As we continue our musing through the 10 keys for Happier living, as outlined by Action for Happiness, we come to the penultimate: Acceptance. Once again, I am struck by the timing of this. Here in Scotland, as I mentioned last week, Covid-19 restrictions are easing and there are glimmers of hope for more normal…
Some tools for our post Covid recovery
This week sees a grim milestone – that of the one year anniversary of the first lockdown being called. In those 12 months, 126,172 people in the UK alone have died from Covid-19. These are ghastly statistics, and it is important that we stop, reflect and remember. I am not going to dwell on this…
See yourself with the same delight…
This week, in all the preparations, busyness and uncertainty, take a few minutes to stop, and sit with these words: May you recognise in your life the presence, power, and light of your soul. May you realise that you are never alone, that your soul in it’s brightness and belonging connects you intimately with…
An Advent gift For the Senses
I love the practice of slowing by paying attention to our senses. This is a well documented mindfulness tool for bringing us back from anxiety into the moment. I have written more about that here. But it is also a great way to become more aware of what is going on around us that we…
Courage to choose hope
Hope. What a word to be using just now. After long months of incremental losses, disappointment and joy-sucking restrictions, there is a general feeling of weariness and heaviness around. This week we can have courage to choose hope because a new word is filtering into our news and consciousness – not pandemic, nor lockdown,…
20 Seconds of insane courage
What would you do with 20 seconds of insane courage? What would you say ‘YES’ to? What might you say ‘NO’ to? Imagine with me your life right now. Boy, has it been a tough few months. There is so much uncertainty, constant change and lots that we are missing. And that is before we…
Perspective shift from negative to gratitude
Perspective. That is my word for you this week. Perspective allows for a shift in mindset and can expand our horizons from the immediacy of what we face in our wee bunker to the gravity of the situations and obstacles faced by others beyond what we can see. This raising of our eyes can also…
Walking in your identity
Last week I was musing here about the national conversation about essential services. There are of course the obvious essential services, that meet our physical needs. But the more I reflect on this, the more for me this is about what it is that really allows us to be fully human and to thrive and…
The power of breathing: square breathing as a tool.
How much of your mental energy is spent at present thinking or worrying about the future? How well is that serving you? And what does this have to do with breathing? As this strange, dark and unsettling DC world continues, there is much potential for anxiety about how long lockdown will last. Fears are being…
Give grace to others…and yourself
How are things in your household this week? What emotions are running under the surface, and how are those emotions leaking out in the form of perhaps more challenging behaviour? To whom do you perhaps need to give grace? As we continue in this DC world, with no sign of life AC – After Corona…