood

Leah is a qualified hypnotherapist in parts therapy, a trainee mindfulness practitioner and
dreamwork specialist. For more information, visit themoonlab.net.

Please note that hypnotherapy or self-hypnosis isn’t for everyone. It is not recommended if you
have psychosis or certain types of personality disorder. If you have any concerns, please visit
your GP before attempting any self-hypnosis exercises. For more information, visit
nationalhypnotherapysociety.org and psychotherapy.org.uk.

68
D I S C O V E R

The weellbefinorg
magazinagers
teen

teenbreathe.co.uk
70
 Control-panel reset
Feelings of powerlessness can be pervasive, especially during difficult times,
but there are ways to push through
From concerns about single-use plastics and the horrors of
conflict and persecution, to worries about health, family and
finances, there’s much that seems out of our control, but feeling
powerless doesn’t equate to not having any power. While
overwhelming feelings of helplessness can make it difficult to
see the big picture, there are wellsprings of authentic power to
tap into. Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl,
who survived three years in concentration camps, including
Auschwitz, and whose parents, wife, brother and unborn child
were killed in the Holocaust, challenged the belief that there
were circumstances under which human beings were entirely
shaped by events beyond their control.
In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he drew on his
experiences and observations in the camps to explore the
resilience and strength that comes from preserving a sense
of purpose, even under the most horrific circumstances. He
described ‘the last freedom’ as the ability every person has
to choose their response to a situation: ‘We who lived in
concentration camps can remember the men who walked
through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece
of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer
sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from
a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to
choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances,
to choose one’s way… In our response lies our growth and our
ILLUSTRATIONS: SIRIN THADA
freedom.’ While Viktor’s experience of maintaining a sense
of power is extreme and his suffering was immeasurable, he
discovered that he still had the freedom to decide what his
ordeal would mean to him, and how he would respond to it.
In a very different way, personal responses are also illustrated
in the first edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul, American
authors Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen’s collection
of inspiring real-life stories. One tale teaches the value of
taking simple actions in situations that seem daunting and
insurmountable. The story is of a man ‘walking along a deserted
Mexican beach at sunset’. He sees a fellow male in the distance,
who is picking things up and throwing them into the ocean.
Once close enough, he asks what he’s doing, to which
the man responds that he’s throwing stranded starfish back
into the sea. The walker is astonished and incredulously points
out that not only are there thousands of starfish on the beach,
but that a similar thing would be happening up and down the
coast. ‘Can’t you see that you can’t possibly make a difference?’
he exclaims. Smiling, the man bends to pick up another starfish
and, as he throws it back, says: ‘Made a difference to that one.’
Often, the world’s problems can seem insurmountable,
but the Chicken Soup story illustrates that it’s possible for one
person to do something meaningful and influence events
within their control (see overleaf), no matter how small it
might seem. Anne-Marie Bonneau, who blogs as the ‘Zero-
Waste Chef’, tweeted that: ‘We don’t need a handful of people
doing zero waste perfectly, we need millions of people doing
it imperfectly,’ which is another example that gave people
permission to have a go, to make small changes, to do what they
could, without the paralysing pressure of having to resolve the
entire issue of sustainability. She made them believe what they
could offer was enough. She made them feel powerful.
Recognising where our power, responsibility and influence
lie can be liberating. And it can be essential when life delivers
a hefty blow.
Ready to reframe your feelings of powerlessness? Turn over to see
how you can exert influence over the things that matter to you
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 HOW TO REGAIN A SENSE OF CONTROL
In his book The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, Stephen
Covey talks about the idea of a ‘Circle of Concern’. This contains
anything and everything that’s important to you, such as world
peace, work, politics, genetics, the economy, the past, what
others think of you, natural disasters, sustainability. Everything
outside this circle is of little or no concern to you.
As you begin to list the things you care about, you might
recognise that some of them are also out of your control. Inside
this first ring, there’s another, smaller circle – one ‘of Influence’.
In this one lies areas in your life where you can have some kind
of indirect impact, for instance: voting, speaking out, activism,
offering advice, your relationships with others.
The original model has since been adapted to include a third
element, a ‘Circle of Control’. This one is smaller still, found at
the core of the other two, and represents our ability to have
dominion over ourselves, our behaviour and our attitudes. Many
people, for example, can choose their friends, their hometown,
the skills they learn, the way they spend their free time, their
work and what they buy. Placing your focus on your own circles
of influence and control is a much more effective use of energy,
so it makes sense to highlight these areas.
With this in mind, use the questions below to work out where
your own power lies. It might help to start by doing this exercise
in rough or on a separate piece of paper first.

1. Think about all the things you care
about, worries and concerns, big and
small. It doesn’t matter if, at this stage,
it feels as though you can’t control any.
2. Are there ways in which you can
influence any of them? For example, a
parent might be concerned about how
their teenager is going to do in an exam.
The adult can’t control the results directly,
but they might be able to influence their
child by encouraging them to study.
3. What other issues from your Circle of
Concern can you have an indirect impact
on? This will vary from person to person.
Keep in mind your own set of skills,
experiences and wisdom. For instance, a
Greenpeace worker might be able to exert
influence when saving ocean life, while
an excellent baker might be able to raise
funds for the project.
4. Now look at the items in your Circle
of Influence and see whether some can
be shifted into your Circle of Control.
What changes can you make to your
own behaviour and attitude?
5. When you’ve shifted everything you
can, make a poster of your inner two
circles, and keep it in a place where you’ll
see it daily. It will serve as a reminder of
your dominion, those areas where you do
have control. You could put it inside your
wardrobe or a cupboard door if you prefer
to keep it private.

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HOW TO CHANNEL MORE POWER
• Pick something small that you’ve been putting off and do it. This will create
the energy and momentum you need to empower yourself.
• Read about people you find inspiring. A biography or autobiography will often
provide a mine of information and you might glean ideas as to how to proceed.
• Accept that even the things in your circles of power and influence won’t be
achieved all at once. Give yourself permission to take things one step at a time.
• Find a group with similar concerns where you can share support and even skills
towards your common goal.
• Make sure you and your wellbeing are prominent fixtures in your circles of
influence and control.

Words: Kerry Dolan

Kerry is a hypnotherapist, NLP Master practitioner and speaker.
Find out more about her work at wombservice.co.uk.

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 Internal affairs
Your inner monologue can affect your mood and mindset. Does yours have
your best interests at heart, or is it time to give yourself a good talking to?
When you don’t want to do something, do you ever find
yourself using exaggerated negative phrases like: ‘I’m sick and
tired of this!’ or ‘This is killing me!’? Sometimes it’s for comedic
effect, occasionally it’s deliberately melodramatic, often it’s
because the phrases are bandied about so much that they
become a knee-jerk reaction. But the words you choose to say
to yourself are important, which is why it’s helpful to be
mindful about them. When self-talk is kinder and soothing
phrases employed more frequently, it can have a positive effect
on how you feel about yourself and even help everyday tasks to
go more smoothly.
Particularly harsh self-talk often comes into play when a task
is being avoided. That inner voice screams: ‘I hate doing this’ or
‘I’m going to die before I see this through’. Think about phrases
you hear inside your head as though you can see them written
in front of you. Do you really want to think those things about
a task or project that is unavoidable? Consider the adverse affect
these brutal and bitter words might have on your brain and
body. Of course, you know you won’t literally die if you have to
clean the bathroom or revise for a professional qualification,
but the idea sends a signal to the brain that this task is painful,
uncomfortable or undesirable. It’s going to make cleaning
the bathroom so much harder because this association might
trigger mental resistance to doing the task.
So, how can you change a super-harsh internal voice to
a positive one? And how can you start to listen to yourself
effectively and make sure your best interests are looked after?
74
Here are three tips:
• Catch the thought after you say it. Let it hang in the air like
a speech bubble above your head. Mentally read the words back
to yourself.
• You don’t have to change the thoughts right away, just becoming
aware of them and how often you say them is a good start.
• Add an additional thought such as: ‘That was pretty harsh’ or
‘This task isn’t as bad as I’m making it sound’. This will help you to
pull back and gain perspective, and it might alter your emotional
state faster. Then you can add more positive thoughts, including:
‘I’m sure I will finish doing this soon and I can move on to
something else.’
It can be easy to exaggerate feelings in a negative way. It’s also
difficult to accept sometimes that, while you might not like a
particular task, the feeling will pass. However, being aware of
where you’re at and what you’re feeling, is often the best way to
change it. You can start by listening to your own words more
often and making sure they’re helping you to finish what you
need to do instead of slowing you down.
ILLUSTRATION: WERONIKA KUC
Words: Risa Williams
Risa is a licensed psychotherapist and the author of The
Ultimate Anxiety Toolkit: 25 Tools to Worry Less, Relax More
and Boost Your Self-Esteem. See more of her productivity tips
on Instagram @risawilliamstherapy.
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 CREATIVITY

