How I got here ...

If you know Close Encounters you'll know the 'mashed potato' scene above. Richard Dreyfuss is compelled to keep recreating a mountain he's having dreams about. The last couple of years have been a bit like that for me: I've felt compelled to keep producing ... something.

Firstly, in summer 2023, The Last Self-Help Book You'll Ever Need, literally wrote itself. I just sat at the laptop every day and the book arrived through my fingers on the keyboard. A year later, when the book was published, I thought a 'newsletter' would be a good idea and The Wandering Lightbulb was born. Before I knew it, six topics, one per month, had emerged, alongside a complete framework for weekly delivery. Halfway through the six months I had a sneaking suspicion that another book was writing itself, but when the writing ended in November 2024, I saw it was a programme. A programme that could take someone from knowing nothing, to understanding fundamentals about changing self, and ending up with a whole life philosophy.

By March 2025, the programme was uploaded to my website, with additional video content and over 50 resources. But the 'mashed potato' went on ...

Art, something I've enjoyed all my life, seemed to be compelling me to carve out a studio space in my small house. As my daughter had moved out a few years back, her room seemed to be the target! Again, something in me was on a mission: in a matter of days the room was transformed from an abandoned teenage bedroom, to a multifunction creative space (+ bed, if needed ;)

I took this photo after my first video-make.

Feeling compelled to do something, even against best advice, has been a theme in my life. It's like the path pulls me towards it whenever I'm near it. Sometimes years pass with not much 'compelling' at all. Then, other times - like right now, I get up in the morning and I know exactly what I have to do.

A big part of my life is trust in that what I'm doing is going to work out, in some way.