Cassie Robinson wrote her beautiful 5-a-day….

- Having what people these days call a portfolio career means my days are varied and often improvised, a freedom that I love but that I’ve found requires some management of energy. Improvisation comes from a solid foundation I think and my solid foundation is making sure I stick to my personally designed ritual of bedtimes, meditating etc. to give me a sense of structure from which I can flourish.

- Touch, whether this be intimate touch or just loving and caring touch with another human being; a cuddle, a hug, a holding hands, hair stroking, a hand squeeze, an arm around a shoulder, it connects me to being human and being whole.

- Doing something each day that makes me feel alive, that reminds me I’m living, that brings me to life – this can range from sharing an intense sexual experience within intimacy to just simply being by the sea and listening, watching and breathing it in.

- Quietly and gently introducing or connecting people – each day I like to connect someone to something new or someone unknown to them, it gives me a sense that there is evolution and expansion and enhancement. And it connects me to my love of discovery and being curious.

- Each day I tap into my imagination – whether this is at bedtime ( winks ), telling myself a story on the bus, or engaging with new, challenging things by imagining them as adventures.

Thanks so much Cassie! I love these !

Posted by Tessy Britton

Jessica posted her 5-a-day… and sent the beautiful photo above too.

“Here are the top five things that I try to do every day to stay mentally healthy, keeping in mind mentally healthy is relative and not always successful:”

1. I am friends with myself. This means that I speak to myself kindly and treat myself the way I treat my close friends. I try and keep the inner dialogue positive and it really does help.

2. I remind myself “This too shall pass”—it works to give me perspective in tough times and also helps me appreciate special moments and have gratitude for everything.

3. Most nights, I get enough sleep. I firmly believe in the regenerative and restorative power of a good night’s sleep and refuse to participate in the modern trend of sleep deprivation.

4. Meditation. I do try to set time aside each day for a few minutes of meditation, but even throughout the day I take a few seconds when necessary to go into that relaxed state and stay centered.

5. Creativity…while I have been awful at keeping up the art this month, I sure do think about it a lot and those faeries are calling out loudly to me to be painted!

“Last night I started journalling again. It’s been a while. It is a healthy habit, and I wish through the years I had been better at keeping up. I start a journal and write almost every day, then when it is time to start a new one I end up with a huge journalling gap.

Also, I think I am on the computer too much. I may start to take a whole day or even two days each week and keep the computer off at home. With the exception, of course, of Netflix instant viewing while I am painting. I often think about what I did before I had a computer- I painted more, read more, journalled more. My attention span was more focused.”

Thanks Jessica!  

Posted by Tessy Britton

Rohan Gunatillake posted his 5-a-day, which includes a valuable plea for slowing down and appreciating the people around us:

1.  Walk the walk. As someone who headed up his own wellbeing movement in the past, I had to put this one in.  By reducing the speed of my pace of walking just a fraction, I find that it results in a radically greater appreciation of what is going on around me and my role in that.  It’s one of the easiest ways to see the toxic results of rushing in our urban environment, both our own and those of others.

2.  Underground love. This is a new one inspired by a retreat talk by Greg Kramer last summer.  The Tube is always considered one of the most unfriendly places and if that is all you expect and all you look for then that’s all you will see.  The trick here is to deliberately notice and as it were tune into the beautiful tiny exchanges that happen all the time on the Underground, be it a kiss between lovers, the offering of a seat, a simple smile, whatever.  Be ready to be surprised!

3.  People not tasks. When working at a very task & performance oriented consultancy for several years, I didn’t always like what I saw around me in the attitude of my colleagues.  So I made (and still make) a point of making sure that even at my busiest time I make, even contrive, some time to meet with someone at work as a person rather than as a colleague and talk about something that makes us feel alive.  It’s a great space maker.

4.  See nature.  I imagine this will be a common one in the mindapplesophere.  Many of us live and work in really quite harsh built environments which can be quite draining.  What I therefore try to do it tap into nature at some point in the day, in whatever way I can, be it a walk in the park, just seeing the park, noticing a bird or insect or even just the sky.  Just like #3 is about finding space for the relational in the workplace, this is finding some for the natural.

5. Turn to the silence. No surprises here I imagine.  Not everyone be moved to practice some sort of formal silence like meditation but I’d go so far it’s almost pathological how we avoid silence by cramming our minds with noise, in all its forms.  So whatever it is for you, whether it’s refraining from turning on the radio the second you get home or  just muting the TV when the ads come on, this one is golden.

