Cynicism can feel like an insidious cloak ...

Cynicism! Sometimes it can feel like an insidious cloak, enfolding me from all sides – sibling to hopelessness, and despair.

I rarely actually feel it myself, but I can feel surrounded by it and it can become challenging to stay responsive rather than to react. To react is to get caught up in it.

I loved this antidote from the marvellous Maria Popova: being a steward of substance – what an enriching and enrolling invitation.

What is it to steward? It is to be a custodian, to attend to and to keep well and safe, to look after. What is substance? It is being, it is essence, it is core, it is kernel, it is soul.