Womankind

US mythologist Joseph Campbell said and wrote a lot of things over the course of his life, but there was one sentence, in particular, that caught the attention of the US public back then and still today, and that statement is “follow your bliss”. Rea

It’s the one question that we’d all like to know the answer to, so we could just get on with it - the living part, that is. If we knew what the ‘good life’ entailed then we could shun the rest, and just concentrate on the important bits. But society

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Be childish, playful, remain curious about the world - these are the traits of a great person, believed German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. More than fame, wealth, and other such worldly achievements, Nietzsche commended the person who rediscover

Consider a few of the things I did during the 24 hours before beginning to write this article. I watched an hour-long episode of a TV drama my friends had recommended, long after it became clear it wasn’t one for me. I spent 20 minutes replying by em

The life of artist Georgia O’Keeffe took a seminal turn when she travelled from New York City to Taos, New Mexico on a holiday with a friend in the summer of 1929. Already the toast of the town as a gifted and celebrated artist whose work demanded hi

Graphic designer Vince Frost has designed most things in his long career as a designer - from corporate workplaces to signage for museums and universities, to bottles for herbal extracts. His role as designer for companies has always been to understa

Alan Parry worked as a commercial artist in London before leaving city life to paint and illustrate books from the country. Today he lives in a small village not far from Stratfordupon-Avon, his house standing alone down a leafy lane. The countryside

In one year, Nita Sweeney’s 24-year-old niece died of cancer, her father-in-law died, and in December, her mother died. She was on six types of medication, she was overweight, and had been chronically depressed for years. She’d always wanted to write

You stand on the high lip of the property, looking over its young orchard, and across a valley of sunflower and barley fields to the woods on the opposite ridge. On the horizon you see the outline of church spires, and the gentle undulations of the B

In life, we think we know what it is we wish to pursue and why, and off we go in that direction. But alongside this major goal in life there can also exist quiet loves or joys that trail behind us like a smitten lover. Leimomi Oakes wanted a job that

When we follow our bliss, we incidentally create a vision for the future. Brunello Cucinelli grew up on a farm a rural town, Castel Rigone, in central Italy, in a house without running water or electricity. His father was poor and uneducated, and wor

“Mum, why does some music make me cry?” I was sitting at the kitchen table fumbling with my algebra homework which, granted, was enough to make me weep. The radio was on and I can’t recall the song playing, but the arrangement of strings, saxophone,

For most of us, Big Adventure is something other people do. Other people leave their homes and walk into the wilderness to pit themselves against the natural environment. Other people (mostly men, often bearded), forge across frozen tundra carrying t

Until I embraced yoga, my education centred on cultivating my mind. If salvation was ever to come, it would come from the knowledge that I was building up there. It never dawned on me that some of the questions that made me most curious might find th

Please tell us a little about your experience shooting the women for the series RIPE. How did you find these women? And what was the experience like photographing them? I had observed that strong and confident older women were largely underrepresent

Of late, artist Monica Rohan has been obsessed with a tree. It was the inspiration for an oil painting, and more recently a drawing in ink. “It’s an amazing tree that arches over and leans on itself like a snow gum,” she says, speaking from her rente

In November 2020, days before the American presidential election, my husband Dave travelled to Philadelphia to knock on doors for Joe Biden. That he went was no small feat: the US was in the grip of COVID-19; I was in the mid-stages of pregnancy and,

Kath Mclean didn’t start out with a grand plan when she began swimming with her two young daughters, Ivy and Edith. It was the dead of winter, August 2020, and the nation was in lock-down. Kath had a terrible headache and thought a swim might do her

Holding a conversation with Catherine Edsell - founder of CathAdventure, offering life-changing travel opportunities for women - feels rather like running after a bus calling out “Wait for me! Wait for me!” Her zest for life is infectious, as the man

Like many people approaching middle age, I used to hear a little voice asking, “Isn’t there more to life than this?” My answer was always “no”, followed by a harsh rebuke. I shamed myself for expecting more out of life than a good job, healthy childr

When Jen Powers noticed her two-year-old son stroking a bee’s back with his tiny finger, without a hint of fear, she decided she wanted to know more about the enigmatic insects busily pollinating her Los Angeles garden. Soon, she was so enamoured she

By Joseph Campbell Campbell examines the personal, psychological side of myth. Like his other classic best-selling books, Pathways to Bliss draws from Campbell’s popular lectures and dialogues, which highlight his remarkable storytelling and abilit

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twink