I continue my four-part series on male midlife thresholds and male midlife crisis on The Listening Room HQ with the third piece: The Midlife Crisis Decision Map.
This magazine note links the conversation between the magazine and The Listening Room HQ — my men’s practice – carrying the series’ practical focus on stages, fork points, and the choices that either trap men in repetition or open a path toward integrity and real inner work.
For those who want to follow the full sequence, visit The Listening Room HQ or read the pieces above. Each post builds toward practical language and tools for noticing stages, choosing differently, and moving through midlife with presence, clarity, and accountability.
This piece maps the repeating beats of midlife unraveling across psychology, mythology, addiction recovery, organizational burnout, and even astrology — showing how the same loop resurfaces in different guises.
Each post builds on the last, offering practical language and tools for noticing stages, making clearer choices, and moving through midlife with integrity and care.
At The Listening Room HQ I offer sessions that help men, and Maps, and Readings to anyone who resonates.
These aren’t about performance, quick fixes, or abstract theory. They are about presence, clarity, and gentle guidance. About noticing what’s real, what’s moving, and what needs tending.
Sessions, are space for men to be met as you are. Presence is the practice, and clarity emerges from gentle, grounded support.
Maps & Readings are for everyone provide context and insight. They’re tools to see patterns, understand cycles, and reflect on life’s current. Not predictions, but mirrors for awareness. You can read more about The Listening Room HQ Sessions for Men, and Maps & Readings for everyone here.
In a culture that often sidelines the midlife journey of men, this first post in a four-part series on The Listening Room HQ speaks to the archetype of the unsupported male midlife — the absence of elders, the lack of guidance, and the quiet crises that unfold when these are missing.
Stepping across a threshold isn’t just about crossing a line—it’s about entering a space where presence, movement, and attention meet.In this post, I explore how The Listening Room HQ provides a place for men to be heard, to hear themselves more clearly, and to engage in the subtle work of noticing and being present. You can read the full post here: On The Threshold
Following the final selections by the jury, of which I am proud to be part of, the Hall of Fame de Cinema – Public Choice Awards are now open to the public!
This year, the jury included 123 film enthusiasts and professionals, who carefully shortlisted films, directors, actors, and actresses. The site is run by Bruno Fernandes, together with Jay (Luís Sá), Joana Oliveira, João Santiago & Lisa Ferreira, Miguel Ferreira, and Raquel Sampaio. Genre categories include Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Terror, Action/Thriller, Comedy, and two special categories for the year.
Now it’s your turn to have a say. The public voting allows film lovers everywhere to participate in celebrating cinema and honoring standout performances and works from this year’s jury selections.
Visit the Hall of Fame de Cinema site to cast your vote and explore all the curated films and profiles chosen by the jury.
My latest post in The Listening Room HQ is about what happens when creative practice enters the space of men’s work.
Creative practice has a way of loosening what words alone can’t reach. It’s not about art as product, but about opening. A way men can meet themselves, each other, and others differently.
It’s not theory or performance, it’s a way of grounding, disarming, and opening what’s otherwise hard to reach.
In spirit, it sits not far from Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files, a place where correspondence becomes a kind of soul map. The Listening Room HQ works in a similar way though with men’s practice: gathering fragments, gestures, and creative practice into a field of shared soul work.
A couple of days after the first anchor, the Listening Room HQ is quietly taking shape.
Sunflowers and Van Gogh, my favourite painter, continue to be an inspiration. Each Sunflowers painting subtly shifts in light and energy — each one different.
The maps, the sessions, this craft is a side of me many of you haven’t seen before. A new way of holding presence, listening, and connecting, blending intuition, somatic practice, and knowledge from neuroscience and neurobiology.
Read the first post on the Listening Room HQ on Mondo here.
My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights that airs every other Monday 3-4pm (gmt+1) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app) is on repeats from Monday 28th July to mid September.
My 4th anniversary radio show is now available on mixcloud.
This year, the anniversary programme is a little different than usual. Trials and tribulations didn’t allow for the several costumary purpose composed pieces, aside from mine and Francisco Silva’s Lucid One.
The lyrics of Lucid One have my poem 80 as starting point, adapted to song by Francisco’s chatgpt, then, on a second round of singing the song, by him. It was a very interesting creative experience. Francisco and I also both this very different impromptu versions of Suede’s The Asphalt World.
You can read more about the show, the Astro Travellers, my “band” contributions and it’s creative process here. The lyrics of Lucid One and poem 80 are below, along with the show tracklist.
Lucid One lyrics Sleepless nights, stuck in motion Elevators fade, no clear emotion Crex crex crex — the artach calls Lucid tiles in echo halls
The megaphone speaks, louder than books Slogans win where no one looks Moral weight too hard to lift We float inside this aimless drift
The empire of futility Masqueraded as ability Symbols fail, the noise gets loud We vanish slowly in the crowd
Resperidone, the new tea brew
Quiet minds in static view Fork in the road, by the sea we stand Bathymetry traced in soul and sand
Invisible paths, the labyrinth sings We mistook noise for gravity’s rings You want the house still, free of harm But the woman bangs the pots — her charm
The empire of futility Attired in nobility Mirrors turn, the spiral grows Stagnant waters, no one knows (Francisco Silva & Raquel Pinheiro)
poem 80 sleepless nights, stuck perpetual movement fading through the elevator crex crex crex crex makes the artach hearth and home lucid tiles echoing the megaphone is easier than read serious books slogans are easier than moral inventory. the empire of futility disguised as art, intellectualism the sound mirrors, a spiral a stagnant pool of nothingness resperidone, the new chamomile there’s a road with a fork for you and me by the sea bathymetry of the soul invisible pathways labyrinth, the song mistaken noise for gravity symbols for substance brought us here you want the house quiet but a woman bangs the pots monks don’t worry about money terror dreams, rage somatic overload the lucid one in a house of somnambulists fog can’t be fought, what it erases is watched don’t go back to sleep the messiness of desire recycle, renewal, redemption like a benediction all the plants are watered (Raquel Pinheiro)
Tracklist: 01: Francisco Silva & Raquel Pinheiro – When Joe Came By 02: Raquel Pinheiro – Loss 03: Pixies – Hey (Manuel Carvalho) 04: Sérgio Rocha – Seclusões (excerpt) 05: Francisco Silva & Raquel Pinheiro – Lucid One 06: digei de bairro – MG B GT (pre-master) 07: Suki Waterhouse – Supersad (António Cunha) 08: Boxmonsters – Holligans 09: Francisco Silva – The Asphalt World (acoustic excerpt) 10: Talking Heads – Burning Down the House (Raquel Pinheiro) 11: caroline – Tell Me I Never New That feat. Caroline Polachek (Paulo Navarro) 12: Raquel Pinheiro – The Asphalt World 13: Oh Bobby – Sweet Peace 14: Lyn Collins – Think (About It) (Matt Hutchison) 15: Ned Swarbrick – Mr. O’Brien (mix 1.1) 16: João Diogo Zagalo – Lotar n.º 4 17: Boxmonsters – Car Crash 18: Raquel Pinheiro – December: Death 19: American Music Club – Why Don’t You Stay (Rui Pimenta)
Mondo Bizarre Magazine 