‘In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different’

Coco Chanel
 Everlasting blooms of joy
Why dried flowers are a colourful and easy way of bringing nature into the home
A cheering bunch of flowers brightens any room. Filling a home
with fresh blooms, however, can be an expensive habit and a
never-ending task. This is where dried arrangements, which
last almost indefinitely, come into their own, saving money and
time while simultaneously bringing joy into a room.
Katherine Whitchurch, a London-based florist and the
founder of Shida Preserved Flowers, loves how dried-flower
arrangements offer a low-maintenance way to experience
the great outdoors: ‘Nature brings us happiness. Having it in
your home has a positive impact on life and mental health.’
Katherine has noticed the interest in dried flowers soar in
the past year. ‘In these uncertain times, we all are learning to
appreciate the small things,’ she says. Flicky Wallace, florist
and founder of Bristol-based Dot and the Dandelion, has
spotted a similar trend: ‘People are spending so much more
time inside,’ she says. ‘Dried flower arrangements can become
a real centrepiece in your house.’
As many more people think about our impact on the
environment, sustainable interior-decor choices are gaining
in popularity and dried flowers tick this box. Their innate
longevity means they are an environmentally kind option as
there’s no need to continually buy new blooms that require
more resources for growth and transportation. For those who
have a garden, there’s also the opportunity for home-grown
and dried flowers, a rewarding process that encourages a
slower, relaxed pace. Creating arrangements is also a restful
activity that can provide a break from work while also
forging a connection with nature without leaving the house.
Read on to find how out to dry, create and care for
dried-flower arrangements…
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Drying
First, it’s worth noting that not all flowers are suited to this
process. As Flicky points out, blooms that are naturally drier
work best: ‘Lots of spring examples, like tulips and hyacinths,
are hard to dry because they have soft, wet petals and take in a
lot of water,’ she explains. This will often result in fallen petals.
Instead, flowers with natural dry stems, like a delphinium or
larkspur, will fare much better. If you’re growing your own, it’s
best to pick them when they are dry. ‘When cut wet, they will
rot,’ says Flicky. It’s also useful to pick them at their peak. ‘Cut
them when they would normally be harvested, ideally in full
bloom or, if not, just before or just after,’ she says. Once picked,
they are best dried hanging upside down in a cool, dark place,
such as an airing cupboard, for two to three weeks. However,
some particularly sturdy species – hydrangeas, for example –
can be left to dry from fresh in a vase and will retain their shape
pretty well. It’s not just flowers that can be dried either – leaves,
foliage, oats, wheat and herbs are also excellent and will add
height and structure within a vase.
Katherine uses preserved flowers for her arrangements.
This involves replacing the sap with 100-per-cent-plant-based
PHOTOGRAPHS: © SHIDA PRESERVED FLOWERS, SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
glycerine and dyes to ensure longer-lasting colour and softness
than traditional dried varieties. Her blooms come from expert
preservers, who grow them especially for preserving and
picking at their peak. It’s possible, however, to attempt a similar
technique at home. Place the stems of fresh flowers in a mixture
of two parts lukewarm water to one part glycerine and leave for
two to three weeks. After this, they can be dried as usual.
Creating
Once the flowers are ready, an arrangement can be put together.
Choosing a variety of blooms and foliage will create a visually
pleasing bouquet, and the same rules of traditional floristry
apply here (see issue 20). ‘Cut the stems between one-and-a-half
times and two times the height of the vase,’ says Katherine.
Cutting them at different lengths between these two points will
create a well-balanced arrangement. If you need to add height, a
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80
piece of floral foam or chicken wire can be placed in the bottom
of the vase. ‘Start with stronger stems (the woodiest type) to
provide structure and the shape you want to achieve,’ Katherine
suggests. ‘Next, bring in your focal points and finish off by
adding in smaller flowers to fill in the space.’
Remember not to overfill the vase. ‘It should look
comfortable. Don’t funnel things in,’ says Flicky. Both she
and Katherine advise avoiding transparent vases. ‘With fresh
arrangements, seeing the water can bring a nice element, but
with dried flowers the stems aren’t often very pretty,’ says
Flicky. A coloured or patterned vase, a jug or even a jar or tin are
great alternatives.
Caring
The best thing about dried-flower arrangements? They are low
maintenance. The main deterioration is colour-fading, so it’s
best if they’re not placed in direct sunlight. They might also
get a little dusty. ‘Remove this by giving them a gentle shake,’
says Katherine, ‘or use a hairdryer on a cool setting one metre
away and gently blow them.’ The placement of the arrangement
is also important. ‘Try not to put it somewhere where people
always walk past, like a tight hallway. The petals can be brittle
and will fall off,’ says Flicky.
Inspired to make your own arrangement? Turn over for flower ideas
81
 THE BEST BLOOMS FOR
GROWING AND DRYING

Hydrangea
Available in a wide range of colours, from
classic cream and magenta pink to lavender
purple and cornflower blue, these large globe-
shaped flowers make a stunning centrepiece.
Leave in a vase out of the direct sunlight to
avoid too much petal-fading. If you want to
grow them at home, bushes bloom in the
late spring and summer and fare best in a
garden that receives morning sunlight and
afternoon shade.

Delphinium
With their vibrant hues – think royal blue,
fuchsia and violet – and their pretty poker-like
shape, delphiniums are a gardener’s favourite.
Dry in bunches upside down and display alone
or with other blooms to give your arrangement
a variety of heights.

Strawflower
Available in a rainbow of shades, these sunny
flowers have a flutter of small petals around
a central bud. This tough plant is already
relatively dry, making it a great option for
arrangements. It’s also a great one to grow. The
seeds are found in the head, which means it can
be replanted perennially.

