A mindful government?

“Breathe and let be”. Jon Kabat-Zinn

I should imagine being an MP can be quite a stressful job and the Houses of Parliament a high pressured environment.

I think it’s fantastic therefore that politicians are being taught mindfulness techniques to allow them to stop ruminating and find a calm space within which allows them to focus on important issues with enhanced clarity.

An 8 week mindfulness course devised by Jon Kabat-Zinn is planned for February 2014. There has been great interest from MP’s eager to join the 50 who have already attended previous sessions.

Chris Ruane, the parliament’s leading advocate of mindfulness describes it as “the breath that allows us to anchor ourselves in the present”. Chris, a former primary school teacher, hopes that there will be a steady increase in MP’s incorporating mindfulness into their daily lives. “The more we can develop mindfulness in the heart of parliament and in the heart of government the more mindful policies we can develop”.

With Mindfulness being approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for treating stress and depression it definitely has a legitimate place within the corporate setting. 

Ruane sums up perfectly “The whole pace of life has speeded up. We are all on a hedonic treadmill. You get on it in the morning and you’re on it all day long. How fast do you want to go on a treadmill? Have you got the means and mechanisms to slow yourself down or step off? I think mindfulness can help. It’s helped for me. And those MPs and Lords speak about rebalancing their lives, re-prioritising, deciding what’s important”.

If you are interested in the 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course devised by Jon Kabat-Zinn please contact me for dates and prices of our next intake (please note this is also available over Skype and on a 1-1 basis). 

The king and his sons

"When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others". Peace Pilgrim

I want to share the story of a king who had 3 sons. The first was handsome and very popular. When he was 21, his father built a palace in the city for him. The second son was intelligent and also very popular. When he became 21, his father built a palace in the city for him as well. The third son, neither handsome nor intelligent, was unfriendly and unpopular. When he was 21 the king’s counselors said: “there is no further room in the city. Have a palace built outside the city for your son. You can have it built so it will be strong. You can send some of your guards to prevent it being attacked by the ruffians who live outside the city walls”. So the king built such a palace and sent some of his soldiers to protect it.

A year later, the son sent a message to his father. “I cannot live here. The ruffians are too strong”. So the counsellors said, “build another palace bigger and stronger and 20 miles away from the city and the ruffians. With more soldiers, it will easily be able to withstand attacks from the nomadic tribes that pass that way”. So the king built such a palace and sent 100 of his soldiers to protect it.

A year later, a message came from the son: “I cannot live here the tribes are too strong”. So the counsellors said “Build a castle, a large castle 100 miles away. It will be big enough to house 500 soldiers and strong enough to withstand attacks from the people who live over the border”. So the king built such a castle and sent 500 of his soldiers to protect it.

A year later the son sent another message to the king. “Father the attacks of the neighbouring people are too strong. They have attacked twice and if they attack a third time I fear for my life and the lives of your soldiers”.

And the King said to his counsellors “let him come home and he can live in the palace with me. For it is better that I learn to live my son than spend all the energy and resources of my kingdom keeping him at a distance”.

I love this story. We expel so much energy sometimes fighting against things that aren't exactly as we think they should be causing us huge amounts of physical and emotional stress. Learning the art of acceptance and allowing brings a sense of freedom, improving our health and well-being. After all 'what we resist, persists'. The easiest way to learn to let go of the idea that things need to be different, to stop wanting to fix,change and improve things is through meditation. Are you ready to let this moment be enough?

Little lights

“We’re born with millions of little lights shining in the dark

And they show us the way

One lights up, every time you feel love in your heart

One dies when it moves away”

Passenger

I love listening to music, even more so when the lyrics really resonate with me.

One of my favourite albums this year is Passenger’s Little Lights - (watch on Youtube)

The title track is beautiful. It refers to ‘little lights’ we are all born with in our hearts. When something negative happens to us or because of us one of the lights will extinguish but through love and living a good life we are always igniting more.

I love the image these lyrics instill. It’s true we are born with infinite love, our lights shine brightly with no judgements or expectations in place to diminish them. As we grow and develop a belief system we begin to lose our connection to our inner stillness and we may not shine as brightly as we once did.

As life progresses it’s inevitable we love, we laugh, we cry, we grieve, we feel hope and disappointment, but no matter what life throws at us we always get the chance to light a new light. Each moment is a new beginning, a chance to ensure we are never in darkness. 

How brightly are you shining today?

A lovely surprise

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you”. Princess Diana.

I received a fabulous surprise this morning when I woke up and checked my emails. The lovely traveling couple we had the pleasure of meeting at Sweetheart Abbey had sent us the photos they had taken of Tim and I on our wedding day.

The quality of the images are phenomenal. The thing with eloping meant the majority of the photos were taken with my iphone. I had thought they were ok until I saw how vibrant and sharp Wendy and Geoff’s (as we now know they are called) pictures are.

I am so grateful they took the time to do this. They have edited each photo and sent them via individual emails as the file size is so large and they thoughtfully didn’t want to diminish the quality. As they apparently have 9000 of their own photos from their trip to get through I am really touched they did this for us. 

Anyone who knows me (and many of you who don’t)! know I am a huge advocate of pay it forward. I believe the way to change the world is by one act of kindness at a time. A simple act, a thought, being shown compassion and kindness can be life changing. It’s not solely about making someone feel good in the moment. Such acts can provoke huge feelings of gratitude and joy we recall again and again. When you pay it forward you could be creating a memory someone will draw upon during their darkest days; how phenomenal is that?

