'Slow down everybody, you're moving too fast' Jack Johnson

I've long been bemused by what seems to be a paradox: the more I take time to meditate, rest, pray, breathe....the more work I seem to accomplish. It shouldn't make sense...yet it does.

This week I came across Deepak Chopra's book The Soul Leadership, where he focuses on, amongst other things, what Eastern spiritual traditions sometimes call 'nondoing'.....which is considered more powerful than 'doing'. I like the idea of non-doing, not in a lazy sense, but in a conscious, chosen sense, where the Universe, God's will, or whatever language you feel most comfortable with, is allowed to unfold, and not co-erced into being by our action. I know that this involves a degree of trust....and this is what I will be focusing on this week.

So if you see me just sitting...you will know that that I'm not bored or lazy or confused.....but that I'm practising the art of non-doing!

Wired for Joy!

Just reading a fascinating book: The Pathway by Laurel Mellin. Her next book is called Wired for Joy....and I can't wait to read that one! Her thesis is very similar to the philosophy behind Lightning Process: it is possible to re-train our brains to produce balance and joy in our lives.....so that we can become, over time 'Wired for Joy'.

As a medic, Mellin, draws on research that supports the notion that it is possible to re-wire our brains; that neural plasticity is alive and well. What I particularly like about Mellin's approach is her focus on the two skills of nurturing and setting limits. She suggests that people who resort to external solutions and un-helpful patterns such as food, over-work, perfectionism, alcohol, drugs etc have failed to learn two basic and essential skills: nurturing themselves adequately and setting reasonable limits. The good news is that we can learn to do this, whatever age and stage we are at.

Lightning Process News

Great to see that the Sussex and Kent ME/CFS society credit Lightning Process as the intervention that was most helpful. A credit to those ex-sufferers who have worked to achieve their improvements....and to all those wonderful practitioners who have shown them the way. Here is the link if you want to read more about it:

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=308421

The more you give the more you get?

I have quite a few clients who are artists, not surprising when you live somewhere as beautiful as Cornwall.

I worked with one such client this morning. In fact I'd worked with them before, and was doing this session as a 'freebie' for various reasons. At the end of the session just before they left, they gave me a most beautiful work of art, 'just something small' they said,' as a thank you for the free session'. I was - and still am - bowled over.

What a lovely example of giving and receiving freely.

MOOOOODLE!

Just returned from INSET day at school, and amongst the usual updating of information and IT skills, there was a fascinating session on MOODLE. Now I've heard of moodle, know my kids use it at uni, but have never contemplated the idea that I could usefully use it. Not only have I discovered that I CAN use it, as in am sufficiently IT-compatible, I think there are all sorts of ways I could use it, not just for students, but how about a resource place for clients to access info? Am getting excited......

AND there was an excellent session on Behaviour Management. It's simple really....we just treat students as dogs.....

The Joy of Coffee Shops

My usual routine on Saturday mornings when I'm working in Cornwall, is to head off early to Cafe Nero in Falmouth. I spend a delicious 30 mins with a capuccino and my notebook, and look back over the previous week.....high points, things to learn etc. It helps me focus for the next week, and tweak my own performance.

However, today I wanted to look back over the whole year and ahead to next year, and somehow Falmouth didn't seem far enough away. So I took myself off to West Cornwall Retail Park for reflection and review, and yes, I know a retail park seems a strange place to reflect when I have the miles of golden sands of Hayle only minutes away....but it works for me. Had a great time.....AND got some end of sale bargains from Next and M&S! 2011 - bring it on!

'If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got.' Einstein

So... the New Year has been celebrated, I've walked around Gunwalloe and Church Cove and seen the crashing waves, felt singularly small, watched a manic puppy on the beach, came home and felt inspired to rustle up a cake.

Whilst I was doing it I was musing on my cake-baking and cooking skills generally. They could probably be summed up by the phrase 'joyous and messy'. And I realised that if I keep cooking the way I have done so far....I will always be a joyous and messy cook. So what if I want to change and keep the joyous bit but not the 'messy' bit, how would I do that? I remember Einstein's 'If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always got.' SO I decided to do something different....and yes, I have baked a cake joyously....and the kitchen is tidy! The first positive change of 2011.

Thank you to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for his Date and Orange cake recipe in today's Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/hughfearnleywhittingstallonfood