Mental Wellbeing Episodes

The temperature is dropping and it looks like a frosty night is ahead of us. So, why not join us in the Erica’s cosy cabin as we contemplate the coming of spring, the therapeutic and philosophical aspects of planting seeds, and joy of sunshine on your shoulders. Journal entry: 19th March, Thursday “On Horse Hill The light scrubbed clean By the sharpness of frost Two rooks harry a buzzard pair Who fly on wings Of feathered nonchalance.” Episode In...

In tonight’s episode, with the help of a few of our listeners, I continue to reflect on life aboard the Erica and how it might have changed our lives as well as go on a hunt for the elusive 'Seventh Word'. There is often a lot of talk about how canal-life is helpful for mental wellbeing. Is this really the case? We also go in hunt for some mysterious bramble cutting vandals. Journal entry: 21st February, Saturday “A silvered dawn. Milder air With the promise of S...

This year, the Bita kaulo munthos (the little dark month) has brought with it yet more rain. This time of year can be a hard time. Mid-winter; the time of lambing, Imbolc and the Cailleach. Strung halfway between winter solstice and spring equinox, Imbolc heralds the mid-point of what for many seems to be turning out to be a very hard winter. Join us tonight around our fire as we contemplate how this time can help to prepare us for the uncertainties of the coming year. &n...

oin us tonight aboard the Erica’s warm and cosy cabin as storm Claudia rages outside. Let us experience together the intimate feeling of being snug and safe in a tiny home afloat on the storm lashed canals. Journal entry: 14th November, Friday “Sky of smudged greys, Chalky, sooty, dirty laundry water, And a light of such silvery metallics Lead and steel, iron and zinc, That makes the canal surface shine And adds richness to berry and leaves....

It is a hot midsummer night of warm winds that makes the Erica creak at her moorings. Tonight, we find ourselves at a year’s turning point — caught between the stillness and the unsettling. Join us as we explore the solstice, the shifting seasons, the rhythm of carnival swings, and the restless nature of the mind, uncovering the connections between them all. Journal entry: 16th June, Monday “Cresting The eternal now The carp and I Share the summer sun” Episode...

It’s a bitingly cold, sleety night. There’s a warning of snow in the forecast for later. It’s a perfect night to sit together around a warm stove snug inside the Erica’s cabin, while the wild world rages outside. The kettle is singing, the biscuit barrel is full. The night belongs to us. Journal entry: 7th February, Friday. “Yesterday’s spectacular Blood-orange dawn Has given way to a dawn Without colour or feeling. We pick our way between Rutted potholes of slippery mud To the Magpi...

Send us a text There seems to be an awful lot of change happening recently, often unasked and with far-reaching consequences. Knowing how to deal with it can be difficult and lead us to feeling unbalanced and overwhelmed. How do we find the stillness, the balance, within the flow of movement? To regain our balance in the tilt of change and the still-point amid the chaos. To find our place in the wilder world around us an know that we are all part of that great breathtaking murmuration that is li...

Send us a text I am probably not the only one feeling a little disoriented and uncertain about what the upcoming year will hold. While it is great to have plans and dreams, these are not always possible and sometimes, I think, not even desirable. There are times for wisdom to be silent and for the 'undreaming' to occur before we can begin to discover new music and new dances. Journal entry: 1st January, Wednesday “A dawn of tobacco and salmon And racing clouds. A solitary raven rows ...

Send us a text Did you know that ducks participate in ‘coordinated loafing’? But that might not be the only surprising/endearing thing about them. Tonight, we celebrate the joy ducks bring thanks to video posted by a stranger in Canada. Journal entry: 20th September, Friday “Hanging at the still-point between Summer and winter’s Swing and counter-swing. Rooks roister joyously westwards, Red with promise. Above them, fourteen successive Straggles of geese Head eastwards Flying on swif...

Welcome aboard the NB Erica on a wet winter’s night. It is a perfect night to snuggle down and listen to JM Synge’s turn of the 20th century accounts of his travels to the Aran Islands in a small currach on stormy seas. Journal entry: 14th February, Wednesday (St. Valentine’s Day) “Outside, No coat, On the hill that runs down to the cut. Warm sun, fleeting, Cloud chasing with the gulls And the circle of two buzzards. Maggie sits, watching, From a throne of dried grass And teasels....

You are invited to join us for a very special episode as we celebrate Christmas Eve onboard the Erica and remember the Christmas Eves of our childhood. Journal entry: 21st December, Thursday, Winter Solstice “The year’s turning And the longest night. There’s a rough wind And angry skies. The polestar oak Finally felled. The ducks don’t seem To notice." Episode Information: Christmas lights in the well deck Can I take this opportunity to wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and...

Autumn is a good time for contemplation and a place by the fireside encourages reflection. Recently I have been revisiting the journals of Thomas Merton and, with the help of John Moriarty, I have found myself relearning some valuable lessons. The Edens of our flourishing are sometimes not quite what we dream them to be. Journal entry: 15th November, Wednesday "Across the fields, A train clatters it's way to Birmingham. The lit carriages flickering like A procession of glow worms Throug...

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the global events of the last couple of weeks. Following the battering of Storm Babet, this week’s episode offers a space for us to reflect on a world that can be often violent and far from perfect. Journal entry: 13th October, Friday “Battered by the winds of the world I stop to watch the free-flight of rooks Diving from an oak into the full force Of a westerly gale. Gothic wings outspread, They surf the blast Hanging on its back In a rage of ecstat...

This has been rather an unexpected and eventful week. This is a special episode where we welcome a board a new fellow traveller (along the canals and through life). Journal entry: 30th June, Friday “Endless motorways. Endless traffic. Red lights all the way. A frightened face and soulful eyes. I sit on the stairs out of sight; out of the way. A short drizzle of rain. The smell of hay in fields. Sitting as darkness falls, My arm is licked by a new friend." Episode Information: Welc...

Happy New Year! New Years can be exciting times, marking new beginnings, a clean page, awakening dormant dreams and ambitions. However, sometimes it is not always like that. This year, in particular, many face the new year with trepidation, filled with anxieties, a sense of being overwhelmed and unable to cope. What do we do when the future looks dark? *Please note that this episode candidly discusses issues of mental health* Journal entry: 4th January, Wednesday. "Silver light on Cotsw...

There’s a warm welcome awaiting you under the heavy night skies of summer’s hinterlands. Tonight we meet a very special person with a lop-sided smile and who might be able to teach us to walk with elephants. Journal entry: 30th August, Tuesday. “Day’s end. I stand up here and try to see what is Infront of me. But the future is just a confused blur of uncertainty. When I look back, I can so easily draw-out the most intricate constellations that map the chaos of my footsteps of the paths ...

The hold of early summer along the canal-side grows firmer each day. However, sometimes the changes and shifts in the season can affect us in surprising and sometimes disconcerting ways. This episode reflects on the birth of the idea that would eventually become the Nighttime on Still Waters podcast, and a reflection on radio and encounters in the night-time. Please note that this episode discusses mental health. Journal entry: “13th June, Saturday The lowering sun is now caught in the feath...