If I said you were consciously incompetent would you Thank me or hit me!!? I hope you wouldn’t hit me because being consciously incompetent would mean that you had taken a big step and recognised an issue or behaviour that was no longer working for you.

Connection with others or “Social Needs” is the third basic Human Need (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) It comes after Physiological Needs - air, food, water, sleep - and Security/Safety Needs and is vital for our mental health and well-being. It has also been said that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety but human connection.

In The Art of Loving, Erich Fromm wrote: “Giving is more joyous than receiving, not because it is a deprivation, but because in the act of giving lies the expression of my aliveness.”

At the end of last year I was lucky enough to have been able to escape the UK weather for a few weeks and travel to a warm sunny land. I had told myself I would spend the first part of this time unwinding, recharging, relaxing and soaking up some much needed vitamin D. I would then start to think about my current goals and plans for the future. I would then return home recharged and bursting with new ideas and plans.

The Ancient Greek Philosopher Epicurus observed that:

Of all the things that wisdom provides to help live one’s entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship.

I recently found myself ‘indisposed’ due to a hip operation which I had been in denial over for some time but finally had to admit that my hyper-mobile joint had simply worn out! During the lead up to it I was thinking of all the things I could do whilst I was recovering and unable to drive for six weeks and what a great opportunity to really focus on my plans for the next 6 months.