A Curious Route

Tag: therapy

  • Fear and First Impressions

    On holiday in Cornwall, hanging clothes out to dry, I disturbed the flight path of several bumblebees jostling to land on the passionflowers in bloom in the courtyard. They occasionally whirred close to my face and ears, and I found myself apologising out loud for getting in their way. I realised we were simply existing…

  • A Botanical Metaphor for Reciprocal Roles 

    Risk And then the day came, when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. By Elizabeth Apell (commonly misquoted to Anais Nin) Of all the ideas in Cognitive Analytic Therapy, reciprocal roles (RRs), sometimes referred to as templates, are a central one that has shaped…

  • A Note on “The World” and How Language Shapes Perspective

    Like many people, I often use the phrase ‘the world’ generally and in my writing as a shorthand to describe the wider contextual environment within which human experiences occur. Lately, I have been wondering whether this phrase is actually appropriate or meaningful. When I use it I notice I push away a background feeling of slight embarrassment.…

  • Are We Living in a More Hostile World, Or Are We Seeing More of It?

    I have been considering this daily while deliberately dipping a toe in and out of catastrophe-focused news headlines, and a semi-awareness of how my true-crime-skewed Netflix algorithm is both fed by, yet subtly nudging me towards a social weariness and vigilance. A common situational thread I have noticed recently in my therapy work is a collective sense of disillusionment…