Writings

I write on Substack, and subscribing is the best way to stay up to date on what I'm doing:

All of my writings prior to 2023 can be found below. Here are some of the more popular pieces:

Popular posts

Three Years: Part One
The first part of my three story of divorce, burnout and breakdown, set amist the pandemic.
Not what I had in mind
Brief tales of chance, passion and people, and a good introduction to what I care about.
Digital minimalism in action: the 30-day digital declutter
My report of a 30-day digital declutter: what I changed, how it went and what I learned.
10 ways to upgrade your Huel game
Here are my ten best tips for improving the taste of Huel, including equipment recommendations and calorie breakdowns.
Lessons from 3 months without booze
I stopped drinking for 3 months—here's the most interesting things I learned and recommendations for your own sober experiments.
More black voices to pay attention to
An exploration of black voices and ideas, beyond the standard Anti-Racism reading list.
Why meditation matters
Meditation and mindfulness are two of the biggest trends around today. But what does their popularity tell us, and what does it mean for our understanding of a being human?
How restrictive diets actually work: the 5 principles of weight loss
Whether it's low carb, vegan, Paleo or keto, each diet promotes weight loss through the same surprisingly simple principles.
How to Run 100km, Part 2: The Cotswold Way Challenge
My race report and lessons learned from the day I ran a 100km ultramarathon in a heatwave.
5 tips for anxiety and panic attacks
Here are my 5 best tips for dealing with anxiety—after years of struggle with my own anxiety disorder—including my favourite book recommendation.

All posts

2023

Spirituality is a celebration of your full stature (Feb 1)
Adi-Da: notice the self-contraction (Jan 27)
Buddha and Parmenides on the deathless (Jan 21)
A rational awakening to the mystery (Jan 21)
I am not a spiritual person (Jan 14)
What I'm doing this year—modern mystic (Jan 6)

2022

Digital minimalism: Two years on (Nov 27)
Winter holidaying in Cwmystwyth (Nov 19)
Not out, but through! (Mar 26)
Orientations (Mar 1)
Logos (Mar 1)
My favourite Huel porridge recipe (Jan 1)

2021

How to delete Facebook (Nov 6)
My favourite engineering management books (Nov 5)
Upgrading the Prysm Eth2 client from binaries (Nov 4)
Growth in wisdom is symphonic, not linear (Aug 25)
Robert Anton Wilson on the consciousness transformation at the heart of religion (Aug 23)
Anattā does not mean 'there is no self' (Aug 20)
How I set up this website (Aug 20)
What is a mystic? (Aug 19)
This is not a blog (Aug 19)
Setting up an Eth2 Node on DigitalOcean with Prysm and Ubuntu (May 15)
Hello Hugo, farewell Middleman (Apr 11)
Using a reverse proxy to integrate WordPress into Rails (Mar 8)
Digital minimalism in action: the 30-day digital declutter (Jan 12)

2020

The two faces of polarisation and one remedy (Dec 6)
Roger Scruton on why beauty matters and the cult of utility (Nov 27)
Less but clearer: coming back to simplicity in meditation (Nov 24)
Coastal Quarter race report (2020) (Sep 8)
More black voices to pay attention to (Aug 30)
I’m back (Aug 29)

2019

Go Long: BTU56 West Loop Recce (Jan 8)

2018

The 3 stages of Insight Meditation (Dec 5)
10 ways to upgrade your Huel game (Nov 7)
Go Long: Shitlaning (Nov 5)
Learn more and blog better with Readwise (Oct 31)
Write your worries down (Oct 25)
Go Long: Callum and I (Oct 13)
Hit the button (Oct 9)
Go Long: Portisnever (Oct 7)
Drinking after being 6 months sober (Oct 3)
I want to be more active, but... (Sep 25)
hthb newsletter 03 (Sep 7)
A whole lot of reasons to try Huel meal replacement (Aug 29)
How to breathe well (Aug 23)
Why you should be writing in Markdown (Aug 21)
Organising your blogging with Trello and Sublime Text (Aug 15)
How restrictive diets actually work: the 5 principles of weight loss (Aug 7)
how to human being newsletter (Jul 26)
hthb newsletter 02 (Jul 22)
How to Run 100km, Part 2: The Cotswold Way Challenge (Jul 12)
How to Run 100km, Part 1: Preparing for a Heatwave (Jul 5)
Ultramarathon fundraising for the mental health charity, Mind (Jul 3)
Lessons from 3 months without booze (Jun 26)
hthb newsletter 01 (Jun 22)
Why to choose Ghost for your blog (Jun 13)
6 unfounded fears about writing & publishing online (Jun 4)
Reading obituaries (May 30)
It's easy to be stupid: Hanlon's razor (May 23)
How to make a sourdough tin loaf (May 16)
How to Run 50 Miles, Part 2: The Butcombe Trail Ultramarathon (May 4)
How to Run 50 Miles, Part 1: Preparing for an Ultramarathon (May 2)
5 tips for anxiety and panic attacks (Apr 12)
Change the behaviour, keep the reward (Apr 1)
10 reasons why I’m not drinking this Spring (Mar 26)
When choice turns to compulsion (Mar 21)
What do I write about? (Mar 5)
Just come back (Feb 27)
Calories count, but you (probably) don’t need to count them (Feb 21)
Act, or don't—the key to productivity (Feb 20)
Why meditation matters (Feb 15)
Why fitness matters (Feb 6)

2016

How I trained and ran my first 10k: Bath Two Tunnels (Oct 31)

2014

Meditation reading recommendations (Aug 8)
7 reasons to start a meditation journal (May 5)

2013

2012

Preconquest Consciousness (Sep 18)
The self is always implied, never experienced (Mar 2)

2009

Three-week meditation work retreat at Gaia House (Jun 19)
Snake Arising (May 1)
10 day Vipassana meditation retreat at Dhamma Dipa (Jan 10)

2002

The magicians (Jan 24)