Annabelle White

If you have ever lived in the Gulf, or if you have colleagues, friends or family there right now, the last few days have probably felt like something more than just following a news story. We lived in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Oman over a period of ten years. Our youngest child was born in Bahrain. I'll be honest with you, I spent most of the weekend refreshing news sources, looking for something reliable, something that would help me make sense of what was happening to places I still carry...

When is it wise to let go? It is a question that has come up in several conversations this week and one that the autumn trees seem far better at answering! When plans shift unexpectedly, the real source of stress is often not the change itself but the mind’s difficulty in releasing the version of events it had already committed to. Once we form an expectation, the brain treats it as a reference point. Anything that deviates from it can feel like a loss, even when the new reality is perfectly...

I took this photo yesterday as I was walking beside the river. The autumn trees were turning, their beautiful colours mirrored in the still water. For a moment everything appeared calm, even though the current beneath was quietly moving on. It made me think about how often we mistake stillness for stagnation, and movement for progress. We live in a culture that celebrates forward motion. Busyness has become a proxy for worth, and reflection can feel almost subversive — a pause that needs to...