A few years ago I heard about Providence Youth Club in Battersea, London, welcoming a group of farm animals from The Shallowford Trust’s Dartmoor farm to a local city carpark for a week. Londoners could come to see the calves, lambs and pigs in the straw in pens just across the street from shops andContinue reading “Concrete Cows”
Tag Archives: mindfulness
Endless Possibility
In my house sits an old guitar, unused for many years. Sometimes I’ve wondered about learning to play, but still haven’t taken the plunge. All I remember about the one and only time I went to a guitar class (at a music club for young people, when I was about 12), was all the talkContinue reading “Endless Possibility”
Day By Day
Are you a creature of habit? I know I am. I do like to be spontaneous too and to try different things, but I find that life works better if I follow a routine. Working for myself from home that’s particularly important – but in other parts of my life as well, routine really helps.Continue reading “Day By Day”
Earthbound?
In a basket where I keep cards and letters, I recently found a greetings card sent in 2009, with a very striking image. It’s entitled “Trees Amid The Waters Near Taponas, Rhone, France” and it is an aerial photograph taken by Yann Arthus Bertrand during the floods of March 2001. Seeing this image made meContinue reading “Earthbound?”
Art As Tool
The more I experiment with art for wellbeing, the more possibilities emerge. I’ve written before about “art as refuge” and “art as tool” – the two distinct ways I feel art can help wellbeing. Art as refuge is the more familiar of the two to me, and I still think this has immense impact byContinue reading “Art As Tool”
What’s New?
It may be my inner nerd, but I like September and the idea of new beginnings – back to work or school, activity gearing up again as holidays recede. No, I don’t like the darker evenings of autumn – or the thought of winter ahead – but I do like its fresh start. It’s aContinue reading “What’s New?”
Down Time
Wellbeing is rarely simple. It’s a knotty and complex question. What helps one person’s wellbeing might do little for someone else. And so many different emotions come into play: joy, contentment, calm, hope, positivity, stimulus. It’s about far more than rest and relaxation alone, but these are important for anyone to “be well”. And I’veContinue reading “Down Time”
Painting An Idyll
While many people know from experience how doing art and craft themselves can boost wellbeing and absorb their minds, there still seems far less interest in the impact enjoying other people’s art can have. Lots of peple who enjoy being creative might never think to look at a famous painting, or if they do, mightContinue reading “Painting An Idyll”
Wide Awake
If art, nature and music can all boost health and wellbeing in the daytime, as they do, then why should they not also help insomnia? I think there are three ways they could help: as a way to spend time, as a way to try and still your mind to sleep, and as a toolContinue reading “Wide Awake”
Up With The Lark
Are you a “night owl” or an “early bird”, “up with the lark”? It’s interesting how these expressions came into the language, relating our body clocks to nature, to day and night, light and dark. It’s no wonder that International Dawn Chorus Day falls at the beginning of May: as dawn gets earlier and earlierContinue reading “Up With The Lark”
Medley 