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Gypsophila
Otherwise known as baby’s breath, this delicate
and whimsical white bloom looks lovely. Cut
the sprays when the buds are partially open and
tie together five to seven stems before hanging
upside down to dry.
Lavender
This bushy, strong-scented plant forms an
excellent display, either alone or as part of an
arrangement. Great for bedrooms, the calming
fragrance can help induce a deep sleep. Gather
bundles of fresh lavender and dry upside down.
Eucalyptus
One of the easiest and most affordable options
for indoor greenery. Sprigs of fresh eucalyptus
can be dried straight in the vase. As a bonus,
the scent will fill your home with freshness.
Globe thistle
With its spiky, spherical heads in either blue
or white, this charming plant dries beautifully.
However, make sure to cut the flowers before
the bracts open to reveal a brown hue inside.
Words: Elizabeth Bennett
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 Water Lilies, by Claude Monet, 1919
Brush with imagination
They’re among the most-loved and respected artists today, but in their time they were ridiculed
and seen as rebels. What can we learn from the verve and vision of the Impressionists?
Close your eyes, and try to recall a moment in time when you
felt immersed in something beautiful or breathtaking. Perhaps
it was a scene of natural wonder, such as a still, misty outlook
across rolling green hills, or a vista shared with a loved one. As
you try to visualise the picture, it’s likely that it hasn’t come
entirely into focus. The colours, shapes and details might be
indistinct, and even resemble a dreamlike, mesmeric haze. You
can see just enough to remember how that moment made
you feel. The heart of the experience – and the impression it
made on you – remains.
Now consider these two paintings: a 1919 canvas by Claude
Monet (above), part of his monumental Water Lilies series, a
visual love letter to his flower garden in Giverny, France, which
he worked on for three decades to his death in 1926; and the
whimsical, blurred vignettes of dancers in The Dancing Class,
by Edgar Degas (right), in 1870. If you stop and look for long
84
enough, the surface of Monet’s water-lily pond might start
to flicker, or you might imagine the tulle on Degas’ dancers
fluttering right before your eyes. These paintings can take
on a life and will of their own – an effect stemming from
the swift and rapid brushwork, and a technique intended to
communicate the transience of the subject before them.
Embracing spontaneity
Both Monet and Degas were leading practitioners of
Impressionism, the art movement that developed in France in
the 19th century. It grew in the visual arts, followed later by
other media, including Impressionist music and literature. For
fine artists, the practice was based on painting outdoors (en
plain air) and spontaneously ‘on the spot’ rather than in a studio
from sketches. The Impressionists wanted to capture the way
light and colour interacted with a specific moment in time by
working quickly, in front of their subjects. Their brushwork
became rapid and was broken into separate dabs, to render the
moving quality of light, and the shifting patterns of nature.
Today, their works are seen as one of the most popular
movements in art history, but that wasn’t always the case.
The first group exhibition, in Paris in 1874, featuring works
by Monet, Degas, Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne, was
considered by critics to be at odds with the realistic and
skilfully finished art of the day. It was greeted with derision,
with Monet’s Impression, Sunrise singled out for ridicule and
giving its name to the movement. Though the label was
originally intended as an insult, however, the group’s work
began to enchant viewers, and slowly gained recognition. It
took more than two decades for the artists to be appreciated,
but that didn’t stop them pursuing their vision.
The Dancing Class, by Edgar Degas, 1870
New artistic era
Their rapid painting technique was also made possible by the
invention of the paint tube. It’s hard to imagine a time when oil
paint wasn’t widely available, but before then, artists had to mix
their own paints, using pigments they would grind, a practice
that slowed down and restricted the work. Renoir is quoted
as saying: ‘Without tubes of paint, there would have been no
Impressionism.’ With this invention, creating was no longer
confined to a studio space, painters could travel, sit before a
scene and work outdoors. They could capture a changing scene
in real time, create on instinct – and embrace spontaneity.
Karli Wurzelbacher, curator of The Heckscher Museum of Art
in New York, observes how innovations affected the artwork:
‘The style of the Impressionists reflected modern life, with its
speed, flux and sensory overload. Train travel, the invention of
85
 photography and new leisure-time activities changed the way
that artists and their audiences experienced the world.’ Max
Liebermann, meanwhile, the printmaker and painter who led
the way in Germany, said: ‘Impressionism is not a movement,
it is a philosophy of life.’ The question is, what if their
experimental philosophies were applied to modern times? What
if humanity emulated their way of challenging the status quo
and exploring new means of expression? Could the principles
that guided these daring figures inspire us today?
Perfection in the unfinished
One of the movement’s tenets is: there is nothing wrong with
something that seems unfinished or unanswered. By removing
the metaphorical lenses that can be constantly correcting, and
searching for perfection, it’s possible to connect with a sense
of freedom, especially when the bigger picture of life seems
daunting. Think, for example, of the last time you focused
Hills around Bay of Moulin Huet, Guernsey, by Auguste Renoir, 1883
86
on and entered deeply into the sensory experience of one
ephemeral moment. Monet implemented this concept in his
own practice. ‘When you go out to paint, try to forget what
objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field or whatever,
he said. ‘Merely think here is a little square of blue, here an
oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it
looks to you, the exact colour and shape.’ Losing yourself in
the abstract elements of colour and line, embracing immediacy
and that which lies right before you at this moment, can be
a valuable daily practice. To this end, when you next visit a
museum or gallery, stop at a piece that grabs your attention.
Instead of moving on within seconds, take your time, sit down
if you can, and dwell on the object’s elements. What shapes
and textures do you notice? What thoughts and feelings does it
inspire in you, in that very moment?
The Impressionists sought inspiration far and wide. They
packed their bags, and headed out without the benefit of
 Monet Family in Their Argenteuil Garden, by Edouard Manet, 1874

detailed blueprints or sketches, returning from their journeys
with something beautiful they had created. Inspiration
often lies in change. Do you welcome it, or do you find it a bit
daunting, at least at first? The positive side of discomfort is that
it can act as an incubator for growth. In line with this, consider
altering your view, literally, by getting outside more often, or by
rethinking or rearranging your daily routine. Consider being
spontaneous, and allow yourself to be swept away on a whim
from time to time. You might not always feel comfortable with
it but lack of preparation can sometimes be a good thing and
lead to creative discovery.
because they were breaking the mould, and being bold in their
vision. Next time you embark on a creative project, whether
it’s a piece of visual art, a poem or a musical composition,
remember to trust your creative instinct, and remain true to
your own vision. The fact that what you’re creating might look
look different has no bearing on its validity. The experiences
of the Impressionists can be seen as a valuable illustration in
how to invite improvisation into life, and find the courage to
trailblaze non-conformist creative ideas. What are you waiting
for? Choose a masterpiece to feast your eyes on, and be prepared
to let it take you on an exciting journey.

Instinctive advantage Words: Gianna Scavo

IMAGES: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

The saying ‘I paint what I see not what others want to see’
is attributed to the French Impressionist artist Édouard
Manet. While many would gladly adorn their walls with a
famous Impressionist work, absorbing the brilliant colours
and becoming swept away in the fleeting brushstrokes,
it’s important to remember these practitioners were not
immediately approved of and celebrated. In part this was

