Mondo Bizarre Magazine Essays, Raquel Pinheiro, The Listening Room HQ

The Smiths, Seneca, and the Corrosion of the Soul

15th-century illuminated manuscript,  Seneca Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

The Smiths, Seneca, and the Corrosion of the Soul is my new essay is at The Listening Room HQ The Listening Room HQ – my men’s practice – site

In Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius) Seneca warned Lucilius that busyness, ambition and external success can quietly erode the inner life.

The Smiths, Seneca, and the Corrosion of the Soul starts from a line in The Smiths’ Frankly, Mr. Shankly: “It pays my way, and it corrodes my soul”.

The post explores Seneca’s Letters to Lucilius, the modern cult of busyness, creativity, masculinity, and the hidden cost of lives lived in perpetual motion.

Through The Smiths, Seneca, Stoicism, Mal Evans, creativity, grief and modern life, this essay explores the hidden cost of endless activity asking if the things that pay our way may also corrode our souls.

What happens when productivity, success and endless projects begin to erode the very instrument through which we experience life: the soul?

Read The Smiths, Seneca, and the Corrosion of the Soul: https://www.thelisteningroomhq.com/2026/07/the-smiths-seneca-and-corrosion-of-soul.html

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, Raquel Pinheiro, The Listening Room HQ

One Year of The Listening Room HQ at The Listening Room HQ

Marc Chagall, The Birthday, 1915

One Year of The Listening Room HQ, my men’s practice, that offers sessions for men, and maps and reads for everyone.

One year after its birth, The Listening Room HQ first birthday post is a reflection on men, mental health, healing, accountability, creativity, nature and the many paths back to ourselves. It’s written from my personal experience and perspective. You can read it here: https://www.thelisteningroomhq.com/2026/07/one-year-of-listening-room-hq.html

To everyone who has read, listened, written, reflected, challenged, encouraged and walked alongside this project: thank you.

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, Raquel Pinheiro, The Listening Room HQ

The Difference Between Effective Action and Activity at The Listening Room HQ

The Difference Between Effective Action and Activity the new post on The Listening Room H – The Polymath sister site and my men’s practice – is a follow up of  The Difference Between Action and Contact. It talks of when life feels overwhelming, more activity isn’t always the answer. Learn why effective action, discernment and rest often create real change. It can be read on The Listening Room HQ site:
https://www.thelisteningroom.com/2026/07/the-difference-between-effective-action.html

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, Raquel Pinheiro, The Listening Room HQ

The Difference Between Action and Contact at The Listening Room HQ

Wassily Kandinsky – Contact, 1924

The Difference Between Action and Contact, my new post at The Listening Room HQ – my men’s practice and The Polymath sister site – approaches the difference between action and contact in men’s lives. How constant doing can replace presence with self and others, and how real connection requires staying internally present even within action. You can read it at The Listening Room HQ site.

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, Raquel Pinheiro, The Listening Room HQ

The News Cycle Attention Loop and The Nervous System at The Listening Room HQ

Nicole Dalager – Intuition, 2023

The News Cycle Attention Loop and The Nervous System
is a post on The Listening Room HQ – my men’s practice – about the news cycles, attention loops, and nervous system overload. Of how constant information streams and updates shape how we think, feel, rest and its effect on everyday life. You can read it at The Listening Room HQ site
site .

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, The Listening Room HQ

Men Often Keep Returning to Places That No Longer Make Sense to Other People at The Listening Room HQ

The Cobbler – Scottish Images & Art Prints

Men Often Keep Returning to Places That No Longer Make Sense to Other People, my new post at The Listening Room HQ my men’s practice and The Polymat sister site – speaks of workshops, garages, allotments, and other familiar places that continue giving men rhythm, continuity, competence, and human anchoring long after practical or financial logic begins to fade. It can be read on The Listening Room HQ site.

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, The Listening Room HQ

Inconsistency, Trust, and What We Actually Do With It at The Listening Room HQ

Inconsistency, Trust, and What We Actually Do With It my new post on The Listening Room HQ, my men’s practice, The Polymath sister site – speaks of inconsistency in communication as a normal feature of how the brain works, shaped by memory, state, stress, and cognitive load. It does not automatically indicate a problem, but when patterns affect trust, clarity, or relational safety, they may need attention and understanding.

Inconsistency, Trust, and What We Actually Do With It explores how to distinguish between harmless variability and patterns that affect trust, clarity, and relational stability, and how to respond to those matters. It can be read at The Listening Room HQ site.

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, The Listening Room HQ

When Doing Everything Yourself Becomes Sabotage at The Listening Room HQ

Yasir Azeemi – Landscape Painting

When Doing Everything Yourself Becomes Sabotage the new post at The Listening Room HQ HQ, my men’s practice, is about that point where doing everything alone stops being strength and becomes sabotage. It speaks on capacity, control, why it’s best not to overdo, and knowing when to let others in. It can be read at the Listening Room HQ site.

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, The Listening Room HQ

When Provision and Respect Drift Apart – new post at The Listening Room HQ

Amadeu de Souza-Cardoso, A Casa de Manhufe, 1913

When Provision and Respect Drift Apart the new post at The Listening Room HQ – The Polymath sister site – speaks of how many men believe that providing materially should be enough to sustain a relationship. But provision and relational leadership are different skills. But, when respect erodes inside the home, deeper awareness is required and can be read at The Listening Room HQ site.