Contributions

Writing Well Contributions

Taking Notice by Sharon M

I've been watching this flower for a few days. I love the boldness of its shape and colour and how its petals thrown wide open. Then this morning before the sun had reached it, I noticed how its petals were closed and withdrawn. Maybe protecting itself from the cold and dark.
A reflection of me, when things seem dark I want to huddle under a blanket but this flower reminds me that the warmth of the sun will always come again and I too can fling my blanket aside and embrace life too.

Mindfulness and Me ....2

The Reasons I do Mindfulness

Today I really thought about my motivation for doing mindfulness. I have done lots of different sessions where I think about relationships etc but this was plain and simple...why am I sitting here with my eyes closed following my breath and watching my thoughts? For me the answer came to me in a flash because its something I have to push away from my mind in everyday life but when I sit for mindfulness I allow myself to face it: I do mindfulness to enable myself to live with the fact that my most amazing and wonderful 23 year old son took his own life whilst struggling with his mental health. Its something that will never go away. So long as I live, I will struggle and the rest of my life will be about finding ways to cope. Mindfulness gives me a way to cope.

It is a time when I can practise being comfortable and at ease with the present...after all I can't bring the past back. As for the rest of my time....its full of distractions. But mindfulness trains me to convert those distractions into my present. It enables me to focus on the things I'm doing and be at ease with the moment right now. It doesn't come easy and so again I have to practise every day.

Dawn

Mindfulness and Me

Reasons why I do Mindfulness:

Today's 3 minute session was about letting go of ego.

'The mind that thinks its the best in the world isn't so different from the mind that thinks its the worst.' Andy Puddicombe, Headspace 14.1.21

Andy says that these two states of mind are alike because they both create an environment in which suffering is inevitable.... either for ourselves or for other people.

He says that our ego (the thinking mind) has a tendency to want to be unique:

· if something positive happens we can be so pleased, that our ego can run away with its elevated sense of status.

· if something terrible happens to us we think that no one else alive can ever have experienced anything as bad. Its as if our ego is reaching for the far end of the most negative point.

So if we see the positive ego as the right way up and the negative ego as the wrong way up, we can see that when we reach rock bottom we have an inverted sense of ego: our mind is wanting to be the best at being the worst!

Either way, we all have an ego or a thinking mind. The task in mindfulness is to let go of thinking, and witness the mind as it is...

The next step is having a go at doing exactly that in a daily mindfulness session....I'm going to be practising this for the rest of my life!

Dawn

Gratitute by CG

When I lived in Spain and felt like I had nothing and no one to turn to, I started to sit quietly and learn to be mindful and meditate. Learning to cultivate gratitude in my darkest moments literally. Saved. My. Life.

I read copiously about how to help myself, because I was lonely, frightened and desperate, and my poor, lovely partner didn't know how to help me: my disintegrating health was also beginning to damage him.

I started to think about what I did have, rather than what I didn't have. For the first time in my life, I began to think at the level of the solution and not the problem.

The result was miraculous. And Lo! I suddenly had less to complain about!

It was impossibly hard-going sometimes. Sometimes, when all my hope had absolutely evaporated into the oblivion of outer space, the only thing I was capable of feeling grateful for was to hope that I would feel grateful one day, in the future, perhaps.

Nevertheless, I started to say thank you for being alive and breathing. I started to say thank you - not sure to what or to whom - for things I normally took for granted like my breakfast, my hot bath, my bed, a lovely bee busying around on a flower...

I found joy in little things. I found joy in being able to stand up (because problems with my feet meant that sometimes I couldn't). It was wonderful to see the sun rise, to watch an eagle fly overhead, to grow my favourite pink rose in the garden and drink in its scent when it finally flowered.

I now feel so lucky to be alive. I'm eternally glad I didn't give up. If I had, I wouldn't be able to the smell roses any more, to watch the billowing clouds above me, taste my first cuppa of the day, see the stars riding the sky overhead, watch my lovely partner's face light up when he tells me one of his ridiculous, corny jokes, knowing with certainty that it will make me laugh.

It doesn't always work. Sometimes I'm in such a whirl or deep funk, that I don't remember to remember to be grateful. I still go two steps forward and one step back most weeks, and I still lose hope, frequently and for ever.

But, my ability to say thank you to life is like a prayer; the best prayer I ever learnt, and it still saves my life every time I say it. I say thank you as often as I can, in every way that I can, and it helps me to step forward, little by very little, into the rainbow light of my goals and dreams ahead of me.

Contribution by LC

We know that the lockdown has been tough for everyone. But particularly for those people who are struggling with their mental health. So I thought I would talk about some of the positive things that have helped me through it, in the hope it will help others.

Staying connected with people, and with the world around us, is very important. I am relatively new to the online world, but I have been able to keep in touch with my friends on Facebook, when we weren't able to meet in person. I have also been able to keep in contact with my sister that way too, as she does practically everything online these days! I have to thank one of my best friends for setting me up on Facebook, as I didn't have a clue how to do it!

As well as the things that need doing, like housework, I try to find time every day to do something I enjoy, like reading a book, or playing word games on my laptop, like Scrabble. Since my weekly Dance Fitness class was cancelled back in March, I try to get some exercise each day, like going for a walk or a dance DVD.

The 'We Are Aware' Facebook page has been a huge help. I really enjoy the connections with everyone, such as the weekly quiz and the animal videos! It has really helped to know that I am not alone. I like to think that if you have a good day, the group needs you, and if you have a bad day, you need the group!

I hope this has helped you to know that if you are struggling, there is help available if you reach out for it. And that even when things are hard, it can help to focus on things that you enjoy doing, and that help you. Because the sunshine will always come out in the end.

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