87
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 Now breathe…
A debilitating respiratory illness sparked an innovative
experimental playing style for flautist Kathryn Williams
One day, when she was washing up, an idea pinged into flautist
Kathryn Williams’ head. What if there was a series of musical
compositions each restricting her to one breath? An unusual
thought, perhaps, and certainly a challenging one to follow
up, but it was achieved with Coming Up for Air, a selection of
single-breath compositions written especially for her by 14
composer friends for a 2017 fundraising gig for UK charity Help
Musicians. By 2019, she had released an album of 40 pieces – all
to be played with one inhale and one exhale – and today the list
runs to more than 100.
All this from a random thought, seemingly plucked out of
thin air. Only it wasn’t. It was triggered by an acute respiratory
condition that wreaked havoc on Kathryn’s life and career. It
made breathing difficult and playing a wind instrument was
a major feat. ‘I felt completely squashed down by everything
in the world. Just walking up the stairs was exhausting,’ says
Kathryn, whose asthma had been exacerbated by a chronic
sinus condition and the stress of earning a living as a freelance
flautist while also running music sessions at her one-year-
old daughter Emilia’s nursery and studying for a master’s in
music performance. ‘I had to earn money to support myself
and Emilia, which meant being creative with my time and
resources,’ adds Kathryn, who was also performing with the
BBC Philharmonic and the Hallé in Manchester.
By the end of her master’s in 2015, Kathryn was so run
down she was hospitalised with viral meningitis. That’s when
Help Musicians stepped in, funding a life-changing sinus
ILLUSTRATIONS: SILVIA STECHER
operation, and setting in motion a chain of events that would
eventually lead to that moment of inspiration at the sink and
subsequently to the concert to raise money in recognition of
the charity’s generosity. ‘My recovery was virtually instant,’ she
says. ‘I felt like a completely different person.’ The effect on her
breathwork was equally as dramatic and she relished the longer
musical phrases of which she was again capable – today her
inhale and exhale are between 40 and 60 seconds and 60 to 80
seconds respectively. ‘When I started to play [the flute] again,
it was mind-blowing.’ The memory of her struggles, however,
was still fresh. ‘Before the surgery, I would constantly worry
about not having enough breath or gasping too loudly when I
inhaled.’ These recollections fed directly into Coming Up for
Air: ‘I took the restriction of one breath and put that under
the microscope.’ Today, the pandemic, which has resulted in
restrictive face coverings and an increased concern about
what might be contained in the out-breath, has made more
people aware of how and where they breathe. Kathryn, who
made the UK her home after arriving from the US in 2007 to
study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester,
says: ‘People are scared of aerosols and droplets. Before,
[breathing] was largely invisible, in both music performance
and normal life – something just left to happen.’
Kathryn’s pre-pandemic live performances of Coming Up
for Air, with its series of one-breath compositions, had, of
course, already placed the breath centre stage. Levity and
brevity would mingle, sometimes awkwardly – the beautiful
and the bizarre. Usually muted or deemed an inconvenience in
classical performance, the breath would become the star, with
loud exhales and gasps. Occasionally, the only sound would be
the tapping of the flute’s keys. Lighter tracks involved Kathryn
bopping herself on the head with an inflatable hammer while
playing One Breath Bop by John Webb; miming eating while
playing and shouting ‘Big Doner!’ for Laurie Tompkins’ Bistro
Legende; and removing the flute’s mouthpiece and blowing
down the instrument like a didgeridoo in the Middle Eastern-
influenced DOOO by Cee Haines.
Paradoxically, one of Kathryn’s favourites from the album,
When We Breathe, is the track she least likes playing. Composed
by Lucy Hale, who died in January this year, it was written
to demonstrate the difficulty experienced by someone with
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 a neuromuscular disability. Kathryn, who finds the track so
physically demanding that she can only perform it at the end of
a set, attests to its poignancy. ‘I exhale every time Lucy speaks,
copying her, making this constricted sound,’ says Kathryn.
‘It becomes a kind of duet. Most of the composers were trying
to challenge me or make me fail, or doing something virtuosic,
whereas Lucy invited me into her world. She demonstrated how
it felt for her to breathe every day.’
Boundary pushing
A number of the single-breath pieces demand physical
movement. Pixercise, co-written by Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh
and Kathryn, takes this to the extreme. It started as a one-off,
one-breath piece that involved Kathryn doing sit-ups while
playing the piccolo, but has since evolved into a 20-minute
exercise regime, combining high-intensity interval training
with piccolo practice (and, thankfully, more than one breath!).
Then there’s Andy Ingamells’ Long – so named as the score is
100 metres in length. Given that it entails running the entire
distance while playing the flute, however, it’s not so surprising
this is one challenge Kathryn has yet to master. ‘Her one-breath
project was a fantastic idea,’ says Andy. ‘I was impressed by
the originality of thought.’ Despite presenting her with such
an impossible task, Kathryn and Andy have become kindred
collaborators on other projects. Together they formed an act
called Private Hire and produce playful, quirky and thought-
provoking work. For one piece, Aquafifer, Kathryn lowers herself
into a swimming pool and plays a fife just below the surface – a
watery clanger-like tune with leisure centre acoustics – while
Levitas, Gravitas and High-Intensity Interval Training for Sharon
d’Aire sees the pair pogoing opposite each other while blowing
into flute-headpieces taped to microphones. ‘We’re always keen
to challenge ourselves and try new things,’ says Andy. ‘The
times we’ve worked together have always had a joyful intensity
to them. The boundary between making art and living is
blurred – hanging out continually, working around the non-
stop activity of daily life. There’s a real vitality.’
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However, Kathryn’s interest in breathwork isn’t restricted
to musical composition. She also free-dives, a pursuit she took
up in 2017. ‘I was looking at other disciplines that encapsulate
breath,’ she says. ‘Free-diving was an obvious starting point. It’s
extraordinary, trusting yourself to that level, overriding panic.
When you first go under water you have to be almost asleep.
You zone out of everything. I found it so helpful. It made me feel
calmer before performance.’ It’s also had the welcome effect of
improving her lung capacity and helping to make her asthma
more manageable.
As for so many, 2020 was a turbulent year. Kathryn had the
happiness of marrying composer Larry Goves, whose work
features in her project, but lost her beloved Grandpa, Walter,
a music teacher and the person who first taught her to play
the flute despite her childhood asthma. ‘Grandpa spoke like
Winnie The Pooh and carried a fork in his pocket in case
anyone offered him pie,’ she says. ‘He had a cupboard filled with
broken instruments he was gradually repairing. The flute was
the only instrument in one piece.’ Such was Walter’s influence
that Kathryn and Larry have given his name to their first child
together, a boy, who was born in January this year.
Through it all, Coming Up for Air has continued. Just weeks
before Walter’s birth, Kathryn received her PhD from the
University of Huddersfield, where her research considered
the abilities and limitations of the performer’s body to create
new works and provide fresh knowledge on the relationship
between breathing, air, the environment, and flute performance
and composition. She also continues to invite single-breath
compositions (see right) to be performed live when the time
comes. Arguably, the project now resonates beyond her personal
battles with respiratory illness and represents her wider life
experiences as a person determined to make the best of life and
shape her own destiny: ‘It’s also a metaphor for coming back
from struggling with all kinds of things to inhabit yourself
again, not taking that for granted.’
Words: Liz Boden
AN OPEN CALL FOR SINGLE-BREATH PIECES
Performance pieces that are limited to one inhale and one exhale (without
circular breathing) can be written for any member of the flute family (with
the broadest possible interpretation, including piccolo, C flute, alto, bass,
breath, voice, objects, electronics and spoken word – a poem, for example).
Kathryn welcomes suggestions from composers of any age, experience,
gender or nationality.

Some points for getting started:

• Include instructions for the inhale. The inhale is 50 per cent of the
piece. Even if you are intending to write material for exhale only, it’s strongly
recommended that you show engagement with inhalation. For examples
of various approaches, watch films that engage with sounds produced
through inhaling. These include: Mark Dyer’s Memento for Kathryn where
the inhale takes over one minute (see markdyercomposer.com/memento);
Nina Whiteman’s Thread, which elongates the inhale to 20 seconds – with
the mouthpiece turned in – only taking in breath when the audio track (in
Kathryn’s ear only) gives a cue (see ninawhiteman.com); and Megan Grace
Beugger’s Asthmatic Inhalation and Exhalation, which uses suspension of
exhale (see youtu.be/Qi1v5kNShN0).

• Think of the lungs. The structure can start either with lungs empty:
inhale -> exhale OR start with lungs full: exhale ◄ inhale.

• Consider the timing. At the moment, Kathryn can elongate her inhale to
around 40 to 60 seconds, continuously exhale for between 60 and 80 seconds,
and remain static for 10 to 20 seconds at a time.

• Get in touch. Find out more about Kathryn’s album and submit your
compositions at kathryngwilliams.com. To find out more about her thesis,
go to eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/35394.

