This last weekend I have been teaching weekend three of our Mindfulness Level 1: Being Present course. This weekend we focus on preference and acceptance. One of the big things that comes up over this weekend is a habitual pattern that many of us have that we are not good enough. This habit can be…
Similar to Heather, sometimes I write my blog about joyful events or everyday life stuff and reflections on how I use my mindfulness practice. Sometimes I write about difficult things where I have been challenged to the extreme and how my mindfulness and compassion practice has supported me. Such events are difficult to share but…
Having a young grandson enables me to do some cool stuff. I have recently noticed that my relationship with him also allows me to be authentic. Just yesterday whilst disco dancing in my kitchen with this 5-year-old, made me realise that I am totally myself with him. I am not shy, reserved, embarrassed or inhibited. …
At the end of November I was out for an impromptu dinner in a local restaurant. An elderly couple on another table caught my eye. I noticed them because they were wearing party hats. You know, the coloured paper ones you get in Christmas crackers. For some reason I couldn’t explain, it brought tears to…
We had our annual Board meeting for the Mindfulness Association in Edinburgh yesterday. I travelled over there with Choden from Lockerbie and Norton travelled down from Aberdeen for the day. Kristine, who lives locally, and who is going to be taking on half of my management role in the new year joined us in the…
The last few months have felt like living in a kaleidoscope. With each new possible outcome, my mind has imagined a future in full colour. Then as the causes and conditions changed again, another potential future was imagined, also in full colour. While this has been fascinating to observe, it has taken up a lot…
Being of best service to others as an aspiration for mindful living and a mindfulness for life. Mindful Nation Scotland (MNS) was born on 17 September 2019 at a Holyrood Event in the Scottish Parliament. A wonderful, warm and excited audience welcomed its birth. The attendees were made up of MSPs, and people strongly connected…
Dublin I’d never thought of myself as a writer, yet there I was, at a book launch at the notorious Irish Writers Centre in the centre of Dublin. I was to give a short talk and read from the chapter I had written for the book Mindful Heroes. It was one of those surreal occasions…
This weekend I had a day trip to London on the train from Lockerbie to visit the Mind Body Soul experience at Alexandra Palace. It was an interesting day, with the train filled with thoughtful, serious and at times jolly looking people on their way to London for the People’s Vote march. Many with children…