Every time I enter a new chapter in life, I do a spring clean – out with the old & in with the new! I’m sorting through the stack of books in my writing room that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet and I have just now finished reading Mindfulness-A practical guide to finding peace in the frantic world by M.Williams & D. Penman. I meditate every day, and I enjoyed reading it and listening to the guided meditations accompanying this book. In particular, these two points have resonated with

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The spirit in which you do something, is often as important as the act itself

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If you can practice cultivating a sense of completeness – even a glimmer, right now, in this moment, with the little things of life, there is a chance that you would be better able to cope with those aspects of mind that keep telling you that you are not there yet; not yet happy, not yet fulfilled. You might learn that you are complete, whole, just as you are.

When writing the memoir, I have become aware that I often try to rush to complete the daily word count, or move past a difficult memory, and because writing a book is a long term goal, it is easy to lose sight of the present moment. From today, I am going to practice being more mindful in my writing practice and see how that feels.

Christine Poole 16th March 2024