Author Archives: charlottesheridan

By the time I got to know my granny, she was a little old lady who wore aprons with pockets full to the brim with bits and pieces. She had short, grey permed hair and glasses that hung from a cord – sometimes so full of crumbs that birds would perch for a feed. SheContinue reading “Conflict can be collaboration and friends can be foes”

There Is No Finish Line. These are not the words you want to read as you’re running for a third day in a row, with no end in sight. “Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra” is a race like no other. Justin Goulding writes about it in this BBC article here. Since its launch in 2011 Gary CantrellContinue reading “Where’s the finish line?”

We all know how children develop: first words, first steps, bikes with stabilisers. Then, in no time at all, they’re driving cars and off to college. But what happens after that? How do we continue to learn and grow as adults?  Dr Robert Kegan is a developmental psychologist, author and Harvard University Professor. For yearsContinue reading “Don’t die as a caterpillar”

Nothing is new. Everything is derivative. We’re all building on what has gone before. Look at Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1726). Physicist, astronomer, philosopher and author. A key figure in the scientific revolution. A great mathematician and one of the most influential scientists in history. Yet despite this glowing CV (resumé), he humbly said this ofContinue reading “Our obsession with new”

Life can be dispiriting at times. We put huge effort into an endeavour (art, music, love, work) for it to go nowhere at all. Or we find ourselves toiling away, creating, building, refining, and then have only a modicum of success. Neither seems to match the blood, sweat and tears we’ve expended. I was remindedContinue reading “Why we need to dig deep”

Growing up in the 1970s, I was fed a diet of BBC children’s programmes like Bagpuss and The Clangers. If you’re unfamiliar with them, please allow me a short childhood reminiscence.  Bagpuss was first shown in 1974 – the story of a magical cloth cat that came alive. Every episode a young girl, Emily, wouldContinue reading “We can all stickle it”

Guts are having a renaissance. It’s 2021 and it’s now perfectly acceptable to bring them up in conversation. Look in the bookshop window and the shelves are groaning with guts. The gastrointestinal tract is merely a 4.5 metre tube, yet it’s the most densely populated spot on the planet. A place that 100 trillion microbes callContinue reading “Trusting your gut”

Collective nouns do what they say on the tin – they’re the names for collection of things, like a herd of cows, a hive of bees or a pride of lions. These are easy ones that a five-year old would know. Here are more everyday examples: a fleet of ships, a panel of experts, a podContinue reading “The name for people who are lost”

The time we spend thinking about something often doesn’t match its importance in our lives. If we parked all our worries in a line, they would stretch to the horizon. When is the ‘eat by’ date of the yoghurt? Did I use the wrong title on the presentation? Should I smile more at the check-outContinue reading “The relative size of things”

Count the number of times I’ve included Japan in my blog posts and you’d think I was in love with the place. Japan appears every few weeks – here on regrets, here on career advice, this on the power of words, one on having a calling and here on the strength of letting go. I use the word “appearing” as I’m not doingContinue reading “Being a frog in a well”