Whether you are going through cancer treatment or recovering from cancer treatment the thought doing exercise can be hard, even though we all understand its benefits.
As autumn and winter approach are you looking for new pastimes and ways to meet people? Perhaps you remember country dancing at school, or enjoyed a Barn Dance/Ceilidh and would like to try other English dances?
Some years ago I was asked to set up philosophy clubs in local primary schools. The aim was to show children how philosophical thinking goes beyond simple discussion and debate to explore complex concepts. One topic we talked about was, ‘What does it mean to be a person'? Children’s ideas ranged far and wide, with many young thinkers defining ‘personhood’ in terms of the roles that people have – child, pupil, boy, girl, Year Six and so on. Others talked about the essential features of being alive; eating, metabolizing, excreting, breathing, moving, growing, reproducing, and responding to external stimuli. A few introduced spiritual / religious ideas such as a soul being essential for personhood.
Language is something that many of us take completely for granted. Yet it is a most astonishing ability that only humans possess to the level of sophistication that we are familiar with.