In Mental Health Awareness Week, the theme of “Mindfulness at Home” is conflict. How can mindfulness help us to respond, rather then knee-jerk react when confronted with a tricky situation? Can ‘taking a moment for ourselves’ really mean the difference between a robust argument and an ugly row?

To further the discussion, here is this week’s edit from Mindful:

• 10 Steps for Mindful Conflict Resolution by Whitney Stewart

• Don’t Just Play Nice by Michael Carroll

• Five Common Work Challenges Mindfulness Can Improve by Jeremy Hunter

The Daily Practice this week is from Elaine Smookler’s article, Being Gentle With Your Feelings in Lockdown

To join next week’s session, register your place by clicking here.

Still Water

We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us, that they may see, it may be, their own images, and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet.

By W.B. Yeats

On Tuesday 5th May, I will be looking at the interplay between mindfulness and self-compassion. What does it mean to be kind to ourselves and how can this help us in our daily lives?

To reserve a space, simply register here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mindfulness-at-home-tickets-102762627786

I look forward to seeing you there!

Recognising and taming the inner critical voice is not an easy task - cultivating mindfulness however can help. 

To find out more about this subject, here are some reading suggestions and a guided meditation to get your started.

Article: “Living With, and Loving, Your Imperfect Life”

In a recent article entitled "Living With, and Loving, Your Imperfect Life", Mark Bertin explains the inner critical voice, the impact it can have on daily life and how mindfulness meditation can help us to gain space to respond, rather than knee-jerk react to challenges that arise:

"The Inner Critic is a particularly draining mental pattern. Like a playground tyrant, it’s an unrelenting heckler. It insults and judges mostly without reason—You’re not good enough. You should have done X or Y but definitely not Z again. Why do you bother? You’ll never get it right.

That voice is not about improvement, making amends, or fixing what needs fixing—ideas we want to build upon. The Inner Critic embodies mind...

In this week’s Mindfulness at Home Zoom session, I will be speaking about how mindfulness can improve our ability to focus and make better decisions. Here are some useful links to explore further:

Meditation Leads to Better Decision Making by the Mindful Team: http://www.mindful.org/meditation-leads-to-better-decision-making/

Three Ways to Focus the Wandering Mind by Daniel Goldman: https://www.mindful.org/three-ways-to-focus-the-wandering-mind/

This week’s guided meditation is ‘Arising Sounds and Thoughts’ which you can access here: https://www.practicalmeditation.co.uk/podcasts/2018/10/2/arising-sounds-and-thoughts-meditation

This week’s poem is The Orange by Wendy Cope:

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange—
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The re...