Maya Angelou said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Many of us have a positive effect on someone most days without consciously realising it. Imagine if we all consciously tried to carry out an act of kindness everyday too, it’s possible whatever your circumstances; a smile is the easiest way to start. Who knows how far the ripple effect will travel?

It’s fast approaching World Kindness Day (November 13th 2013). What can you do for someone on this date? The warm fuzzy feeling of kindness is too good not to share. Happiness is contagious - be a carrier.

Mediate don't medicate

"Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional".

I had a great appointment at Birmingham Orthopaedic Hospital yesterday. The fantastic team there have never given up on my health and have been beside me every step of the way during my recovery the past few years. I am eternally grateful to them for their treatments and support, especially since my own local hospital were unable to offer me any sort of help past physiotherapy.

I was excited to finally be given the go ahead to start their functional restoration programme in the new year. I have been assessed for this before but never deemed strong enough until now. This approach combines strengthening exercises with natural movements my body has 'forgotten' how to do alongside Mindfulness and relaxation techniques.

Being a Mindfulness Coach (I don't honestly know how I would cope with my pain/condition without it). I am excited to see how they integrate this into the NHS. Chatting to David who will be co-running the programme he acknowledged that when just a physical approach to recovery was taken the results often weren't sustainable. When people had natural flare-ups of pain if they were not taught techniques to cope emotionally their recovery slid dramatically backwards. This hospital recognises the importance of treating mind and body together and their phenomenal results prove just how effective their methods are. 

After spending years managing my own health condition I can't wait to launch my own programme next year to help others in similar situations cope with chronic health conditions. If we are not fully living in the present moment those of us with ill health do tend to suffer twice. Once when we live in fear of the future pain, and then again when we actually experience it. Once fear is eradicated pain naturally reduces and there comes a sense of freedom no matter what physical limitations there are.

Maths, Science and Mindfulness?

“Respond, don’t react. Listen, don’t talk. Think, don’t assume.” Raji Lukkoor

I was invited to a meeting at my son's school yesterday evening, to discuss his forthcoming exams and how best parents can support their children during this potentially stressful period.

I was pleasantly surprised when one of the teachers presented a section on the school's responsibility for the emotional well-being of its students and how they have begun to successfully use Mindfulness to alleviate pupil's anxiety.

As a Mindfulness Coach I was interested to stay behind to chat to this teacher afterwards and learned he had been researching Mindfulness personally for a long time and had fought hard to get it included within the school. He had been quite nervous publicly talking about it, anticipating he may be met with scepticism. He strongly believed however that since using Mindfulness techniques with the children that wanted to take part, exams results had improved, absences declined and the feedback from teachers and children alike was that a huge calming effect had taken place.

Having used these techniques for my eldest son who completed his A'Levels last year I know Mindfulness is an invaluable and lifelong tool that I hope to see as standard on curriculum's everywhere eventually. One of the most beneficial things we can ever learn is how to take care of our minds. Once we develop the ability to look inward and fully connect to the present moment anxiety and stress reduces and calmness and clarity prevails - an optimum condition for learning.

With league tables being scrutinised and Ofsted reports demanding a higher and higher teaching standard there is no doubt the world of education is becoming more and more pressured for both staff and pupils.

I was saddened to learn last night that although there is plenty of support in place for the children the staff were not being offered the same. With teacher absences through stress and sickness at an all time high I hope staff well-being comes high on the list of priorities. After all, if we don't care for the staff who will ultimately educate our children?

Create a vision board - create your future

“The action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed to grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions necessary for its manifestation in outward visible form.” Thomas Troward

I had great fun yesterday afternoon when I spent a few hours focusing positive energy into achieving my goals.

The Law of Attraction is not a new idea, the phrase has been the basis of many books since the early 1900’s. 

As everything is energy it follows that focusing on negative thoughts will bring negative results. Thankfully it also follows that by throwing out positive energy you can help to shape your own reality.

Author Napoleon Hill published a book in1937 which insisted thoughts have the ability to attract other thoughts and learning to control one’s thoughts can result in manifesting what you want into a physical form. Very cool.

I have found one of the best ways to do this is through a vision board. 

Having a visual aid of what you want your future to consist of can add clarity to desire and ensure your chosen images are firmly lodged in the subconscious. 

Think about it. Everything manmade in our world started off as the seeds of creation in someone’s mind and no matter how unachievable they were told their goals were and regardless of the opinions of others, through belief and determination these ideas became a reality.

Ready to go grab the future you want? 

To make a board spend some time gathering images, headlines and random words; anything that catches your eye in a magazine (or print from online). Be completely open and do this from the heart. Be guided by your inner knowing. If an image provokes a positive feeling in your body cut it out. Leave your head out of it. Yes it’s easy to want a new house, car and loads of money but these probably aren’t the things that will really offer you sustainable happiness once the high has worn off.

Don’t try to analyse too much what the stuff you are gathering means at this stage. 

After you have a substantial pile get your piece of board ready and go through again discarding anything that doesn’t resonate as strongly with you this time around.

Glue what’s left onto your board and leave it somewhere you can see it every day.

Don’t worry if some of the images don’t make sense to you at this stage. Be patient and wait and see what happens, it should all become clear.

Alternatively you can make a board specific to goals you already have in mind, using inspirational quotes as well as images.

I would love to see pictures of your finished boards.