Roy Stannard's Blog

When you think you know it all, ask the next question

Powerchange

  • Time to Leave the Basement

    Our brains, like our homes, contain comfortable areas that we don’t like leaving – even when it’s bad for us. Somethimes it takes a fire to propel us towards the Skylight Question.. Read more

  • The Trouble with Rock Pools

    A poem on life and depth by Roy Stannard Read more

  • Faith in a Big Society

    We negotiate life hoping that the future will bear fruit. Without faith, family planning would be a family gamble. Without faith, we wouldn’t sacrifice for the future – the present would be a cynical, nihlistic pig’s trough of satiated appetites. Nothing to hold onto – or for. The opposite of faith is worthlessness, helplessness and… Read more

  • Extinguishing the desire to smoke

    You are not a ‘smoker’, you are someone who smokes. After four hours of coaching Miss Y was set to go, but something seemed not to be right. It was clear that she still harboured a desire to have a cigarette and that this was troubling her. The smoking habit had become a barrier to Read more

  • The Art of Self-Presentation

    Ok, you have been asked to present a training seminar. Or make a speech. You. The You that normally chokes when asked for the time. Lost for words? More like abandoned in a huge wide open space called low self esteem. We’ll deal with the self-worth issue elsewhere – but let’s get you through that Read more

  • Off the map?

    How often have you heard the expression ‘it’s off the map’, or ‘I haven’t planned for this’, or ‘there is no routemap for what I am going through?’ The language of life often delineates where we go and what we are prepared to try. ‘That’s off limits’, or ‘don’t go there’ have far more impact Read more

  • The best undiscovered Indie love song ever?

    When you’re sick and tired of everybody lying to you you just want to walk away….. walk right into better days if you can just stop wanting it….. it will come to you I know you try….. but don’t try too hard when I see you cry….. it breaks my heart I won’t stop loving you….. Read more

  • Quitting the Fear Factory

    My colleague Andrew Sercombe and I had a great conversation over lunch last Tuesday about people’s fear of stepping out and following their heart in pursuit of their true passion. I came up with the title of the blog – Quitting the Fear Factory – that seemed to encapsulate that feeling of petrified stasis. Andrew Read more

  • Who’s to blame?

    We live in a blame culture. If we fail our exams, it’s the fault of the teacher – or it could be the environment we grew up in, or the school. If we trip over a jutting flagstone, then it’s the fault of the Council and we reach for the solicitor’s telephone number. If we Read more

  • The Occasional Treat by Roy Stannard (Psychology in writing Pt 1)

      Blue was an undergraduate in her second year at University. She believed that being pale was an interesting image and that people who were rather loud were to be discouraged. In accordance with this belief, Blue wore clothes that blended with her surroundings, whether Seminar walls, bus seats or long grey corridors. She adopted Read more