Having started working full time again I started doing two things that have been mutually supportive, firstly following the Marie Kondo prescription for removing unwanted and unnecessary ‘stuff’ from my life, and secondly practicing mindfulness with a greater focus recently; something I first explored with a CBT therapist when in recovery from postnatal depression I have gradually become more ‘practiced’ at meditation and managing my anxiety and depression with regular sessions. I decided to buy the Headspace app with extras in May, the free guided meditations are brilliant by the way, I just really like the extended app; a favourite is the guided meditation for going out walking, it focuses on movement, flow and really paying attention to how your body feels as you stroll.

I often take my lunchbreak now as an opportunity to walk, tune into the meditation and tune out getting some headspace and appreciating the world around me, I highly recommend taking just ten minutes a day to form a habit around this, whether sitting still or moving once you’ve been practicing for a while. Where better to work than from home in this respect?! All of these photos were taken on my travels during May and June and they are as sunny and joyful as my steadily improving mood! Taking in meadows, cycle paths and just relaxing in our ‘yarden’ I have started to really pay attention to my surroundings and notice my thoughts, paying them a little attention and then letting them go. I find I feel like a more relaxed parent to, if I am playing with J or enjoying her company and my thoughts drift I am much more adept at bringing myself back to just be present in the moment; if you’d told me I could live like this two years ago I would never have believed you, caught up in frantic thinking and worries!

I’m not going to write more, instead I just want to take some time to appreciate the photos and continue my mindfulness journey, if you’d like to know more, or have any thoughts on meditation and mindfulness I would love to hear from you!