This week I am back in my normal work routine. Off to Manchester on the train today to work with my colleagues in MAHQ.

For many of us January can be a difficult time, short of cash after Christmas, dark nights, quite a long time until spring or our next holiday and we may have a sense of a daily routine starting over and over again (I need to stop this list – it is making me quite miserable!) This is a great opportunity to practice beginner’s mind!

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I found myself on the train platform this morning with a sense of grumpy humdrum routine & then I looked at the sky. The grumpiness fell away and was replaced with some space, relaxation and gentle joy as I watched white clouds drifting over grey and changing patches of blue. Then I noticed the birds cheerily going about their business; the cawing crows in the trees, and a sea gull soaring high above with a real sense of freedom.

So the January routine can be an opportunity to pause and look with fresh eyes: look at the sky, look out the window, look at the ceiling, sit or stand in a different place, do a forward bend and look at things upside down! Just take a different perspective or do something different, out of your usual habit and pause to notice how that is.

Set a reminder on your phone or download an app such as Mindfulness bell and set it to go off randomly through the day. Then when it goes off, shift perspective and in some way, look at your world with a beginner’s mind, as if for the first time. What can you see that you didn’t see before?

The point is, that it is up to us. We can get caught up in January blues, telling ourselves stories to ourselves; about how we are stuck in a miserable routine, about all the things that are wrong. This will make us and those around us miserable. Or we can choose to take a few Mindful breathes and do something different: smile at the train driver as he pulls in to the station (I try to remember to do this – if nothing else it brings a smile to my face), playfully don’t step on the cracks in the pavement while trying to look normal, look at the trees and the sky and the birds. Have fun! This will make you and those around you a bit happier!

Be curious. Let whatever happens be your curriculum for learning for the day – and today try learning how to make the mundane into the magical – good luck!

If you are skint this January, we have some wonderful free resources on our website (click here for free resources) for you to watch and listen too.

If you have a bit of cash left over after the holidays you might like to enrol on our new online course -(for more information).

Kind Wishes,

Heather

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Author: Heather Regan-Addis

Heather began training in Mindfulness Meditation with Rob Nairn in 2004. She is British Wheel of Yoga trained yoga teacher, has a Post Graduate Diploma in Mindfulness Based Approaches from the University of Bangor, Wales and has a Masters degree in Studies in Mindfulness from the University of Aberdeen. She is a co-founder and director of the Mindfulness Association, a Mindfulness, Compassion and Insight teacher and leads the team that developed and delivers the Mindfulness teacher training program to teach the Mindfulness Based Living Course. She is an honorary Fellow of the University of Aberdeen and was involved in the development of the Masters program in Studies in Mindfulness at the University of Aberdeen, which is a collaboration with the Mindfulness Association and also teaches on the program.