“Stress and anxiety are the children of attachment, they are both a form of craving that take us away from the present and into areas of imagination that steal away our peace.

Heaviness comes from hanging on tightly to emotions that were always meant to be ephemeral. We want things to last forever or we turn difficult moments into long lasting pain simply because we have not learned to let go. We have not learned that the beauty of living comes from the movement of change. Letting go does not mean that we forget and it does not mean that we give up, it just means that we are not letting our present happiness be determined by things that happened in the past or by things we wish to happen in the future.

The accomplishment of all great things in life take effort, especially when it comes to changing and healing ourselves. No one said it was going to be easy, if it was easy it would have been done already, but it will be absolutely worth it and the reward will be greater than the diffic...

Grow without rushing 

Accept help from others 

Embrace the ups and downs 

Letting go is a long term project 

Take your time with big decisions 

Throw away the idea of perfection 

Gratitude supports a balanced mind 

Double down on what you are good at 

Stay connected to those who lift you up 

Embracing flexibility helps you reach goals 

Say no often, this is how you stay focused. 

Next month, Everyday Mindfulness will be launching a brand new candle collection to tie in with this season's mellow fruitfulness. 

The first Everyday Mindfulness candle - PRESENCE - combines earthy patchouli with cedarwood and evergreen pine needle to create a relaxing blend and promote a sense of serenity and fresh woodland strolls.

The range is made in England with 100% soy wax and fragrances that invite presence, calm and serenity.

Many people stop meditating within the first few weeks as they struggle to know whether they're 'doing it right'. In this recording from Chapter 2 of my book, Mindfulness at Work and Home, you'll learn how to overcome some of the difficulties you might encounter when you start to meditate and how to build your daily practice. 

In the last week of this More Mindfulness series, we examined the seminal work of Kristen Neff in her new book, Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power and Thrive. 

It may feel almost counter-intuitive to think about how to be self-compassionate when you are in the middle of a crisis and just need to get through it, but Neff encourages us to think again. The way we speak to ourselves when things go wrong plays an important role in how we emerge and how we perceive the world around us.

Neff explains that “Fierce self-compassion involves “acting in the world” to alleviate suffering. It tends to involve protecting, providing for, and motivating ourselves. Sometimes we need to stand tall and say no, draw boundaries, or fight injustice. Or we may need to say yes to ourselves, to do what’s needed to be happy rather than subordinating our needs to those of others. And if we’re stuck in a bad situation or habits that are harmful, it means doing...

Whether it’s checking your email every few minutes, restlessly searching the internet for a new home you can’t afford, overeating, drinking too much, smoking or spending too long grazing on social media sites, everyone has at least two bad habits they would like to break but why is it so hard and why does willpower fail when you need it most?

In his TED talk, “A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit”, psychiatrist Judson Brewer explains that the brain follows the pattern of ‘trigger, behaviour, reward - repeat.’ When you feel stressed, you might reach for a drink, your favourite sweets or a cigarette, which seem to make you feel better momentarily. Then you repeat the process and a habit starts to form. It’s the emotional trigger of feeling sad, bad, tired or in need which leads to the bad habit.

This week in More Mindfulness, we explored how our practice can help us to break bad habits, looking in particular at the work of Judson Brewer. Rather than getting sucked in by physical craving...

In More Mindfulness this week, the subject is stress and how mindfulness can help us to respond to it and thereby reduce its impact on our minds and bodies.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health in the US, stress is the “brain and body’s response to change, challenge, or demand. It is the body’s natural defense against danger brought on by an event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. When a stressful event occurs, the body is flooded with hormones to avoid or confront danger. This is commonly referred to as the fight-or-flight response.”

We all know that stress is an inevitable part of life. But stress itself is not the problem - it’s how we relate to it that counts. 

Our stress response (‘fight, flight, freeze’) is critical to our survival. In days gone by, it might have saved us from the mouth of a sabre-toothed tiger. These days, while certain threats have disappeared, others are on the rise. Our stress response is triggered often throug...

All perfectionism is, is the 20-ton shield that we carry around hoping that it will keep us from being hurt.” Brene Brown 

In this week’s More Mindfulness session, we examine the subject of mindfulness and perfectionism. We explore whether mindfulness can help us to recognise the moment perfectionism hits and why that’s a good thing. We look at whether our practice might have a role to play as it helps us to grow our self awareness and learn more about the ways of the mind.  

Shame researcher and bestselling author Brene Brown describes perfectionism as the 20-ton shield we carry around hoping it will keep us from being hurt.” Brown breaks down what perfectionism really is. She explains that “It’s a way of thinking that says this: “If I look perfect, live perfect, work perfect, I can avoid or minimise criticism, blame and ridicule.” In truth however, she explains that the 20-ton shield keeps us from being seen.  

Brown also says that there’s a difference between perfectionism and ...

In Week 2 of the More Mindfulness series we examine the role mindfulness can play in helping to tame our fears. 

Fear is often caused by our thoughts - the ‘what if’s’. Whether rational or irrational, our bodies respond to these thoughts with physical sensations: our pulse quickens, perhaps our face flushes and we can feel it in our stomachs. These sensations in turn feed our anxious thoughts, and we get caught up in a cycle of negativity. Our brain’s primary responses to fear are short-term: fight, flight or freeze.

In his article “A Primer on Living in a Time of Fear”, Christopher Willard explains that “When the threat detection system in our brain is activated, and fear takes over, other areas of the brain aren’t as active, making it difficult for us to do our best thinking. Things like being able to see the big picture clearly, discern danger from reality, see nuance and complexity, plan long-term solutions, and problem solve become challenging.” So how do we ease out of fear m...

Thank you for tuning in to the new series of More Mindfulness. Week 1 gives us the opportunity to revisit our practice and take stock of what mindfulness is all about and how it can help us in our daily lives. 

This quote reminds us that "Part of the beauty of mindfulness meditation is that it puts you in touch with what's going on in your mind and that starts to help you be yourself. Starting to discover that it's OK to be who you are, and actually finding a little bit of relief from the harsh critic in your head is usually what keeps us going in the beginning." 

The application of mindfulness is potentially far reaching. The practice reminds us when we need to take time out. It teaches us that the negative thoughts we may have about ourselves are not necessarily true and encourages us to treat ourselves with more care and compassion - without feeling guilty. 

Practising gratitude also helps to soothe the nervous system and calm the body. In our first session, we explored the ...