Transforming 2017 ...Tom Cronin's Mindfulness and Mindvalley

I attended a Mindvalley Master-class webinar yesterday. Mindvalley was founded by  Vishen Lakhiani. It is a company that promotes personal growth and I have discovered some amazing people through attending webinars put on by them. If you would like to find out more about this remarkable company I have added a link:

http://www.mindvalley.com/about.html

The master-class I attended was lead by Tom Cronin. I was drawn to it because I had heard that Tom Cronin teaches meditation and mindfulness which are areas that fascinate me.
It was called "Accessing The Stillness Within."
The title alone had me hooked!
We have such busy lives. All too often my head is filled with circular thoughts and general chatter. At times, when I have been able to clear my mind for a few moments, I have experienced clarity and calmness. This I love. Naturally, with such a peaceful title, I assumed that Tom would be touching on this very area and I was right.
Tom has a website where you can find out more about his work, if you are interested....here's the link:
https://www.tomcronin.com/

Anyway, I learnt that Tom used to work in Finance for 26 years before the imbalance of his life meant that he suffered from anxiety, depression and insomnia. Following a 'wave of panic' he decided to explore ways to feel better and then he discovered meditation.
He explained that meditation forms vary. Some meditation focuses on concentration and some on contemplation. He talked about chanting, affirmations and mantras. His main area of expertise appears to be Transcending Meditation.

My mother took me to a Transcendental meditation class when I was about 10. I had almost completely forgotten about this. Now I remember that I had to give the teacher a weeks pocket money and a bunch of tulips as a donation before I had my session!
 I don't remember much more about the experience but hearing Tom speak did bring back those memories...
Mindfulness is similar to meditation but focuses on being aware of the thoughts that enter your head. Meditation aims to still the mind.
I like doing both as they each have benefits.
These processes help us to realise that we are something more than our thoughts.
Tom guided us through his Golden Heart Meditation which focused on visualising the light of love. It was wonderful.
He also mentioned FEAR- ( Future Events Appearing Real!) This was a great reminder that most of our fears centre around things that we think may happen but possibly never will. The more time we spent in the present, the less anxious we feel.
I thought the master-class was fascinating and uplifting. I will definitely be building more time for meditation into my daily life.
I will let you know of any key insights or discoveries I make through this blog. I would be very interested to hear about your meditation experiences too. feel free to comment in the comments section below.

Transforming 2017

I have been looking back over the different blogs I have created over the years and I thought it would be fun to write some more posts for this blog, 'The Next Chapter...'
Over the next few weeks I will be reviewing some of the incredible Personal Development books that I have been reading. I will blog about the ones that have made such an incredible difference to my life. They have done this by helping me realise that all the ingredients I need for a happy life are tucked away inside me waiting to be released. This is the same for every one of you.
When we come together to share our ideas and insights we have an incredible capacity to change things for the better. We can help others to be happy too.
The theme for this series of blogs is Transformation.
Together we can transform our thoughts, feelings and surroundings, one small step at a time so that we can live our lives to the full.
What do you enjoy doing? What truly makes you happy?
When you have worked this out  spend as much time as possible doing these things and find ways to spread happiness to the people around you.
I am in the process of writing a novel which is centred around a young girl who decides to do what she can do to transform Earth into a happy and peaceful place.
It can be upsetting to learn about unpleasant things that are happening all around us but if you look carefully, I believe you see far more examples of people working to make life better for others.

I am going to miss The Apprentice

I thoroughly enjoyed The Apprentice this year. I found all the candidates pouting and their niggling at one another  hilarious. I really couldn't decide who Lord Sugar would or should choose out of the finalists, it really could have gone either way.
There were moments that completely cracked me up including when poor Solomon got kicked out of an interview and couldn't find the exit.
That is the kind of thing that happens to me.
If I go into an unfamiliar pub, for example, the time will come when I need to visit The Ladies and this is a moment I dread as I am not good at following directions. In the unlikely event I find The Ladies the first time I am told the chances of returning to my seat afterwards without getting horribly lost is very slim.
I have been known to come out of The Ladies and try and enter cupboards or sometimes I follow a corridor convinced I recognise it only to find I emerge in a completely different bar.
I do feel a tinge of regret that the series has ended as I only watch a few TV programmes and the ones I choose entertain me greatly but once they are over I struggle to find a new programme to entertain me as much.
Apparently The Voice is back in January. I do enjoy watching that so I guess I will cope!

See the balloon in the foreground of the photo? That is a Happy Mothers day balloon given to me at Mother's Day by my daughter. It is still going strong!

happy birthday Mum

It would have been my Mum's birthday today. because of this and because it is the Winter Solstice today is always a special day to me.
This morning I got up and walked Ollie in the fields. We bumped into a friend of mine who was walking three dogs, Benji, Blue and Grace. They had a lovely time doing all the despicable things dogs love to do best.
As we walked back through the estate where I live I realised this is probably my last Christmas here.
I like walking Ollie around in the dark looking at all the crazy Christmas lights people have up outside their houses around here at this time of year.
I am definitely ready to move on but I am so glad that I have lived happily here all these years.
I arrived here on  18th December 11 years ago. This is the longest I have lived anywhere.
before moving here I went through a phase of living in private rented accommodation where I had to move almost every year. It has been good to put down roots and stay in one place while my children grew up.
I am excited about the future and am more than ready to move onto the next chapter of my life but that said I find this time of year an excellent opportunity to think about all the great things that have happened in my life so far.

Happy birthday Mum. I know your life had its ups and downs, joys and sorrows but I want  you to know how glad I am that you are my Mum. xxx

a long wait

After work yesterday I did my supermarket shopping, collected Ollie and set off for the caravan. I was nearly there when the traffic ground to a halt. I don't know what they delay was but we stood still for ages. Drivers were getting out of their cars to see what the delay was. We all turned off our engines and waited.
I listened to the radio for some of the time and that helped to pass the time. I love listening to the radio in the car.
Once the traffic slowly started to move I was able to edge slowly to the turn off and arrived at the caravan park a few minutes later.
I was so happy to arrive. Ollie was delighted. He loves being in the car when we are moving but becomes bored and restless when we are parked.
The wait was worth it.
It is so lovely waking up in the caravan. It is so incredibly peaceful there.
I had a lovely time and am eagerly looking forward to going back there again very soon.

never too old to watch the Snowman

Just to prove we are never too old to watch The Snowman I let 4 classes watch the Snowman while working in English today. They were spellbound and some of them were over 16 years old! It was a gamble as they might have thought it 'babyish' but I am happy to say that they didn't they really seemed to enjoy it and many hadn't actually seen it before.
there are certain songs and films that make me feel Christmassy. The Snowman is definitely one of them.
Another film I love is The Greatest Store in the World with Brian Blessed, Dervla Kirwan and Peter Capaldi. I really enjoyed watching that film with my own kids in the 1990's. It is funny and heart warming and reminds me always that 'adventures are best!'

This tree has nothing to do with the post but it is irresistible!

Violence is never the answer.

I have just heard about the children being shot in Pakistan. I feel so sad for the families and for the children themselves.
People have strong views. I believe it is healthy for people to have differing opinions and I value freedom of expression.
Violence is never the answer though.
If someone feels strongly that their view is right they will naturally want other people to agree with them and share their view. This can only be achieved by discussion and an attempt to understand the hopes and fears of others.
Trying to scare people into following you never works and only serves to drive other people away from you.
I really hope that people affected by these recent violent acts are being looked after now.