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 Material world
Your relationship to the things around you is a personal and evolving one.
But like you, those objects have a life, and story, of their own
‘Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.’
This observation, by British philosopher and writer Alan Watts,
can shed light on the ever-changing, constantly evolving nature
of your existence and how you choose to present yourself to
others. Whether it’s how you dress, where you live or how you
choose to decorate your home, material objects seem to forge
a life of their own. A trinket sitting on a shelf, plates passed on
from one generation to the next or a chipped, coffee-fi lled mug
that keeps you company throughout your morning routine –
such objects create a narrative for themselves, giving meaning
to their existence and, paradoxically, helping you to define who
you are and your place in this world.
‘Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard
items that no longer spark joy. Thank them for their service
– then let them go.’ That’s the advice of Marie Kondo, the
Japanese author and star of the Netflix series Tidying Up With
Marie Kondo. Her words are a reminder that material things do
serve a purpose and give so much, but it’s up to the individual
to recognise when they’ve run their course. There’s a power
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hidden in the objects in your home – how something makes you
feel when you look at it, hold it, think about it, wear it, smell it,
read it or decide to let it go, plays a significant role in your life
and how you approach the outside world, grounded in the here
and now. As you pivot into different versions of yourself, the
objects that once felt like home might now draw you to another
time with which you no longer identify, detaching you from
the present moment and leaving you with an unidentifiable
nostalgic feeling.
Revisiting the physical items you connect with, and how
they help you present yourself to the external world, might
turn organising them into a creative process that contributes
to your sense of inner calm. It’s not about replacing everything,
it’s more about exploring ways to creatively freshen your
existing material objects and arrange what you already have.
The aim is to feel as complete and grounded in your immediate
environment as the present moment unfolds.
Fancy a shake-up? Here are three options you might try…
1 Revisit old treasures
Looking through old things, you will revisit parts of yourself that were buried
with other treasures. Old letters from family and loved ones, projects conceived
in former lives, pictures serving as reminders of people and places both near and
far. All of these seemingly insignificant memorabilia might be exactly that which
helps you connect who you once were with who you are today. Experiences,
places and people you’ve visited might resonate more now than in the past. Let
yourself get lost in memories. Then come back to the present moment with
the acceptance that letting go of things that no longer serve you, while
simultaneously keeping pieces of the past with you in the present, will
enrich your day-to-day life.
2 Revamp your wardrobe
Start by looking through your clothes and making three separate piles: keep,
recycle and reinvent. For those you choose to keep, organise them in your own
way. Whether this is by season, colour, texture, memories – or maybe all of those
combined – is less important than creating a system that feels aligned to your
current needs. For the recycle pile, you might donate to charity any items that no
longer feel right for you. The reinvention section affords more creativity. As time
and resources allow, choose pieces you might like to dye with new colours, have
shortened or lengthened, or revamped with new buttons, jazzy trims or zips.
Details can make all the difference in making a piece feel new. Sometimes
letting go of or modifying things you feel attached to, even if they’re no
longer of use to you, can be emotionally difficult. If that’s the case, be
sure to keep the item(s). There’s no reason to change something if you
don’t want to or don’t feel ready to make the adjustment.
 3 Review your bookshelf
Another way of focusing your mind on a specific task with the intention
of creating peace in your immediate environment could be by reviewing your
bookshelf. Are there titles you’ve bought but not looked at that deserve their turn
on the bedside table? Or ones that gave you so much in the past but now you feel
it’s time to give them to another reader? Once you have your stack down to the
books you’re sure you absolutely must keep, create a system that’s aesthetically
pleasing and allows easy access to your favourites. Try sorting them by genre,
ILLUSTRATIONS: JESSICA LESLIE

author or even by the colour of the spine. If you choose the latter option, it will
have the added benefit of brightening up your shelf. Commit to finding time to
get lost in an unopened book and the parts of yourself that might be discovered as
you read. Travelling between lands of the past or those you can imagine in future
might be exactly what you need to feel grounded where you are in the present.

Words: Monica Bond

 ESCAPE

‘When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy, there is always the garden’
Minnie Aumonier
 William Morris used symmetry in his designs
Lines of beauty
Discover the remarkable language to be found in nature’s symmetry
Have you ever noticed how a butterfly’s wings mirror each other
or that the two longitudinal halves of a strawberry are almost
identical? Symmetry, derived from the Greek words
for ‘agreement in arrangement’, is the name given to describe
the order, similarity and regularity that occurs in physical
patterns in the natural world. And from seemingly basic
structures, such as a bubble, to the more complex numerically
organised patterns found in the likes of Romanesco broccoli,
it is endlessly fascinating.
The subject has transfixed scholars and artists for centuries.
Greek philosophers Plato and Pythagoras both regarded
harmonic patterns in nature as the basic constituent of
existence and astronomer Galileo Galilei thought geometrical
shapes were the characters that made up the mathematical
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language of the universe. Physicist Albert Einstein also regarded
the patterns as integral to the workings of the cosmos –
something he was said to have considered when devising his
general theory of relativity. Indeed, symmetry appears to have
a language or code of its own, forming the building blocks of
the physical world. Through classical times to the modern day,
nature’s symmetry has been replicated in art, including Ernst
Haeckel’s paintings of marine organisms, craft, music, design
and architecture, drawing upon geometry and mathematics
to create an even more precise harmony of structure and
form. This is evident in many man-made constructions from
buildings and bridges to furniture and wallpaper.
Turn over to discover more about symmetry in the natural world
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 Why does it occur?
Symmetry also captivated the famous code-breaker Alan
Turing and he explored the subject in his 1952 paper The
Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis. In a nutshell, he suggested
that patterns such as leopard spots, zebra stripes or the
arrangement of petals on a flower were the result of
chemical reactions at a cellular level through a process called
morphogenesis. It’s taken years for scientists to follow up on
his work and to realise how the ‘Turing mechanism’ widely
shows up in nature.
It seems that everything, from a droplet of water to the planet
itself, is governed by the laws of order. Several hypotheses
have been put forward to explain the prevalence of symmetry
in the natural world. Where living beings are concerned,
some scientists think these patterns are there to assist with
classification, attraction (or repulsion), communication, mate
selection and survival.
In an article on the Imperial College London website, Marcus
du Sautoy, a renowned mathematician and author of Symmetry:
A Journey into the Patterns of Nature, says: ‘Symmetry is the
way that plants and animals communicate and an indication
on meaning in the natural world.’ He goes on to provide an
example of how the bumble bee, which is thought to have poor
vision, is drawn to the symmetry of flowers, enabling it to
pollinate and enable plant reproduction.
It’s possible to see that symmetry in living things might aid
everyday activity, growth and survival, but it’s less apparent
as to why a splash of water or the formation of ice crystals are
symmetrical. Whether simple or complex, these distinctive
patterns found in nature appear to be part of the universe’s
grand design, and continue to fuel wonder and debate.
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Rare perfection
What’s perhaps more intriguing is that compared to
mathematically calculated symmetry found in art and design,
perfect symmetry is less commonly discovered in nature.
Things might appear to match but it’s rarely with absolute
accuracy. And there are many examples of asymmetry in the
natural world too.
The Fiddler crab has one big claw and one small claw, animals
can have different markings on either side of their face or body,
and humans are also without perfect symmetry. Internally,
the human body is asymmetric – we have only one liver, for
example, and the lungs can be notably mismatched in size. And
a close inspection of a seemingly symmetrical human face often
reveals more freckles on one side than the other, a dimple on
the left, a higher eyebrow on the right.
French modernist artist Édouard Manet, painting in the
19th century, is one of the many artists to have recognised
this pattern. ‘There’s no symmetry in nature,’ he said. ‘One
eye is never exactly the same as the other. There’s always a
difference. We all have a more or less crooked nose and an
irregular mouth.’ Indeed, people and animals with almost
flawless symmetrical faces are considered to be the exception.
Nature’s approximate symmetry actually makes it equally if
not more beguiling while still creating an aesthetic that appeals
to the eye and mind.
Once you take a closer look at the regularities, whether
perfectly accurate or not, that exist in nature’s patterns and
form (see right and overleaf), you begin to see the remarkable
tapestry that comprises life on this planet and beyond. It gives
a glimpse into the astounding complexity involved and how
being on Earth is a real miracle.
PATTERN RECOGNITION
There are different groups of symmetries and the type is determined by the way the pieces of the pattern
are organised or by the type of transformation that occurs when reflected or rotated. The three main ones,
which we explore here, are bilateral, radial/rotational and translational

Bilateral. Also known as mirror or reflective. The simplest and most commonly seen
form, this is where the two halves of a subject or object are near-perfect mirror images
of each other around a centre line. Most humans, animals, insects and plants display
bilateral symmetry along the main body axis. You can see this mirror effect clearly if
you take a picture of a butterfly and draw a line down the middle.

