Mindful Saturday Morning

In order to have good mental health it is important to give your mind a bit of a tune up every once in a while. This doesn’t have to be a complicated or onerous exercise - it could just be ten minutes out of your day. 

One of the most publicised methods of performing “mental housekeeping” is with Mindfulness. This will be a topic I talk about regularly so I won’t go into detail about it now, but it is something that I find very helpful and easy to do. 

Saturday mornings are generally a good time for me to be mindful. I am an early bird and naturally wake at around 6am. Vicky my fiancée, is not! So in order to let her sleep and not be wakened by me being restless, I get out of bed and head downstairs. I love this time of the week - I have the whole weekend ahead of me and I feel I can spend some time pottering quietly about the house doing little tasks like watering the plants, feeding the fish and making a pot of coffee. I find the key to making these tasks mindful is to become absorbed by them and to explore my senses while I do them. 

I inspect the plants and assess their growth, I remove dead leaves feeling the texture of them. I smell the metallic oils from the basil leaves on my fingers and the loamy, earthy aroma of the soil in their pots. 

When I feed the fish I observe them darting about from above, noting that this is a view I don’t normally see. I smell the strong fishy smell of their flake food and feel the texture of the shrimp pellets between my fingers. Once the food is in the tank, I will spend some time watching the fish and shrimps while they eat, noting different species moving in subtly different ways, as well as any maintenance that might be required in the tank and the growth of the plants. 

Even making a pot of coffee can be turned into a ritual based on familiar movements and practiced repetition. I clean the filter and fill up the water in the machine. If I switch it on before I have put the water in, when I do add the liquid there is an agreeable fizz and spit as the cold water hits the scalding hot element, a plume of steam comes out and a certain smell of hot moisture reaches me. Adding the coffee to the filter is the most satisfying part. The glorious smell of coffee grounds is synonymous for me of having the luxury of time. I would never make a pot of coffee if I am in a rush - weekday morning are fueled by good quality instant - and so the smell is calming for me. Even the sounds of the water percolating through the coffee and dripping into the jug has a curiously soothing effect. 

By paying very close attention to these tasks and noticing all the sensory information that my body collects, I can spend some much needed time in the present moment and anchor my mind there. This allows me the space to enjoy the everyday occurrences that I gloss over in a rush during the week. 

Taking pleasure in the relatively mundane reminds me that there is pleasure to be had in the simplest of things, which in turn leads me to find more satisfaction with my lot in life. In a world where we are encouraged to want more for ourselves all the time, I find that a mindful Saturday morning is the perfect way to find simple pleasure in what I already have.

How do you practice mindfulness? Are there any simple tasks that you take mindful pleasure in? Let me know in the comments below. 

MP

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Why I want people to talk about suicide

I am organising a Mental Health First Aid Lite course (provided by Mental Health First Aid England) for my colleagues at work and I really hope they all attend and embrace it. A little bit of awareness and confidence in dealing with mental health issues might make the difference in someone's life. Statistically, we are all very likely to encounter someone who might need help and hopefully this course will encourage my colleagues to reach out to them. 

 

The fact my employers are paying for the training is testament to their determination to tackle this issue and I intend to make the most of the opportunity this gives my colleagues. 

 

I have found people are actually quite willing to attend meetings and workshops around mental health that I have set up, but so far these have all been convenient, pretty fluffy and light touch. I am interested to see how people feel about this course, as it will include talk of more serious elements, such as suicide.

 

Personally, I believe suicide is a hugely important topic to discuss. Having had a very close friend commit suicide, an event that shook my world and led to some huge changes in my life, I am aware of some of the impacts that suicide can have, beyond the immediate impact to the perpetrator. I have experienced the loss of a friend, witnessed the loss that others have felt and pondered at length the questions that this raises. Questions that will never be answered, but periodically come back to haunt me - could I have prevented it? Should I have known and helped? Would his unborn child have grown up knowing her dad if I had been a better friend to him?

 

At times I torture myself with these questions, perhaps because I miss him and on some level blame myself, even though I know logically I am not responsible for (or even aware of) all the reasons that led him to take his own life.

 

But I am determined to turn my experiences to positive ends. My feelings fuel my efforts to help others in the small ways that I can. If I can help others to open their eyes to the signs and use their compassion to help people in need, while doing the same myself, perhaps I can make a difference to someone. Perhaps I can save a life in return for the life I couldn't save and honour the memory of my friend. 

MP