Earlier this year, In a rare public intervention, the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI issued a stout defence of priestly celibacy – just as Pope Francis was considering lifting the restriction on married priests in some circumstances, in particular, the ordination of married men in the Amazon region, where there is a severe shortage. Francis, who has …
The higher your daily step count, the lower your risk of death per year, according to a new analysis by the US National Cancer Institute – but the link only goes so far. Public health officials have long encouraged walking as a way of improving general health, but many studies have focused on people in …
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To The Guardian. March 2018, from a baby boomer: “As a 70-year-old baby boomer I read and learnt from Phillip Inman’s article. As usual, though, there is no comparison made between the life circumstances experienced during the youthful years of baby boomers and those of today’s young people. “Most of us grew up without central …
Juvenal described life in an ancient Roman tenement, and in the winding, crowded, brawling, filthy streets below: “Think now about all those other perils Of the night; how high is it to the roof up there From which a tile falls and smashes your brains. How many times broken, leaky jars Fall from windows; how …
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There seems to be good evidence that regular sessions of mindful attention have a calming effect on the amygdala, the brain’s emotion processor, and reduce impulsive reactions to stressful or negative thoughts and experiences. Mindfulness, they say, can help mute our emotional response to physical pain, and lessen anxiety and mind-wandering (not the kind that …