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 Radial/rotational. This is where an object, when rotated from
a point or axis, remains invariable in its appearance no matter
which way you look at it. Many plants and some creatures exhibit
radial symmetry. Examples include starfish, sea anemone, fruits
such as an orange or melon, the near-perfect circular webs of the
orb web spider and snowflakes. And though no two snowflakes
are alike, each one displays six-fold radial symmetry with
identical patterns on each arm.
Translational. This is created from an infinite pattern, such
as repeat designs in tessellations, tiles or wallpaper. In nature,
examples include the geometric pattern of a honeycomb, the
markings on snakeskin or the overlapping scales on a fish such
as the common roach.
Some objects have more than one type of symmetry. An example
of this is in a six-pointed star, which exhibits six lines of reflection
and a point of six-fold rotation. Many plants and flowers
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simultaneously show radial and bilateral symmetry. Sunflowers
display radial and a type of numerical symmetry known as the
Fibonacci sequence – where each number is determined by
adding together the two numbers that preceded it, for
example, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 – to create the spiral pattern.
Other natural examples of Fibonacci patterns include a pine
cone and nautilus shell.
Other types of symmetry include helical, where an object
can be simultaneously translated and rotated along a line known
as a screw axis (as seen in an infinitely spiralling helix comprising
tetrahedron) and scaling symmetry where a pattern in each
ILLUSTRATIONS: RAWPIXEL.COM
part (such as branching of trees or lungs) is identical to the
whole if expanded or reduced in size. There’s also more complex
symmetry involving time and motion as in the pattern created
in the ebb and flow of tides or wind-blown sand dunes.
Words: Carol Anne Strange
 SYMMETRICAL DISCOVERIES
Go for a stroll in the countryside or along a beach and pay detective-like attention
to the largest and smallest details in the natural world. What do you see? Can you
recognise symmetry in the landscape? Take a close look at leaves, flowers, seeds, trees,
seashells, insects, animals, birds and sea creatures. Look for patterns. There’s no need
to touch anything, just observe and enjoy the elaborate patterns all around you. Take
a camera or notebook and pencil to record what you discover. You could also use the
space here to make a note of them when you get home
 Green dreams
When everything in the garden is a little less than rosy, these glorious
books could lift your spirits and inspire your dream green space
Gardening is one of the UK’s most popular hobbies, for a variety
of good reasons. The soft rhythm of the natural year offers
comfort and soothes tension; the acts of digging, weeding,
sowing and mulching provide a fuss-free physical workout; and
the beauty of flowers, fruit and vegetables supply satisfaction
by the bucket load, literally. But even the most green-fingered of
enthusiasts must admit there are times when a combination
of low spirits and inclement weather, be it unspeakably cold
or fiendishly hot, can make it hard to coax unwilling toes
into boots and back outdoors. For those moments, there is an
abundance of literature to provide a timely shot of motivation,
not the how-to type, but rather in the curl-up-in-an-armchair-
and-enjoy category. The books that help when the pursuit of
perfection is proving too much. The ones that reassure and
remind that while the tending and toiling seems like a never-
ending task, it’s not a thankless one.
Whether the garden is designed or evolves, revels in
wild abandon or is kept strictly clipped, is a solo effort or a
collaboration, these books serve as a reminder that it is, above
all, a place to reconnect and recentre. So, for now, settle down,
kick off the wellies, reground yourself and take heart from some
of these glorious garden reads. And whenever the right moment
arrives, don those boots, slip into those gloves and get back to
digging the dream, whatever it may be.
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Flick through the seasons
There are few better ways to begin banishing the horticultural
blues than to reach for one of Beth Chatto’s many books.
They’re all pretty popular (rightly so, in my opinion), but if
there’s room for only a single paperback in the potting shed, let
it be Beth Chatto’s Garden Notebook. This warm and welcoming
volume is an absolute gem, full of first-hand tales from one of
the country’s most notable plantswomen. Orderly, organised
and pragmatic in its approach, the book is like having a one-to-
one with a particularly knowledgeable friend.
It is split into separate chapters for each month, ensuring
that every anecdote is pertinent to the time of year and,
whether she’s admiring spring foliage or discussing ways to
help wildlife through the winter, her tone is advisory rather
than instructional. Beth passed away in 2018 and although
her Garden Notebook has been in print for more than 30 years,
as a key exponent of the right-plant-right-place approach that
remains respected today, her writing still feels contemporary.
The sheer volume of work she undertook in maintaining
her garden and plant nursery is incredible, and her zeal is
infectious. This is a book that’s meant to be well thumbed
and streaked with soil. Dip into it whenever enthusiasm
wanes and be sure to emerge with an invigorated spirit and
a new to-do list.
Embrace risks
Another great remedy for horticultural despondency is Monty
and Sarah Don’s The Jewel Garden. Subtitled A Story of Despair
and Redemption, this moving memoir charts the events leading
up to the creation of the eponymous Jewel Garden at the Dons’
home, Longmeadow. Viewers of BBC2’s Gardeners’ World will be
familiar with the jewel-themed area of Monty Don’s enviably
beautiful plot in the Herefordshire countryside, but few will
be aware of its significance, or of the enormous personal
undertaking that saw it come to fruition.
This slim volume is a lovely, easy read but one that says a
lot about the importance of faith in gardening – the value
in taking risks, making mistakes and holding fast to ideas,
and each other. Touching on Monty’s single-mindedness, his
deep connection with the land and his seasonal episodes of
depression, his characteristic prose is broken up with pieces
written by Sarah, whose contribution to the garden cannot
be overstated. This is a must-have for anyone doubting their
own vision or ability. Readers will never look at another
seemingly perfect garden in the same way again, and will
face their own gardening projects, however big or small,
with renewed conviction.
Another slim book that charts a couple’s grand undertaking
is Margery Fish’s We Made a Garden. Published in 1956, it’s
by no means a modern work but the premise is current: in
the 1930s, sensing that war was on the way, Margery and her
husband Walter moved out of London, taking on a tumbledown
Somerset cottage and two acres of overgrown garden, with the
idea of restoring it to a thing of beauty. Theirs was the original
Escape to the Country and, like many escapees, they encountered
their fair share of hiccups en route to their rural idyll – We Made
a Garden is Margery’s account of their endeavour.
With chapters named Some Failures and We Made Mistakes,
the book’s tone is reassuringly honest and although there is
advice throughout – there are detailed tips on lawns, paths and
plant choices aplenty – its real appeal lies in its portrayal of
Margery and Walter’s relationship. Their differences of opinion,
their small victories and their separate passions are sure to raise
a wry smile among readers who have ever attempted gardening
as a joint venture.
It also says something about the ways in which gardens,
and attitudes to gardening, changed during the 20th century,
moving from something formal that required enormous
amounts of upkeep, to a freer, more floral and, perhaps, more
feminine space. Margery championed self-sufficient and self-
seeding plants, and is credited with helping to establish the
cottage-garden style of planting that has remained in fashion
ever since. Fans of this approach might also like to keep their
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 eyes peeled for Vita Sackville-West’s book about her own
gardens at Sissinghurst in Kent
For gardeners who feel that even cottage gardening is too neat
and tidy, Frances Tophill’s Rewild Your Garden is a good choice.
More instructional than our other suggestions, this guide to
inviting wildlife into your patch is nevertheless lovely to look
at and a joy to read. With ecology and the environment at the
heart of every border, every grassed area and every bed, she
invites readers to change their thinking and form new habits.
It’s great for anyone who feels stuck in a gardening rut.
Keeping with this theme, Cleve West’s The Garden of Vegan
addresses the place of gardens on a global ecological scale.
Subtitled How Plants can Save the Animals, the Planet and Our
Health, this book is packed with stats and facts, putting forward
the case, not just for a vegan diet, but for a ‘veganic’ approach
to gardening. Cleve, who has created six Chelsea Flower Show
Gold Medal award-winning gardens, is keen to show that
ILLUSTRATIONS: MONIKA STACHOWIAK
enjoying a magnificent garden can go hand in hand with caring
for the environment and for all life forms. Interesting and
up-to-date, it will leave gardeners, particularly those who
are already vegan or are contemplating veganism, with a fresh
sense of purpose.
Go out to come home
If that all sounds a bit large-scale, Alys Fowler’s Hidden Nature
serves as a sublime reminder that the natural world can take
you out of yourself while also raising self-awareness.
In many respects, this begins as a book about journeying away
from a garden, a bid for escape and adventure beyond the
boundaries of a place that has become, to some extent, too
familiar. Restless and in need of a challenge, Alys decides to
buy an inflatable boat and take to the canals of Birmingham in
an effort to conquer an urban wilderness. This physical voyage
becomes a personal expedition as the author grapples with
relationships, sexuality and a new beginning.
Gorgeous and generously written, Alys intersperses her
tales of the canal with observations of flora and fauna, and
ecological facts that stick in the brain long after the last page
– who knew young eels have an incredible sense of smell, or
that there are around 400 micro-species of blackberry? The
sheer variety of plants and life forms that Alys notices tucked
among industrial settings says much about the availability
and generosity of nature, a patch doesn’t have to be fenced in
or exclusive to be special. Nevertheless, her garden takes on a
profundity that’s sure to resonate with anyone who has ever
loved their own little plot. At one point, Alys writes: ‘I pour
myself, sometimes quite physically, into nature because it is
how I make sense of myself and my place in the world.’ There
surely is no more soothing a mantra for a troubled gardener.
Words: Victoria Pickett
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 Come to life
The beauty of the world’s flora and fauna, as seen through the creative lens of entrants
from the 14th annual International Garden Photographer of the Year competition

