Counselling with Tina

12/12/2025

This inner enquiry is gold

03/12/2025

Troppo forte 😜

30/11/2025

Challenge and invitation: Let them be 8 year old in an adult body

21/11/2025

15/11/2025

12/11/2025

I love this quote by H Huxley, the best and the only advice

It’s dark because you are trying too hard.
Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly.
Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply.
Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.
I was so preposterously serious in those days, such a humorless little p**g.
Lightly, lightly – it’s the best advice ever given me.
When it comes to dying even. Nothing ponderous, or portentous, or emphatic.
No rhetoric, no tremolos,
no self conscious persona putting on its celebrated imitation of Christ or Little Nell.
And of course, no theology, no metaphysics.
Just the fact of dying and the fact of the clear light.
So throw away your baggage and go forward.
There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet,
trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair.
That’s why you must walk so lightly.
Lightly my darling,
on tiptoes and no luggage,
not even a sponge bag,
completely unencumbered. ~Aldous Huxley

07/11/2025

03/11/2025

In the Netherlands, public parks and plazas are now home to “chat benches” — a simple yet powerful idea aimed at easing social isolation. These benches carry a small sign inviting people to sit if they’re open to conversation. Whether it’s an elder feeling alone, someone experiencing homelessness, or simply a passerby who wants to connect, the chat bench signals a safe and open space for dialogue.

Local volunteers often take turns nearby, ready to engage gently or just sit and listen. Some benches are part of wider community care networks — where outreach workers quietly monitor well-being through friendly talk. Others are entirely grassroots, with the sign alone acting as a quiet invitation.

The success of these benches lies in their subtlety. There’s no pressure, no appointments, no forms — just the timeless human act of sitting together and speaking when the moment feels right. For seniors, this can offer rare daily companionship. For someone unhoused, it can restore dignity through normal, respectful conversation. And for the broader public, it normalizes talking to strangers again — building micro-moments of empathy in a fast-moving world.

The design is low-cost but high-impact, showing that sometimes public health and social inclusion begin not with infrastructure or apps — but with a wooden seat, a metal sign, and a little shared time.