meeting the menopause

Dare to Fear

I find it equally frustrating and amusing – my mind’s habitual pattern of imagining in the future. Having a conference to organise isn’t helping. Last minute arrangements, coordinating speakers, planning my sessions. The merchandise has arrived and hopefully the conference booklets will be ready in time. I am there in the future anxious about all…

finding equanimity

Finding Equanimity

I like the following definition of equanimity which I use in our compassion training: “A warm engagement with the world without being troubled by it.” The definition needs some unpacking as some of the things happening around us can be deeply troubling. If we allow ourselves to become distressed – aka troubled – by what…

mindfully-invisible

Mindfully Invisible

I seem quite far removed from a ‘mindfully invisible’ nature experience last weekend whilst writing this in a coffee house at Stockholm airport. However, writing whilst travelling seems to be a common theme for mine and Heather’s blogs. So last weekend, despite being quite tired, my friend and I decided to take a short walk…

masters retreat on Holy Isle

Masters retreat on Holy Isle

I am on the beautiful Holy Isle this week delivering the year end retreat for the first years of the University of Aberdeen’s MSc in Studies in Mindfulness. There can be no better place on the planet to practice mindfulness! It is a pilgrimage to get here. A wonderful journey, at each stage meeting up…

on the train again

On the train again…

I have been struggling this week to write my blog. More often than not the words fall out of me and the blog writes itself. I have an alarm on my phone that sounds on Sunday at 9am and I drop the question in ‘What to write about this week?’ It goes off again at…

Is-this-the-real-life

Is this the real life?

As I was driving to the station this morning mulling on my blog, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody started to play on my playlist, with the starting lyrics: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality”. This resonated with an experience I had this weekend. I was walking…