HOLDING ON HOSTA PATTERNS

Guanghui Gu, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, China David Townshend, Northamptonshire, UK

(Above) It was raining really heavily when I spotted this frog
outside, clinging to hold on to the stem of this plant. There was
a resemblance between the frog and the adjacent, curled leaf –
fauna and flora holding on to life.
(Right) There are always images waiting to be created, even early
on a wet June morning. Pots of Hosta, Heuchera and Libertia on
my patio, each with their own distinctive leaf shapes, textures
and colours, were transformed as rain droplets collected on
them, with the gloom accentuating their colour. Leaning
against the house for shelter, and moving my camera during
the sequence of exposures, I captured their transient beauty as
unique patterns that are at the same time bold and intricate.

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 A DREAM OF WINTER
Jane Simmonds, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK

(Above) I created this photograph by blending two separate

photos: one bare winter beech tree combined with the
seedheads of Clematis vitalba (old man’s beard).

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FERN STUDY
Tracy Hallett, Winchester, UK

(Above) I simply love the shape and detail of fern foliage, so

when I saw a few dried fronds for sale in a local flower shop,
I purchased them, took them home and then arranged them
for capture on a light pad.

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GIN & TONIC CACTUS MEDLEY
Sue Oakford, London, UK Marianne Majerus, Giardino di San Giuliano, Sicily

(Opposite) This image of Paeonia blooms was taken during (Above) The cacti section of the garden was planted full of
lockdown using empty gin bottles and glassware of different wonderful species, including Espostoa lanata, Pachycereus weberi
shapes and sizes. The photograph was created to reflect ‘the and Myrtillocactus geometrizans.
morning after the night before’ with some flowers seeking the
light while others skulk into the shadows. A light filter has been
added creating softness, which enhances feelings of gentleness
the next morning.

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 LOTUS CURVE WITH LEAF
Kathleen Furey, Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens,
Washington DC, US

(Above) On a day in July at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, this one

pink lotus bud with delicate veining, peeked out from among its
taller relatives. My eye was caught by the way the flower echoed
the curve of the neighbouring leaf.

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MAGNOLIA
Karina Kowalska-Knyspel, Kórnik, Greater Poland Voivodeship,
Poland For more information about
International Garden Photographer
(Above) Every spring, I love photographing magnolias and of the Year and details to enter
among many others, this bloom stood out. It had lost a few Competition 15, please visit igpoty.com.
petals to reveal its beautiful interior.

