August 2026

The gift of the dark night

In modern use, the term ‘the dark night of the soul’ describes a profound period of inner crisis, loss of meaning, or emotional and spiritual darkness that we move through before emerging into greater clarity or transformation. It’s the times when: our business may be suffering and we doubt everything we’ve been working on we don’t get the promotion, we’re told we’ve got a long way to go, and we start questioning our capabilities a relationship is on the rocks rounds of IVF have failed and we…

90% of Surfing

I was in Cornwall a couple of weeks ago. One morning, sitting on a bench high up a cliff overlooking Fistral Beach in Newquay, I watched a group of surfers at 7:30am and saw something I’d never noticed before. Whenever I’ve pictured surfing, it’s the Instagram reel version: someone carving a perfect wave like an absolute champion. But that morning, watching for real, I saw that surfing is mostly waiting. Floating. Bobbing up and down on the board. Reading the water. Ninety percent of the…

1 distinction that changes all relationships

Many relationships, both personal and professional, break down for the same reason: mismatch of expectations. Professionally, it might look like this: you assumed your co-founder would handle the investor update without being asked, and when the deck lands a day late before the board call, you’re both frustrated, one of you for a boundary you never voiced, the other for being blindsided by a standard they never agreed to. Personally, it’s your partner assuming you’ll notice when they’re…