I have been beset by feelings of anxiety over the last few weeks. My recent blogs have described how my mindfulness and compassion meditation practice have helped me. They have enabled me to turn towards and experience the anxiety. They have enabled me to look after myself, in my meditation practice and in my daily…
On a recent retreat a well-intentioned participant informed me that my drive system was overactive. She was referring to the three-circle model of Prof. Paul Gilbert which is part of our Level 2 Compassion training. This model postulates three psychological systems: a threat system, which triggers the fight, flight, freeze response when we feel threatened;…
Over the last 4 weeks I have been on the ‘road’. From my home, north of London I have travelled to Yorkshire twice, Scotland twice, Manchester twice, Sweden, Northumberland and Spain. I’ve slept in 10 different beds, taken 4 flights and 20 trains. I’ve experienced extremes of temperature and weather from -14 and thick snow…
It is very early in the morning and I am struggling to sleep. I woke up with feelings of fear and overwhelm and have spent the last hour or so lying in bed practicing. Part of me wishes the feelings would go away and part of me is curious about what can be learned. I…
The Girl in the Coffee Shop…
The transformative power of the compassion training never ceases to amaze me – in my own life and in the lives of those I teach
I have found myself travelling a lot over this past few weeks. Some of my journeys have been challenging, in various ways. During these challenging times I have been very grateful for my mindfulness practice. Interesting I have found that my practice has not only for my own wellbeing but, inadvertently, benefited others too. In…
Some weeks my blog just falls out of my mind, through my finger tips and onto the paper. Other weeks, it is a bit more tricky and this week is one of them.
Big blue skies and so much sunlight – it felt good to be alive and waving to my son as he disappeared into school. I turned to one of the grandparents to share my smile. She could not smile or make eye contact. I asked, “are you okay”. “Did you not know that Tom died…