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Starting your day with 5 mindful minutes

by | Jan 30, 2018 | Mindfulness

5 mindful minutes

Starting your day with 5 mindful minutes could change your life!

That’s what a big business marketer will tell you. 

Is it true?

Well if you choose to let it then yes it is.

How do you start your day?

Do you bounce out of bed raring to go?

Maybe you hit the snooze button repeatedly hoping the day will never begin? However your morning starts, whatever you do in the morning, how you spend the first hour of your day can set you up for success or failure.

I’m not talking about business success, financial success, though they may be an added bonus. You can decide in the first hour of your day how your day will go. Will it be a good day? Will you be calm and happy all day?

Do you start your day with a shower?

A coffee?

Do you dash about, always running late? 

If you know that your mornings would benefit from a little more mindfulness, a bit more calm, I have the perfect gift for you!

I have created a short ebook which gives you loads of ideas to start your day mindfully, better still, most of them don’t even mean finding any extra time. Simply shifting your mindset as you go about your morning tasks will help you start your day in a calm and contented way.

So where can you get your copy?

My new ebook is my gift to you as a thank you for signing up to my newsletter. I send out a weekly newsletter with mindfulness techniques, self care ideas and relaxation tips. I only send out one newsletter a week (although there is an introductory sequence, so please don’t panic about that, that’s just to help you get to know me better), you can unsubscribe at any time too.

To get your copy of “Start your day with 5 mindful minutes” simply complete the form below this blog. 

Every day Mindfulness

by | Jan 22, 2018 | Mindfulness

Every day mindfulness

We hear so much about mindfulness and the benefits these days.

Everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon. But is it a bandwagon? The reason I love mindfulness so much is because I was practising mindfulness before I had even heard of it. Everyday mindfulness is, for me, one of the most beautiful parts of this magical concept.

Long before Jon Kabat-Zinn formalised Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction as a therapy everyone was mindful, every day. It was my Grandad Joe who introduced me to mindful living. He unknowingly passed on almost all of the skills I now use while taking walks through the countryside, camping or whittling a stick. He taught me about the seasons and the importance of being present. Listening to the sounds around you. Eating slowly and really tasting your food. Stretching and looking after your body. Sitting quietly in nature. Grandad Joe was a zen master.

As I grew older Grandad Joe taught me about nature; the names of birds, trees and flowers. He taught me about foraging and how to fish (which I hated, because I couldn’t kill the fish and panicked if they didn’t swim away immediately!). We spent hours talking and making things out of wood; walking sticks, bows and arrows and even a doll’s cot for my sister.

Practical, physical work necessitates mindfulness.

If you get distracted while using a saw or a hammer you are probably going to hurt yourself. If you are whittling a stick with a penknife and you don’t pay attention it hurts. Our ancestors had no choice but to be present, be mindful.

Grandad Joe

I adored Grandad Joe, he was such a gentle, kind man. He oozed wisdom and calm. He could be stern when he needed to be too, but to my sister and I, and all his grandchildren, he was the original BFG. 

Grandad Joe wasn’t alone though in his attitude. I think it was amplified by the fact he grew up in the countryside but I believe that mindfulness is only necessary since our lives became so busy, so filled with technology and so static. Previous generations didn’t need to be present, they had to be.

My grandmas were too busy baking bread, washing the clothes by hand, looking after the children, cooking, sewing and sweeping the floors to be thinking about what happened yesterday or worrying about what might happen tomorrow for too long. My grandads were too busy working manual jobs, gardening, building things and mending things they had to concentrate and stay present otherwise they would have been injured. 

Of course being mindful doesn’t mean you have to wash your clothes by hand and leave the conveniences of modern life behind but it is often in going back to a simpler time that we capture the essence of mindfulness again effortlessly. We escape the captivity of screens and remember to see the real world.

When I was in my twenties, just after I started teaching, I suffered from depression. The doctor signed me off for two weeks. I was heartbroken and relieved simultaneously. I was off work, but I wasn’t physically ill. Bored and not wanting to spend too much time in my head I decided to decorate the spare room.

