About a year ago, my dear friend and colleague Fay Adams and I came together to film and create the first ever Mindfulness Association online course: The Wonder of The Everyday.

The inspiration behind the course was to find a way to encourage some mindful moments of savouring the wonder and joy that can be found in what many people might see as the mundane.

Or as the writer Henry Miller says, “[t]he moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” So how can we cultivate this same wonder and curious engagement with our own lives so that they might be experienced as the shining miracles that they are?

IMG_3760When I think back to filming the course a year ago, I can still remember taking a painfully early flight over to Manchester and then a train down to Fay’s house, which sits on the edge of the Cheshire plain in England.

While on the train, the sun began to rise, illuminating the fields, the trees and the tracks, transforming them into what felt like a mythical, mist filled land- just like from a story book, only it was real. So, I took out my phone, and moved to the other side of the train carriage to get a picture and bathe in the glow and warmth of the early morning, winter sun.

As I did this, others on the train started to take notice of the sunrise. In fact, my moving seats to bask in the light allowed and reminded others to take a closer look, and soon we were all watching the sunrise together. People started smiling, making eye contact and talking to one another, and the atmosphere in the carriage shifted from a cold dreary commute to a shared experience of wonder. It truly was magical.

This happened because we all decided to look up and notice the simplicity of a new dawn rising. Something that happens in the everyday.

More and more of these moments of clarity happened in those few days of filming: quietFullSizeRender (10) rests on Fay’s couch with books in hand; conversations filled with presence between Fay, her partner and I that not only connected us, but had us in fits of giggles; as well as walks through the countryside to come full circle and to watch the sun go down. The mood was definitely one of wonderment.

So it is that time of year again, and as I nostalgically look back, I am feeling inspired and reminded to slow down today and to take in all that is around me with the same curious fervour. I am also excited to invite you to join Fay, my other colleague Alan Hughes and I to journey once again into The Wonder of The Everyday, this coming January. Let it be your New Year Revolution to join in community with us (just like all those on that early morning train), to look up and take notice and to cultivate some mindfulness in our everyday, as we move about the world.

-Jane

Course Outline

January 15th 2018- February 26th 2018

Live sessions on Monday evenings at 7pm – 8.30pm: 22nd of Jan and 5, 19, 26 Feb

Includes:

  • 8 specially pre-recorded videos by Fay Adams
  • 6 ten- minute guided daily life audio practices
  • 4 group meetings online with Jane Negrych and Alan Hughes
  • Tutor available via email for support throughout
  • Weekly worksheets and handouts

Price £120 for non-members and £80 for MA members (concessions available).

You will receive a weekly email (beginning on 15th Jan) with links to the talk, the audio for the week and the online meeting to be held on the following Monday on Fuse. Worksheets will also be included as attachments.

For more information and to book: please email info@mindfulnessassociation.net

Take a look at Fay Adams speaking of The Wonder of The Everyday (and don’t forget to follow us on YouTube)

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Author: Jane Negrych

Jane began working for the Mindfulness Association in 2013 as the Communication Manager running the membership and marketing. In which time, she began teaching mindfulness and compassion, was a lead tutor on the teacher training pathway and became an Honorary Fellow of the University of Aberdeen, where she has taught and provided pastoral care to students. She took a break from her work in the MA from 2018- 2023, in which time she was the Managing Director (MD) or the Sanctuary in Dublin. She has been running the Irish franchise out of the Sanctuary for the past 5 years, heading all courses and teacher training pathway. Jane delivers a mindfulness and compassion based practice module for Dublin City University, as well, she has developed and delivered the Caring for the Caregiver programme in the Sanctuary. She returned to the Mindfulness Association in the Autumn of 2023 as Managing Director.