Wellbeing notes: Reflections on kindness

01/11/2024 at 9:59 am | Posted in Wellbeing | Leave a comment
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A mother was sitting in Abbey Square, in Bath UK, with her disabled son beside her. A stranger approached them both, smiled at the teenager in his wheelchair, then offered his mother a bunch of colourful, fragrant flowers. “For you,” said the stranger, “Because of all that you do for your son.” And then she walked away.

The mother was me. The incident happened many years ago, but I still remember it and probably always will. Kindness is like that, isn’t it? Heartwarming, unconditional, and memorable. 

World Kindness Day falls on Wednesday 13 November. The date is an invitation to create thoughtful acts in our community and further afield, and to celebrate kindness in everyday life. If you would like to learn more about this annual event, you can go to Kindness UK for ideas and perhaps to pledge action.

Practising compassion towards others and ourselves has been described as an innate aspect of human nature, that flourishes with encouragement. In 2020 the Mental Health Foundation together with YouGov conducted an online survey with over 4,000 adults. The survey found that both being kind and receiving kindness are widely linked with improved mental health. 

Many people find that being considerate and caring can make us happy. Think of a genuine compliment you gave, that made someone’s face light up. A gift you offered without expectation of anything in return. A donation to a cause that will directly help disadvantaged people. Even if we can’t solve all the world’s problems, we can always create moments of kindness.

Mappa mundi – a (free) audio meditation

05/05/2020 at 4:52 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments
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Mappa mundi

 

This week I’m sharing with you a (free) audio meditation called Mappa Mundi. This was a lovely and insightful project created by a group of fellow meditators in my Studio some six years ago, and published later in Kindred Spirit Magazine. Mappa Mundi refers to the old illuminated  maps of medieval times. In those days, landmarks on a map might be actual, or mythical. The size of the landmarks on each map depended on how important they were in the map maker’s eyes.

In the Studio we used these principles to create our own life maps – a way of painting or drawing whatever places, work and interests we felt to be significant in our lives. You can see a detail from my own personal map in the picture above. I found some of the results surprising, and it helped me to  understand what projects were likely to be important in the future.

The truth is, we all hold unconscious knowledge about our future path. Letting the mind relax through meditation is a fantastic way of bringing this to the surface. So listen to this meditation now. Let my words guide you to create your own mappa mundi in your imagination. Afterwards, if you choose, you might like to draw or paint your own map, just as we did in my Studio six years ago. The resulting wisdom of your map will be completely unique to you, and may even be a useful guide to your future path.

Mappa Mundi meditation

 

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