It was the perfect remedy. When you paint a wall you have to concentrate on covering every bit of the wall with the paint, cutting in neatly and you are completely present. 

“Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing” 

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

Last weekend I revisited this magical therapy as I painted the children’s bathroom. I spent Sunday colouring lilac walls in with white paint. Not thinking about what jobs I had to do this week, not thinking about what we were going to have for dinner. We have a great arrangement in our house. I decorate and hubby cooks, not at all the 1940’s stereotypes that worked for my grandparents, but it works for us!

It was as calming as going on a retreat.

I have many little everyday mindfulness rituals:

  • Decorating
  • Baking – particularly bread, the kneading is so therapeutic
  • Gardening
  • Journaling
  • Crafting
  • Reading
  • Showering
  • Washing up
  • Cleaning

None of these things are in addition to my daily routine, they just seamlessly blend with my every day life. It isn’t always about what you do, it’s about how you do it.

[bctt tweet=”Being mindful isn’t about what you are doing, it is about how you do it.” username=”KateBeddowUK”]

Drinking a hot drink, for me a cup of tea, is a great opportunity to be mindful too. I’m not suggesting for a minute that every cup of tea I drink I manage to drink mindfully. As I write this I am mindlessly sipping on my tea, but particularly on a cold day, there are few things as magical as really taking time to appreciate a nice warm drink. It is so comforting.

If you are unsure what I mean by mindfully drinking, try this:

  • Pick up your hot drink.
  • Feel the warmth of the drink in your hands, you can close your eyes if you like.
  • Now hold your drink up to your mouth but don’t drink, just let the steam warm your face and smell the drink.
  • Take several big deep smells of your drink and slowly breathe out as though you are cooling your drink.
  • When you are ready take a sip: Is it cool enough to drink? Feel the warmth of the drink in your mouth? Feel it moving through your chest and down into your stomach?
  • You can repeat these steps as many times as you like.

Whatever you are doing today, think about the jobs you do mindfully.

What jobs could you do in a more mindful way?

Simple everyday changes can make a huge difference to how you feel.

Winter Writing Calendar

by | Nov 20, 2017 | Mindfulness

Winter Writing Calendar

I love a chocolate advent calendar as much as the next person, but at this time of year I start to reflect on the past year and make plans for the coming year. 

I love to journal about all the things I have achieved this year and things I have done and then create a vision board of all the things I want to achieve in the coming year. 

If there is one thing I have learned it is that if I enjoy something then there are other people out there who do too. 

Yes! I want my Winter Writing Calendar!

What is a winter writing calendar?

Every day I will send you a quick email with a writing prompt to help you explore many different aspects of this festive time of year. You will also get a poem, short video or mindfulness technique to help you explore winter wellness and how writing can help you to support your wellbeing at this challenging time of year. 

You don’t need any previous experience to take part, just something to write with and something to write on. 

 

Yes! I want my Winter Writing Calendar!

You might choose to treat yourself to a new notebook or use the back of envelopes. You can add it to your existing yournal if you have one or write it on your phone notes. The choice is yours. 

You can spend 5 minutes a day or 50 minutes a day exploring the writing prompts and if you have a busy day you can catch up whenever you have chance, this is an enjoyable activity not a chore.

Writing can often seem like a solitary process but it is so much more fun when we share our writing and talk to other bibliophiles. Why not follow me on social media for more healing writing tips?

If you love words and would like a gentle journaling prompt straight to your inbox every day of advent sign up below.

 

Why you need to start practising mindfulness

by | Nov 9, 2017 | Mindfulness

Start being mindful today

People often ask me “Why should I start practising mindfulness?” and “Mindfulness is just a phase isn’t it?” Well, the short answer is “No?” but I’m guessing you are going to want a little more than that.

Mindfulness has become increasingly popular in recent years and that is no doubt thanks to Jon Kabat-Zinn who created his Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programme in 1979. Since then it has slowly grown in popularity. 

