Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower, but is already here, right now, in relaxation and letting go. Don’t strain yourself, there is nothing to do. Whatever arises in the mind has no importance at all, because it has no reality whatsoever. Don’t become attached to it. Don’t pass judgement. Let the game…
One day this week I was looking at the news on my Guardian app. Relentless awful news: Covid rising again, young students confined to their rooms, new policy in schools to not teach anything anti-capitalist and a further undermining of the BBC and free journalism in the UK. I have friends who are facing the…
This morning in my practice I noticed a lot of thoughts about all I had to do and a lack of time in which to do it. It has been a busy time at the Mindfulness Association this September. We had a validation event last week and our new collaboration with the University of the…
I have been questioned by some colleagues and criticised by some readers of my blog about promoting a vegan diet on the retreat I am leading this week and in my blog. When I was discussing this with colleagues last week, the view I arrived at was that within the Mindfulness Association ‘Compassion is at…
This weekend I have been off! I have been doing a lucid dreaming retreat with the amazing Charlie Morley. I am keen to develop my skills to become lucid in my dreams, which means to know I am dreaming while I am dreaming, so that I can continue my practice while I dream. Charlie teaches…
Us Brits are famous for our stiff upper lip and like many of us, I have been holding it together with as much optimism as I can muster through these weeks of lockdown. However, any emotions we are feeling need space to move through us, or else they get suppressed, they fester and then they…
Connections. Yes, I want to share my reflections on remembering all the Mindfulness Association connections and relationships that sustain and nourish me. I’ve also written a wee poem about my experience of creating new connections and relationships whilst facilitating a mindfulness Exhibition Stall in the Scottish Parliament in January 2020. Maybe like me, you…
I have spent this last week reflecting on how the current climate with the Coronavirus is making me feel, and ultimately, how I am responding to that. For me it began with some concern for the people who were at risk of dying of the virus. I know several people who suffer with their health…
This past week I have been ill with a very nasty cold virus – not ‘the’ virus. However, ‘the’ virus certainly had an effect. I felt much more self-conscious. I was due to speak at the Mindful Living Show on Friday, but instead stayed at home. Partly, this was because I felt a bit too…