Category Archives: Articles by me
Sketches of a 1950s Childhood
The following is an excerpt from the book I am currently writing titled: It’s Been A Long Time Coming Rooks nesting in the elm trees soar in the wind above me as I roam freely round the farm. My Dad … Continue reading
Filling The Hole – by Ardhan Swatridge, Nov 2022
“We spend our beautiful, utterly singular lives on making more money, to buy more things that feed but never satisfy. It is the Windigo way that tricks us into believing that belongings will fill our hunger, when it is belonging … Continue reading
Ode to Persimmon – 12/2020
What fruits mature in the dormant depths of winter?What fruits when ripe, so deliciously plump, so wantonly juiced and sweet, offer so much edible pleasure? The persimmon. Wikipedia has this dry botanical description:Latin: ‘Diospyrus Kaki’. Diospyros is in the family … Continue reading
Boarding School Haircuts
Whenever I have a haircut, the sensations take me back to one of the more, I could even say most, pleasant memories from boarding school (age 8-12). I can’t remember how often we were lined up for a haircut. Maybe … Continue reading
A left-handed Shame Attack
From her seat next to her husband, the headmaster’s wife called my name, following it with a rhetorical question, designed to shame me: Continue reading
ON SILENCE by Ardhan Swatridge
Probably the biggest challenge and barrier for any of us to deal with in trying to pursue a spiritual practice is, in our search for some degree of inner peace and self-acceptance, we eventually realise that our restless minds endlessly … Continue reading
Teenage Trauma of a pretty ‘Bum Boy’.
It has taken me fifty years to reach a point in my life where I feel ready to talk openly about some of my teenage boarding school experiences. Since my late thirties I have tried to address the most painful … Continue reading
Sexual Abuse & Trauma relived – Part two
My defences against verbal abuse are strong; walled-off and defended after years of boarding school life, away from the relative safety and protection of family and home. I am numbed, emotionally starved, often lonely and miserable, having been relentlessly taunted … Continue reading
Sexual Abuse & Trauma relived – the first of a two-part account
I am settling down in bed, adjusting to the dark, relaxing after my day, and dropping into the beginnings of sleep. Suddenly I hear movement around me as 6 or 8 male figures loom over me, surrounding my bed. I … Continue reading
Aging is Humbling
These days I frequently find myself sitting in wonder and confusion as to where my life has gone. My logical mind tells me that I have now lived three score years and seven; I have memories and momentos that help … Continue reading
InnerVentures 