Meaningful and Mindful

It seems like an age has passed since my birthday and I feel I am embracing 42 with positivity and fresh insights.

My blog ‘confession’ drew more love and support than I could ever have imagined and I feel very blessed to have wonderful people in my life – thank you to all of you!

 

I didn’t tell you that I had treated myself to a massage on my birthday. I had in my head a relaxing and pampered hour and a half, ha! The lovely lady that supplied my treat found what she could only describe as some of the hardest knots in my shoulders that she’d come across for a long time! She kindly asked if she could ‘work them out’ - ‘go for it’ I replied, still on a drift of scented oil and candles. OMG – it hurt. Quite a lot. And the next day. And the day after that too. But it was a lesson to me that I am clearly keeping quite a lot of tension in that area. I feel so much better now and I have been making a concerted effort to do some yoga stretches every day and to relax my shoulders every time I feel them hunching (which seems to be every 5 minutes)

 

I have also been reading a lot about mindfulness and thinking that this is definitely something which I need in my life. I have done a little meditation in the past and it now feels like the right time to revisit and try it again. I have been faithfully trying out some of the exercises in this book but I am finding some harder than others. Trying hard to explore feelings like anger from a mindful viewpoint having just been cut up by a thoughtless driver is tough – and meditating on the bed late in the evening just leads to sleep! But each experience is a learning opportunity and I am embracing it as best I can.

 

I have continued to go to the gym but decided last Sunday to have a run in the proper outdoors. It was chilly and wet but I am so glad I made the effort. Highlight of the run was seeing a beautiful kingfisher flashing past me along the stream. I haven’t seen one of these for a couple of years and this was a really special moment which made the mud and rain worthwhile and meaningful.

 

Photography has taken a bit of a backseat with everything else but I am determined to get inspired again. In the meantime I have asked if I could share this fabulous photograph of a kingfisher taken by a very talented friend of mine called Simon Ellis. Please do check out more of his work here and here and tell him I sent you!