Freelance Writer
This is part 5 of a series of articles about a solo motorbike trip I took around north-east Vietnam in December 2018. Each story can be enjoyed alone, and together they form one big over-arching story. It’s about road trips, motorbikes, solo travel and finding yourself on the open road. And of course, it’s about…
“I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too, it gives me a sense of ENORMOUS well-being” – Blur – Parklife A momentary burst whips my attention, particles dispersing in a brief explosion before returning to their centre as if pulled back by the sharp inhale of gravity or a length of bungee cord.…
The view of Ba Bể Lake, from my homestay in Pac Ngoi village. This is part 1 of a series of articles about a solo motorbike trip I took around north-east Vietnam in December 2018. Each story can be enjoyed alone, and together they form one big over-arching story. It’s about road trips, motorbikes, solo…
“One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Yesterday I talked about one often-overlooked tool we have for maintaining our mental health, perspective on the world, and sanity: small-talk. Being alone is seen by many as a bad thing, and there has been much recent psychological research…
Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing” – Some guy I’ve only heard this saying recently, even though it sounds like the most Irish thing anyone could ever say. Except, when you think about it, it isn’t, because nobody in Ireland has suitable clothing, and the…
Photo by Nathalie Désirée Mottet on Unsplash That’s not me in the photo obviously, but you get the idea. Running during lockdown – running away from home, if you will – has made me realise just all the things other than training that I love about the sport: the non-competitive, non-performance-enhancement side. To me they’re just as important…
An overview of some of the practical aspects of joining a silent meditation retreat run at one of the Dhamma Centres around the world
Image: Keegan Houser on Unsplash I spent weeks and even months after doing a silent meditation retreat trying to put the experience and anything I learned from it into words. The results were a load of half-finished drafts of Buzz Feed-style “Top 5 Things a Meditation Retreat Teaches You” articles, never published as I never…