Gratitude (and free stuff starts next week!)
Hiya!
That's my son's current favourite word. It engages everyone he talks to. It's his introduction, it can be a question or a demand, even. I like how he uses this one word to get people's attention and hold it there. Easier than a whole newsletter, innit?!
Hiya! For the free or pay-what-you-feel stuff I'm doing click this, pass it on, you can do this! The mindfulness course starts next week. Why not give yourself some great tools and techniques to help you straddle the apocalypse?! No strings attached. Can you trust it?
Trust is such an interesting place. In our society we trust the seal of approval, the official certificate and the brand that markets itself as trustworthy. In other words we all buy trust, or at least it generally has to be bought. So, I suppose there are two types of trust; we trust the ones we love, the ones close to us who can prove to us, beyond a doubt that they are trustworthy and then the type of trust we buy, or the marketed trust. I do this! As a qualified mindfulness practitioner I 'sell' myself using the certificate I gained in training and the fact that I ticked a load of other boxes to join an official UK register. All of this trustworthiness was bought and paid for. Great!
That then leaves me, us, the individual. When I offer something for free can you trust it? When I say that I am a good 'teacher' (I prefer spaceholder) and will help fill your mind and heart with beautiful things to ponder and connect with, can you trust that I'm prepared to give this away for free? It has been a breakthrough for me to learn to trust that if I give stuff away, somehow I will still survive and live in the world of purchased trust. It feels right and I know that I have to do this stuff - that's enough for me.
And this takes me to gratitude. I was talking to a friend on Saturday about gratitude and appreciation (his preferred word) as a good place to be. Gratitude and appreciation come from trust and, in a sense, are about how you approach the world of people and things - and your own inner experience. Gratitude is about appreciating what is, without needing to change it or bend it to your will in any way. Also known as mindfulness, presence, being.
Gratitude and appreciation nature walk
Next time you go out for a walk in the natural world, do it with appreciation, with gratitude, with mindful awareness, and here's how:
Take time to bring yourself out of your thoughts. You can do this by taking a little time to become aware of each footstep you take or by holding your awareness on your breath. It starts from within, from inside your body.
Once you are feeling 'in your body', take your focus to what's happening outside of yourself - you can do this by looking around you or feeling the ground under your feet or hearing the sounds that are around you.
Try and notice the judging thoughts that come up - it's their job to take you away from gratitude and into judgement. Know that they will always happen but that you can appreciate their usefulness without letting them take up all the space.
Notice the feeling in your body when you open up to appreciation - of the ground under your feet, the scene you are moving through, the sounds you hear. Can you stretch to considering that these sounds, feelings and views are in agreement with you. All of them are giving you supportive and nurturing vibes. In fact, there's very little in the natural world that is not in agreement with us.
See how long you hold this state of gratitude for the world (and you) being just how it is, in the moment. It grows and appreciates. Try it!
Let's Help Eachother
So, remember, I am here to help you on your way, that's why I write this newsletter. I had a donation in the post from another friend, last week. She saw that I was offering free or donation-based places and sent me a contribution towards one of those places - not for herself but for someone else, someone she doesn't even know. What a beautiful and generous thing to do.
So, if you want to do one of my courses and maybe you feel bad or guilty about doing it for a small donation, know that people are out there who are returning that help directly to me and it will also flow from you as a result. Just go for it!
I still have a few places left, so why not take one? Mindfulness Course starts next week and the Nature Based Course starts the week after. And if you want to know me better, read this or read my book.
Let's build a world or trust and appreciation.
Pass this email on to someone you think would find it useful and might need more support at this point.
Hiya!