Pic chosen by Rohan is Love couples near midnight at Leicester Square station

Thanks so much for your 5-a-day Rohan… really thought provoking!

Posted by Tessy Britton

David Jennings, author of Net, Blogs and Rock ‘n’ Roll, has some marvellous links within his Mindapples list!

“This comes with the warning that my mind feels fairly badly inspissated at the moment, but that may be because I’ve not been getting all five sufficiently regularly.”

1. Meditation, or bathing a baby. Best to get the most embarrassing out of the way first. I’ve tried different types of meditation, guided either by tapes of Alan Watts or by the Meditation Trust. However, there are other methods if you don’t want to come on like a new age hippy. In his Autobiographical Statement, John Cage wrote of his practice of zen buddhism, “I have never practiced sitting cross-legged nor do I meditate. My work is what I do and always involves writing materials, chairs, and tables. Before I get to it, I do some exercises for my back and I water the plants, of which I have around two hundred.” A film shown at the John Cage Uncaged weekend documents this enormous array of plants above 6th Avenue, and the intricate instructions for watering them — you wouldn’t have wanted to apartment-sit for him. Since I became a dad, finding time to meditate has been harder, but in its place I have the evening bath, feed and bedtime of my four-month-old son: the arrangements of bath water and thermometer, sleep suit and dummy, hot water bottle and towel, feeding bottle and LP cued up on turntable, not to mention the actual washing routine, are almost on a par with Cage’s plants.
2. Daily rituals. Every day, I take a picture — the same picture — of our garden. You can see 503 (and counting) of them on Flickr. I know others do a similar thing with photos of themselves, but this intended to be an antidote to worrying about my self-image; to help me lose myself in my environment. Another ritual, though this may be more of a mind cigarette (alternately thrilling and sickening) than a mind apple, is listening to a different item in my music collection and writing something about it. Mark McGuinness has written insightfully about rituals (and avoiding the mundane) recently.
3. Trying to absorb something from someone who seems to have a more alert mind than me. Mark McGuinness is a good example of this, too, as I discovered his blogs at Lateral Action and Wishful Thinking a couple of months, and pick up lots of ideas and tips there. I rotate my current favourites every now and then — though I have a few perennials such as Tom Phillips, whose work teeters on the brink of tipping over from inspiring into intimidating.
4. Being prepared to zone out. Which might sound the same as #1, but in this case it’s not planned; it’s accepting the opportunity to take a little cognitive time out when it presents itself. Yesterday afternoon, for example, I ate a rather dense, home-baked muffin, and initially regretted it as I felt the blood drain from my brain to my stomach to work on my digestion. Next I had to catch a train into central London, where the combination of my light-headedness, a sunset in the south west shedding light on dark rainclouds overhead, and the swoonsome first album by The Clientele on my headphones, swept me away. I didn’t do the reading I meant to do, but I arrived refreshed and alert to new possibilities.
5. Exercise. I’ll end with a no-brainer (whoops, sorry). “Exercise promotes new cell growth in old brains by increasing their blood volume, and cell growth improves memory,” says a recent book on memory research. This most obvious mindapple is the one I fall down on most often, since I now live in a part of London where the only way to get anywhere interesting is by train.

Thanks David – I love your photo a day….. Many of David’s images above.

Posted by Tessy Britton

Peggy Fussell sent us her lovely Mindapples, some fun links… and a beautiful illustration!

Peggy Wrote:  

“We all know we should “Strive for Five” servings of fruits and veggies a day to keep our bodies healthy.  Jim tagged me with the task of describing the 5 things I do everyday to keep my spirit happy & healthy. I jotted a bunch down in my sketchbook. Here are the top five….

“Allow me to elaborate:

1. I need sunshine. If there are too many winter cloudy days strung together, then a cozy spot near a fireplace will keep me going. Or even candles on the dinner table or sparkly lights strung around.

2. Exercise. Dance, a long fast walk,  yoga, running up and down stairs, cartwheels, anything.

3. Beauty = A walk in the woods, a trip to a museum, a good picture book, almost anything if you look closely enough.

4. There’s just something about that end of day ritual that makes everything right in the world. A little music, a glass of wine, beautiful veggies, the rhythm of preparing the food…chopping, stirring,  the aroma, the taste, and of course good company.

5. The best thrill ever.

“

Fantastic!

Posted by Tessy Britton