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 In step with nature
How the old-fashioned skill of map-reading can bring
new opportunities to connect afresh with the outdoor world
When was the last time you headed outside with a printed
map in one hand and a compass in the other? If your answer
is ‘never’ or ‘too long ago to remember’, you’re not alone. The
proliferation of navigational apps and guided walks has made
it easier to head off without any orienteering skills. But does
that mean map-reading could – or should – be written off? Or
might there be a happy medium where the old and the new
can join forces? After all, it’s important to acknowledge that
all navigational tools have their place. As ‘guerrilla geographer
and creative explorer’ Dan Raven-Ellison says: ‘People are using
maps more than ever through an array of apps. It’s a great way
to encourage everyone outside and to help them find their way
more easily.’
Technology has other benefits, too, from checking weather
on the go to helping with tricky navigation and identifying
wildlife. But smartphones can bind walkers to the screen,
separating them from their surroundings and distracting
from the here and now, whereas a printed map can enhance
navigational skills, which, in turn, can aid safety. Within the
physical contours and historical features of a landscape, map-
reading can also create opportunities to be curious about the
natural environment and humanity’s role within it.
Reconnection
Arguably, this is particularly important at the current time,
when some 55 per cent of the world’s population live in urban
areas. Mike Raine, author of Nature of Snowdonia, believes
that ‘many of us are detached from nature, barely noticing
bird calls or the range of plants finding their home in differing
landscapes. Getting outside awakens our animal brain, helping
us to see that everything is connected, reminding us that we
are part of this fantastic natural world.’ An old-fashioned map,
together with the navigator’s indispensable five Ds – direction,
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distance, duration, description and destination – can heighten
this awareness and enhance focus as it encourages the walker
continually to assess their location and orientation.
This activates the senses in a way that helps to reveal the
beauty of nature. Stopping to review their map, a walker might,
for example, let their eyes linger on some moss and notice how
it resembles miniature forests, or they might be drawn in by its
diverse shades of green. But the moss also sends out practical
signals. As a moisture-loving plant, it’s commonly found on the
north side of trees and walls, so it assists with orientation. A
trusty compass will help if there’s any doubt and another glance
at the map can confirm location and the direction of travel.
Confidence
All that said, to the untrained eye, deciphering a map might feel
like looking at ancient script. But adventurer Philippa Clare has
no doubt it’s a skill worth acquiring: ‘Once you understand the
symbols and contour lines, hills and mountains come to life.
It’s like seeing in 3D. When planning my walks, I love laying the
map out on a table, allowing me to discover locations before I’ve
even left the house.’ And Cat Trebilco, who combines neuro-
linguistic programming coaching with mountaineering at
Edinburgh-based Reach the Peak, says that while many people
worry they’ll never be able to map read, claiming they just ‘can’t
do it’, that it is possible. ‘Eighty per cent of my clients tell me
they don’t think they’ll be able to learn,’ she says, ‘yet to date,
everyone has succeeded.’
This view is also supported by Paul Warnock, expedition
leader and instructor at the National Outdoor Centre, Plas y
Brenin. He emphasises the accessibility of navigation: ‘I have
taught primary-school pupils in classrooms, using a wall clock
as north, and classmates as landmarks. The basic concepts
of spatial awareness and direction are things everyone can
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 learn. It’s also excellent for building self-assurance. Several
clients have told me that since learning, they’ve gained greater
confidence at work, while others now take a more active role in
decision making within their personal lives.’
There are numerous ways to learn. A qualified teacher or
knowledgeable friends can tailor walks and navigation practice
to suit individual needs. For some, self-taught navigation is
also an option. Laura Clarke, member of online adventure
community, Love Her Wild, went from zero map-reading skills
to completing Hill and Moorland Leader training within a year.
To prepare for this official Mountain Training accreditation, she
learned from YouTube videos and official guidebooks: ‘I wanted
to play a more active role and reduce my reliance on others.
The first time I planned and led a walk, it felt so empowering.’
Of course, even experienced navigators can get lost, but with
rudimentary knowledge and the five Ds, they’re able to reassess
and reset their route. One study by researchers at Tokyo
University, for example, found those using a global positioning
system to plan and follow routes took longer and made more
navigational errors compared to those using printed maps.
Exploration
This ability and confidence also brings greater autonomy. It
means you can plan a one-hour walk but feel happy being out
for two if impromptu diversions and exploration mean you
explore wider than your designated route. A map and compass
will also enable identification of distant features that could
become destinations for future adventures while a pocket-sized
guidebook or app of flora and fauna will aid identification of
native species for those in unfamiliar territory. All of these
elements, along with observations about the weather, the colour
of the landscape and your personal thoughts en route, could
also form part of a nature journal that will, in turn, increase
awareness of your surroundings and enhance appreciation of
physical and seasonal changes. This can highlight differences in
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light, colour and humidity and help to identify the best times
to spot wildlife or to embark on some responsible foraging.
Affinity with a landscape can also bring its past back to life as
you learn how to identify the remnants of shepherd huts, burial
sites, places of worship and even military landmarks, such as
trenches, that might otherwise go unnoticed. A visit to Glencoe
in the Scottish Highlands, for example, will take you by the Lost
Valley, the site of a massacre of the MacDonald clan in the 17th
century, while the valley itself was formed by a glacier cutting
through the land 10,000 years earlier.
Direction
Many studies support the positive health impacts of both
being outdoors and walking. Stanford University, for example,
found the latter increased the creative output of participants by
60 per cent. This makes sense to Cat, who says: ‘The forward
momentum gives the conscious brain something to focus on,
while the rhythm and motion activates its problem-solving
parts, transforming the way we think.’
The really good news is there’s no need to wander too far
from home because map-reading skills can also expand local
possibilities. Guerilla geographer Dan, who’s also the brains
behind Slow Ways, a network of walking routes connecting
Britain, explains: ‘Short, local trips help you to make discoveries
on your doorstep that you might otherwise miss, changing your
perception of place… I encourage people to explore, wander and
have fun along the way.’
Learning to navigate creates a fulfilling cycle, for each time
ILLUSTRATIONS: ALI CAMPBELL
you venture outdoors with a map and compass, you explore,
gain confidence and connect with nature and the environment.
And for every time you do this, you build upon your previous
experiences, while also realising there’s still so much to
discover. What are you waiting for?
Words: Chantal Woodun
NAVIGATIONAL POINTERS
Whether you’re just starting out or you’re an experienced
trekker, it’s always wise to stay safe

Learning
• Gain confidence by practising your skills often and with others.
• Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps are commonly used as UK
walking maps but others, including those from Harvey, are
good for visualising contours.
• Be patient and start with shorter, less difficult routes.
• The Field Studies Council produces extensive, lightweight
nature guides.

Preparation
• Weather can change significantly in a day so use a reliable
forecast site.
• Set off early and time the route to be back before dark.
• Carry your map(s), phone and electronics in waterproof casing.
• Dress for the weather and pack spare layers and socks in a
dry bag.
• Take energy-filled food and sufficient water.
• Pack a first-aid kit including regular medication and painkillers.
• Download back-up mapping, weather and nature ID apps
before you leave.
• Take a fully charged power pack and cables.

Safety
• Let someone know your route, plus your estimated arrival time
at destination and return home.
• Remember, technology can fail, so don’t rely on it.
• Pack a (head)torch and check batteries before you leave.
• Carry an easily accessible whistle.
• Check foraging guidelines to ensure you forage safely
and responsibly.
• In an emergency, call 999 and ask for mountain rescue,
providing as much information as possible including your
six-digit map reference.

For professional navigation training, visit nnas.org.uk.

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 Apology required?
Saying sorry can be a potent plea for forgiveness, a humble act and a virtue.
But when used too often or without thinking it might not be such a good thing
The word ‘sorry’, when used appropriately, can be packed with
power. It can heal wounds and bridge divisions. Admitting you
made a mistake and taking responsibility for it is not a sign of
weakness but a virtue. It would be impossible to go through
life without ever causing anyone discomfort or upset, however
inadvertently. But asking for forgiveness sincerely can be the
stitch that mends, and also shows strength of character.
On the other hand, imagine what happens when sorry seems
to be not the hardest word, as the song has it, but the easiest?
When an apology turns into an oral tic or a verbal filler? Or if
it ends up being appended to almost any phrase – or becomes
a conversation in itself. Think of those interactions that seem
entirely to consist of saying ‘sorry’.
This deluge of forgiveness-begging might not seem to matter.
It can be seen as a form of good manners, a way to soften what’s
said, the spoken equivalent of an emoji. Maybe it’s a way to
speak your truth without appearing too forthright. Yet if the
insincere apology becomes overused, it could shift the meaning
of the word. When uttered tonelessly, or even aggressively,
surely it implies the exact opposite. In this context, sorry is
not sorry at all.
In any case, overusing any word diffuses its strength. Its
impact is lessened with each time it’s unmindfully applied, until
it becomes meaningless. Think about it: if you’ve no reserved
word in your lexicon, what if you want to make a heartfelt show
of repentance? If you’ve hurt someone’s feelings and need to
show them you care, what’s the point in saying the same word
you’ve already uttered 20 times today?
The truth is, language matters, and making unnecessary
apologies can undermine inner strength and resilience. A
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supposedly benign, yet needless, request for absolution can
become a habit of presenting yourself in the wrong. It can even
appear to beg pardon for the so-called crime of daring to exist.
At the same time, if it takes root, it can be a habit that’s
hard to break. I’ve caught myself in pointless sorries so many
times, including apologising to a chair because I walked into
it! But perhaps if I – and you – can start with recognising when
penitence is unwarranted, with time it will become easier to
hold back, hang on to one’s self-esteem and keep this powerful
word for the times when it’s really appropriate.
CHECK YOUR SORRIES
• Recognise how other people’s unnecessary apologies
impact your views of them. It might be the same with how
they see you.
• Notice if you say sorry without thinking, how often you do
it and why. These apologies might affect your sense of self
more than you know.
• Think of replacement words you might use instead if, indeed,
any are necessary at all.
• Enjoy holding back on saying sorry, despite the discomfort
you might feel.
ILLUSTRATION: KATHRIN LANG
• A heartfelt show of repentance can make a real impact.
Think of times you’ve used this potent word when it was
truly needed – and how that felt.
Words: Stephanie Lam
Follow more of Stephanie’s thoughts on Twitter
@StephanieLam1 and Instagram @Stephanie_Lam_1.