WELLBEING JOURNALS

Spring into Action?

Spring forward, fall back. One way to remember what the clocks do, when!

I’ve been ready to ‘spring forward’ since the beginning of the year.

Like many of us, I felt the ‘urge to purge’as soon as January arrived. I had already rid the house of all Christmas evidence and was grateful to get back to work, back to a routine, to healthier eating, some exercise and to normality.
I’m now ready to go even further and tackle some spring cleaning. I know it’s a tad early, but if I call it ‘streamlining’ instead, it can surely be done at any time of year! First though, I need a plan, a system. Where will I start, and what will the outcome be? Will I just clean and tidy, or will I stray over into DIY projects? As I ask myself these questions, it becomes apparent that my mind that needs sorting out before I tackle any actual physical work!
One way to do this, I find, is through meditation. This isn’t anything fancy or difficult. Just a few minutes of quiet to close my eyes and watch my thoughts. Being calm and focussed could lead to a greater sense of clarity and purpose.
Journaling is a worthy alternative or accompaniment to meditation. It could even be seen as a form of meditation – thoughts are written down rather than simply observed. I might use gorgeous notebooks and pens and make journaling a treat.

The reason for doing something provides the motivation for doing it.

If the activity is enjoyable within itself – that’s your reason! It doesn’t need to have any other purpose or outcome. Both meditation and journaling are a pleasure and a joy when time is taken beforehand to create the right environment. The correct room temperature and seating, scents to soothe or inspire, lighting, accompanying music or sounds of nature – these are all things to consider.
But both meditation and journaling can have far-reaching benefits beyond pure enjoyment.
Decluttering can also be fun if you play your favourite tunes and feel motivated – and it too has wider benefits. It’s an exercise in decision-making, something I find challenging in my everyday life. Choosing what to keep, what to sell, what to give away and what to discard provides valuable practice. It’s also an act of letting go of things that were once functional or loved, but that serve you no longer. Not easy, but sometimes necessary in the wider world too.
A spring clean helps bring some freshness to the home. It doesn’t have to be anything drastic to create a different relationship with our all-too-familiar surroundings. Perhaps a new cushion or throw to enhance an existing colour scheme or introduce a new one? A vase of flowers or a plant to bring nature indoors? A different arrangement for the sofa and chairs to create more space or to define a cosy area? We are limited only by our own imagination!
Whether you call it starting afresh, decluttering, spring cleaning or streamlining, it’s clear that there are many benefits. Some are immediate, such as the fun of it all and the freshness. Some take a while to filter through, such as the feelgood factor of finishing a task or feeling inspired to go further. And some advantages are longer-term and farther-reaching, such as learning new organisational skills to help life flow more easily.
Getting started is often the hardest part of any task, which is where preparing mentally comes in. One of my main motivations is that I want to streamline my belongings and own fewer possessions. This will help make my plan to move house in a couple of years much less daunting.
Since the mental and physical benefits of decluttering are connected and reciprocal, I’ll feel even more purpose and clarity as I start to take action. And once my task is complete, I’ll look forward to a sense of achievement and a more focussed, calmer mindset.

Midwinter

It’s December 23rd as I write this, two days after the Winter Solstice and two days before Christmas. The nights are long and the days are short. So little time to do everything that we need to do! I invite you to take time out, however short that may be, to go inward. Sit in the darkness with your breath, your heartbeat, your stillness. Be comfortable, warm and calm. Your confidence to do this will gradually grow. Perhaps you can do it for five minutes daily. Perhaps just once a week. But whatever time you can give to this practice will be beneficial. The days between Christmas and New Year blend into one another. We can even forget what day it is! Let’s go with that, and allow it to be so. Let’s embrace hibernation this winter, if we are in a position to be able to do so. I will see you in the new year, but for now, let’s enjoy the last days of the old year. A time of contrasts: parties and peacefulness, bright lights and dark nights, a warm glow and cold snow. Happy holidays!

Travel Blog

I’ve just returned from my travels. Sri Lanka. It’s a beautiful place. It’s not perfect, of course – whatever
that means. But I didn’t let its flaws intrude on its beauty, neither at the time, nor in hindsight.
I made videos while I was there. I think they call it ‘vlogging’ don’t they? My videos were close-up, authentic records of experiences that moved me. I didn’t capture every such event – some experiences
had already passed by the time I’d managed to get my phone out. I missed the mongoose family lurking
around the pool, the monkeys chasing each other across the roof of my jungle cabin, and the huge, jagged lacerations of fork lightning across the sky on the penultimate night.
But I did record many wonderful things. Train journeys across plunging landscapes and through colourful towns and villages, lashings of rain through the jungle trees, the wonderful and magical dawn chorus of a forest near Kandy, Buddhist chanting from the hills above Ella, daybreak across the vast Kallady beach on the east coast, and even crabs playing hide and seek with the ocean on the west.
Everything was incredible. Everything made me feel something. And making these videos brought me
more directly into the moment, rather than taking me away from it. I was always looking for opportunities to film. As well as fulfilling my creative urge, editing the videos (trimming and cropping only – my videos are authentic and unembellished) allowed me to revisit these moments. And I can watch them again and again now I’m home, should I choose to.
Being home, I have a fresh perspective on my life. The day-to-day issues I face seem to be less
troublesome. I have a lighter, more optimistic mood. This is as much to do with the time of year (the
clocks went forward the night I got home) as with my travelling experience – but I’ll take it, whatever the reason! I feel more attuned to impermanence and change – and more of an acceptance of both. I think that’s because when you travel, you ‘zoom out’ and see the world as part of a greater whole. That’s what makes the detail of our lives seem less important.
Many things struck me as I was on Kallady beach at daybreak. One is that there, the dawn arrives over a
much shorter period of time than it does here. It’s almost as if a light has been switched on! I got to
thinking how that could be, and I realised that near the equator, the circumference of the earth is at its
widest. Therefore, to make one revolution in 24 hours, the earth inevitably must spin considerably faster than it does further away from the equator.
If this confuses you, think of a fairground carousel. If we want to go more quickly, we sit on the outside
horse, whereas if we prefer a less hectic ride, we choose the inside horse, which makes a smaller circle.
Yet we’re all on the same roundabout, just as we are all on the same planet.
This made me appreciate the gentle arrival of dawn here in England, which I experienced this very
morning, since my jetlag is still present! Dawn creeps up on us, allowing us time to adjust. The birds break into song more gently too. I like it very much.
We can learn a lot about other cultures through travel. Travel can also reinforce how human beings are all very much alike, wherever you go. It also reminds us to appreciate one’s own back yard, making us feel glad to be home again despite enjoying our time away.
Another way to way to find this appreciation of home, without wandering far, is to take a moment each
day to be thankful. A daily practice of gratitude can build an appreciative mindset, one that recognises
the beauty in our surroundings, and renders us satisfied with what we already have.
I’m going to try to do this from now on. Wish me luck – and please join me if you feel you can!