Showing posts with label awareness to break routine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label awareness to break routine. Show all posts

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Our 2016 adventure

Welcome back to our 2016 adventure!

 


I have taken a kind of detour with ‘interesting times’ as the ancient Chinese quote goes. I was hospitalised and had an operation and the opportunity to see what is really important in life. Surrounded and supported by loving friends and family it became quite clear. Mindfulness and relationships! Especially those with the people you connect to around you in the moment.

The journey of our 2016 adventure is on how to break our habits. Let us change certainty into curiosity and stop operating on autopilot!

You may join us today by submitting your email address to receive my posts via email if you have not done so already!

This month our experiments are concerned with the wonder of the other.




There are many reasons why you would want to ‘wake up’ in your relationships. Feel free to share any of the comments about your journey by clicking on ‘No comments:’ below or by sending me an email.

Let us change certainty into curiosity, knowing into asking and accusations into questions. Let us stop telling and start listening and trade our biting words for biting our tongues.

You might think you have certainty about who your partner is or who your parent or who your child is. And you may be absolutely certain why they are doing or not doing what they do, like for instance, “(Name) is disorganised and irresponsible (by, for example, not studying)” or “He/She doesn’t care about me”.

Gewoonlik, dink ons die woorde: “Dit voel of ek nie meer deurkom na jou toe nie” beteken die einde van die verhouding. Maar wat as dit beteken dat die verhouding dan uiteindelik kan begin?


Dis juis wanneer ek uitreik na ander in plaas daarvan om op myself fokus wat dinge vlotter verloop. Wanneer ek dit byvoorbeeld my doelstelling maak om die verhoudings met my spesifieke naaste te verbeter (en dit beteken neutraal luister sonder oordeel!).


Bowendien is daar ’n heelal opgesluit binne die persoon wat ek liefhet.  Op die meeste, ken ek die klein stukkie wat ek ‘bewoon’, maar daar is nog lande, oseane, hemele en uitspansels wat ek nie ontgin het nie. 

Daar is misterie binne elkeen waarmee ek saamlewe!

Hulle is dinamies, groeiend, ontwikkelend en daarom kan die dinge waaroor ek so seker is, verander.
Of dit kan ook wees dat dit waarvan ek oortuig is, ’n projeksie is van my eie vrese, onsekerhede, vertwyfeling of eensaamheid...


I provide you with the new activities for the following weeks:


WEEK ONE
, rather than jumping out of bed I want to pause long enough for 3 whole breaths to pass naturally (It will only take a few seconds, but it will set the tone for the day ahead).

WEEK TWO I want to listen and really hear what my loved one is saying – I mirror back to him/her to check what has been said and that I understand.

WEEK THREE I want to keep communication open by validating what has been said – that there is logic to what he/she has said and that it makes sense.


WEEK FOUR I want to have
better dialogue by expressing compassion - by putting myself in the others’ shoes and seeing it through their perspective to have empathy. 

This blog post is dedicated to all those who make my life more wonderful – thank you for your love and support especially in a challenging time!



***  *** ***

My services include the Complete Study Course

The 
Complete Study Course is provided to students at school or university level. We follow a Mindfulness Approach – learning how to study, and we form good habits.

The Course is meant to give you or your children 
practical insight on how to learn more effectively and with less frustration (like beating procrastination). The lessons in this course can help in learning many different subjects and skills. Whether you love language or math, music or physics or history, you will have a lot of fun, and learn a LOT about how to study!

Contact Details

Lucia Brand
082 782 4747
luciabrand@cybersmart.co.za

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Your wake-up call for 2016


I invite you to join me for a year of adventure, where we stop operating on autopilot and start living a life of curiosity and joy.

Baie van ons voel ontevrede met ons lewe waarin ons slapend wakker is. Dit sluit dié van ons in wat maar voortbeur tot dié wat ten alle koste 'n poging aanwend om mense/dinge te beheer sodat die lewe glad verloop.

This year I am delighted to create a 10-month long experiment to break our routines! I will introduce the experiments one month at a time. Our first month’s experiments look like this:

WEEK ONE I will use the HALT-technique:  pausing in stressful moments to check in and gauge whether I am Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. If I am, I'll find a solution first (for myself and/or my kids!) before responding.

WEEK TWO I will spend the first 10 minutes of every day outside.

WEEK THREE I will take a cold(er) shower each day.

WEEK FOUR I will tell one person per day what I love about them.



***



"Reculer pour mieux sauter" – take a step back in order to leap higher!

According to statistics, most of us will fail our New Year’s resolutions. We’ll probably beat ourselves up for being lazy and undisciplined. But, with few exceptions, our New Year’s resolutions don’t fail because of laziness.

Hoekom wil ons nie verander nie?

Ons het kompeterende behoeftes en belangstellings. Terwyl een deel van ons doelstellings het vir persoonlike groei, het ’n ander deel vrae. Dit verg bewuswording!

This year, instead of being hard on ourselves, maybe we can have a little mindfulness and compassion for ourselves. Maybe we can embrace the part of us that wants to change and the part of us that is afraid to change. Maybe then, even our failed resolutions will be the beginning of something new and good and beautiful.

The French have a lovely expression that encapsulates the importance of calling on patience and restraint when we feel out of kilter, rather than bulldozing on. 


Join us in a 10-month long experiment to take a step back in order to leap higher! And tell us why you want to 'wake up" in 2016.



***


The Complete Study Course follows a Mindfulness Approach.


It is meant to give you or your children practical insight on how to learn more effectively and with less frustration. The lessons in this course can help in learning many different subjects and skills. Whether you love language or math, music or physics or history, you will have a lot of fun, and learn a LOT about how to learn!

Contact Details
082 782 4747
luciabrand@cybersmart.co.za