Moya Sarner

I was moved to read of the grief expressed by so many at the brutal felling of the Sycamore Gap tree. I found it surprising. Not the crime itself: I know well the unconscious drive we all have within us […]

During lockdown, I was sitting on my balcony in the sunshine one morning when I witnessed a brutal killing. I heard a loud, mechanical-sounding buzz behind me and went to investigate. I found a fly caught in a web, buzzing and

The other night, I got home from work feeling very tired. It was really cold and what I really wanted for dinner was a jacket potato. In fact, I wanted two. So I heated the oven, slathered my potatoes in

Many of us suffer from a wish to be special. We toil away in the unconscious belief that a special person is a better person, and a special life is a better life. Whether that specialness is conferred by the

Now that winter has arrived, with its bone-chilling winds and dark nights that start in the afternoon, I find myself reaching more and more for one particular jumper, which used to be loose-fitting and now is anything but. When I

Psychodynamic psychotherapists do not give their patients advice, and although this is a column and not a psychotherapy session, I do try to stick to this when writing about how to build a better life. However, I am now breaking

Once you notice it, you feel it everywhere. This relentless, suffocating exhortation to be happier, to improve yourself, to get better – to build a better life. It might come from your parents, it almost certainly comes from the Instagram