I’m involved in leading mindfulness sessions at the Northumbria University. At the moment the sessions don’t include gratitude exercises, but I’m working on it because research does keep showing up strong correlations between practices cultivating conscious gratitude and good mental health outcomes. Indicators of happiness tend to improve and incidence of and severity of depression […]

In thinking about creation in Genesis, we now jump over a bit. We’re going to focus on the second story of creation which puts Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden at the centre. This is a separate story with details that don’t really harmonise with the narrative of chapter 1 to 2:3. So […]

And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of […]

20 And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.’ 21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw […]

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two […]

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God […]

And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry ground ‘land’, and the gathered waters he called ‘seas’. And God saw that it was good. Here God creates a habitable place where vegetation, animals and people could […]