I first came across Helen Russell’s book The Year of Living Danishly in my local library. Her experiences of immersing herself in a very different climate and culture are at times amusing, enlightening and will almost certainly make you reassess your priorities. I cannot listen to Barry White now without conjuring up memories of her tale of a Danish swimming pool session!
As a child I spent many summers in Denmark so have fond memories of my trips over there. My dad (now 86) went to stay with a Danish family as a teenager on a school exchange and kept in touch with them. One of the daughters from that family came to visit last month which prompted me to re-read the book and write this blog.
This is a talk Helen did for the wonderful people Action for Happiness.. and includes a Q and A session at the end. So grab a coffee, a pastry and watch this curled up on a comfy sofa to get a slice of Danish hygge.
I’m writing this while on a retreat in deepest Cornwall with some women I know through a mindfulness group. It has been a lovely few days doing not a lot.. a guilt-free escape from our usually busy lives.
When was the last time you stopped and did absolutely nothing? I realise for me it has been a very long time.. partly because we live in the Yorkshire Dales, so any holidays or trips to friends or relatives involve a long drive and usually a whirlwind of activities and visits.
We have been lounging around reading, journal writing, meditating, sketching, walking, cooking, drinking lots of tea and wine and generally recharging our batteries.
It really has been an interesting experience to be properly ‘away’ with very limited mobile signal.. and actually quite liberating to do nothing.
The wind is whistling through the windows but the sky is blue and the crows are playing in the wind… this is my view…
Be warned.. this is meditation as you have never experienced it before!
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As some of you know I am a keen organic gardener and have lots of friends who are interested in permaculture la maca viagra. I read a fascinating article written by Flo Scott in Permaculture Magazine where she talked about mulch and bringing permaculture principles into her life to help her cope with long term health problems. I had never really thought of using permaculture ideas in this way but her article made a lot of sense. In very simple terms… you need healthy inputs into your ‘soil’ before you can grow and be productive in your ‘outputs’.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download
I really love her little cartoon of ‘Mulching Man’ which is now stuck on my fridge as a reminder!
So.. be honest… how many of those do you actually do? Are you making time for nourishing food, good quality sleep, supportive relationships, having fun and doing enjoyable things, restful breaks and time in nature and space to be creative? If not.. don’t be surprised if you struggle with work, family and other commitments. Don’t start beating yourself up about your lack of mulch but try and make some time for those positive things.
Many thanks to Flo for letting me use her wonderful Mulching Man. If you would to find out more about Flo or permaculture check out her website http://permaculturedesigner.co.uk/
Mindfulness doesn’t have to be about meditation and sitting quietly.. it is also about noticing and appreciating little things and being aware of your surroundings.
I love autumn leaves and it was the perfect time to see the colours changing.
The park used to be a proper old fashioned pleasure ground and had a little railway track around the lake. The trains stopped many years ago but they have kept this old platform, sowed wildflower seeds and let nature do its thing.
A butterfly sunbathing on the flowers by the path.
For most of us we need to use our left brain more in our working lives.. this governs areas like verbal and written communication, logic, organisation and analytical thinking, whereas, the right brain is much more about patterns, colours, sensory input and intuition. See here for a good summary of attributes for left and right brain from about.com websitte – but it real life there is a bit of overlap for most people. We need to use our right brains more for colouring and concentrating on colour and patterns and this seems to switch off the left brain – if you struggle to calm your mind to meditate then why not try a bit of colouring instead.
Mandalas are symmetrical patterns that exist in all cultures and go back thousands of years. The word mandala comes from the sanskrit word for circle but mandala type patterns can be found in all religions and cultures. In our everyday lives you can see madala type patterns in many objects such as floor tiles, fabric, plate patterns and church windows like the Rose Window at Durham Cathedral.
I found the images above on http://printmandala.com/ where you can download many different mandalas. So..why not print a couple off now and do some colouring!
If you prefer the idea of a proper colouring book there are a lot more available for adults than you might think. Here are a small selection I found on Amazon.I quite understand many people have issues with Amazon and prefer to shop elsewhere. If so, have a look at Alibris which is like Amazon but nicer and full of independent booksellers.
If you have never tried anything like mindfulness or meditation before this is a simple place to start.
Just try and breathe, listen to the waves and if you want look at the picture. Most people struggle to begin with but that is fine.. don’t beat yourself up if you don’t manage it at first.
I set a timer a couple of times a day on my phone and if I’m working on the computer when it goes off I do this.. just breathing deeply and taking a bit of a time-out can help enormously and make you more focused when you go back to your work.
Give it a try – Click on the picture below and breathe!
This is 40 minute talk ‘From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies’ at Wisdom 2.0 Business 2014. www.wisdom2business.com where Otto goes into more depth about Theory U and its applications in business and other organisations.
I am a huge fan of edx.org who offer free online courses on a range of subjects from many of the world’s top universities.
This course is one of them – U.Lab Transforming Business, Society and Self from Otto Scharmer, Adam Yukelson and the U.Lab team at MIT is by far the most powerful, inspiring and life changing thing I have ever done.
We live in a time of disruptive change, one that requires a new collective leadership capacity. In this groundbreaking course, we invite you on a journey to see the world in new ways and practice a method that allows leaders, entire organizations, and larger social systems to connect with and actualize their highest future possibility.
In January 2015, 30,000 people from 190 countries enrolled in U.Lab. In an exit survey, 52% said it was “eye-opening”, while another 36% called it “life-changing”. U.Lab has inspired the first-known use of a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) by a government as a platform for citizens to shape the issues that matter to them, it has been used in management teams of the world’s leading Non Governmental Organisations, and it is now being used in 42 Impact Hubs worldwide – by locally-rooted, globally connected communities of change makers to catalyze systemic change.
In the U.Lab you will learn Theory U, an approach to leading profound change that has been developed by action researchers at MIT, and practiced by leaders around the world, for over 20 years.
This started in September 2015 and runs for 8 weeks but the course material is archived when the course ends so you can jview it at any time.
U.Lab is based on the work of Otto Scharmer and many others. Find out more about Otto, Theory U and his work at http://www.ottoscharmer.com/
Heroes not Zombies is a wonderful and thought provoking blog by Bob Leckridge who is a medically trained doctor living in Scotland. He was a GP for many years before retraining as a homeopath and now works at the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital which is part of the NHS.
Bob started blogging several years ago and there are a huge number of posts on Heroes not Zombies about health, mindfulness and meditation, photography, homeopathy, life, nature, travels and more.
The thing I love most are his wonderful photos. He has an eye for patterns and nature and notices beautiful things that many of us would miss. For an example see this recent post from here to here which starts with the story of a single hollyhock seed .Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)