I had never heard of mindfulness until about 10 years ago, despite this I had been living mindfully my entire life, so how can that be true?

Well, as with many things, the programme created by Jon Kabat-Zinn draws on very ancient wisdom and teachings from Buddhism and Hinduism to ancient nature based belief systems. Much of what I learned when studying mindfulness I had always known and did naturally already. 

So how did I already have all this wisdom? Well, it’s thanks to these two wonderful people; my Grandad Joe and Grandma Mary (yes I know my grandparents were Mary and Joseph, and my Grandad was even a carpenter, how awesome is that?). I was lucky that throughout my life all my grandparents were omnipresent, we had meals together at the weekend, went on holiday together and spent a lot of quality time together. I was also incredibly blessed to still have three grandparents when my son was born so they were in my life a long time.

 

 

Grandad Joe grew up in a village in York. He grew up understanding the seasons, knowing about nature; birds, fish, animals, trees, he knew when food was in season, he understood how we interacted with our surroundings. He loved walking in the countryside and teaching us about hazelnuts, acorns, buzzards and starlings. He understood the importance of physical and mental fitness. He would stretch every morning and not just his arms and legs (he could still touch his toes when he died at the age of 90!) but also his lungs, he would always take several deep breaths out of the window, and even his eyes. He taught me eye exercises which he felt would help my eyes stay healthy, I have since seen articles recommending just these exercises as they can repaid damages to sight.

To say he was knowledgeable would be an understatement. He was like the mythical Green Man. Wisdom oozed from him and as a child I loved learning all he had to share. 

Yes Kate, that’s all very well, but why do you feel so passionately that I should learn to be mindful?

Well, if you need more reason than the fact that my Grandad Joe lived to be 90, never took any medication and could still touch his toes when he died, (and I’m not sure I need more reason than that if I’m honest!) I’ll give you some of the science behind this magical way of living.

 

As they said in a well known advert “Now for the science bit”!

“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness.” 
Jon Kabat-Zinn

Creator of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Therapy
What are the benefits of mindfulness?

People who practised mindfulness regularly reported:

  • feeling less stressed
  • better quality sleep
  • improved focus and memory
  • greater empathy for others
  • they felt calmer
  • feeling less anxious
  • and much more.
How can you learn to be more mindful?

Mindfulness is just about paying attention.

It is about living in the here and now.

Not allowing our monkey brains to play tricks on us.

What can you do every day to be more mindful?

Stop to think about what you are eating, how does it taste?

Did you really feel like eating it or was it just quick and easy?

Really look at the world around you.

Really listen to what people are saying when they talk to you.

And most importantly… breathe…

We all breathe, all the time, but how often do we stop to pay attention to our breath? This is one of the most powerful things you can do if you are feeling anxious or stressed. Just stop and focus for a few moments on your breathing.

Try this simple mindfulness exercise

Take a few minutes now just to sit and tune in to your breathing. You don’t have to alter it, or slow it down, just become aware of it. You may close your eyes if it helps. 

Feel your breath as it enters your body, filling your chest and stomach. 

You may notice the breath in your nostrils, or your chest. 

Feel your lungs expand as they fill with air and pause briefly before they begin to deflate. 

When you have finished breathing out notice how there is a natural pause before your lungs begin to re-inflate. 

With your next breathing cycle try to focus on the pause. 

Now, as you breathe in think the word “I” and as you breathe out think the word “am”. 

“I, am” 

How do you feel now?

Do you feel calmer?

More relaxed?

Did you notice anything about your body?

This is the essence of mindfulness. 

Want to learn to be more mindful? Sign up for my 8 week mindfulness course

Want to learn mindfulness?
There is so much more I could tell you about mindfulness and I will over the coming weeks and months. I will keep adding little tips and tricks to my news page.

I am also currently in the process of creating a free gift for those of you who sign up for my newsletter.

If you want to make sure you don’t miss out why not sign up now because I will of course be sending my gift out to current subscribers too. 

“The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion.”

Thích Nhất Hạnh