5-4-5b450 (5455)

It occurred to me recently that in 2022, it would be 5 years since I completed my 5b450 project. To celebrate this anniversary I decided to reflect on 5 things I have achieved over the past few years which follow on from my 5b450 goals.

1. Visit Belfast 4 visit New York City

Visiting New York was the biggest and best part of 5b450. My travel plans have been much more modest since then. Even so it took one and a half years for me to get to Belfast because of the Covid19 lockdown. Belfast was the last of the UK capital cities I hadn't seen, I thought is was a very good city to visit and I'm glad I finally made it there in June 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Paint garage 4 redecorate house

One thing that was easier to do in the lockdown of 2020 was paint the garage. I wasn't going anywhere much and I spent more time in the garden looking at the garage. It was looking quite shabby and I decided to paint it grey. It took me two weeks doing a bit everyday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Do a reading challenge 4 join a book club

My time at the book club was short lived, possibly due to 2018 being a very difficult year. I began to set myself reading challenges in 2019. I have set myself a special 6 book challenge for the first half of 2022, it features books related to my original 5b450 project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Work on the Calm Book 4 a School of Life event

I very much enjoyed the face-to-face 'How to be serene' event in 2017. In 2020 we purchased the School of Life's 'Small Pleasures' cards to help us through lockdown. For Christmas 2021 I purchased 'The Calm Book' for Amy and I to work through in 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 5. See another play 4 see a play at the Globe

After seeing 'Romeo and Juliet' in May 2017 we managed to see three more plays before the pandemic hit, the last one being The Twilight Zone at the Ambassadors Theatre in April 2019. I hope we will see another play in a theatre someday, but I don't know what or where or when.

Mindful doodling and colouring

When I was going through a very dark period in my life in 2018, I discovered new therapeutic ideas to hep me through my difficulties. I knew about mindful colouring, but didn't know how therapeutic it could be until 2018. Soon after mindful colouring I discovered mindful doodling. Sometimes I think I could spend my life mindfully doodling and colouring, but unfortunately I can't.

Summer Term Therapy

Life generally feels a bit calmer, kinder and more leisurely  in the summer. Therapies I have chosen to explore in the summer months concern nature and relaxation; self expression in dance, restorative holidays and the healing power of water, trees and cosmic contemplation in our lives.

Amy's Eyes

While working on her A'level Art projects Amy drew and painted a lot of eyes. They were supposed to represent various psychological states such as psychopathy, BPD, avoidant personaltiy, schizoid personality, depression, PTSD and anxiety. These are a few of the most striking images.

Craft Therapy

I had spent over three decades in the crafting wilderness, before being reacquainted with it in 2009 via Kirstie's Homemade Home, particularly the episode involving knitting and also a growing fascination with doll making blogs, in particular Jess Brown, Tiny Concept and Emily Winfield Martin. I started making dolls in 2010 and did my first craft stall in 2013. Out of all the crafts I have tried, knitting is by far the most therapeutic. I now mostly knit snuggle muffs to help comfort mental health patients.

Play Therapy

How you spend your days is how you spend your life. So is playing games a bad way to spend your time? Is life all just a game anyway? If it is a game we should be making it a good one. I'm not good at playing games. I used to play computer games but found them too addictive so I gave them up. I don't know if playing games will be good for me in the future, I know people who were really into bridge and bowls. I think I definitely need to lighten up and enjoy life more, but maybe not through playing more games. Things that make me feel better are cosmic contemplation, solitude, mindfulness, meditation, walking near water, watching films, the BBC, listening to music and sometimes playing it, arts, crafts, reading, writing, travelling on my own. Below is a mindful colouring idea related to play.

Take a Walk

Mindful walking is a thing. I did this walk along the River Brent from Ealing Hospital to Brentford when I was in a very bad place psychologically, so memories of it are mixed up with how bad I was feeling at the time. It is also a lonely walk, which kind of didn't help. My favourite walk by water is the Thames Path between the Royal Festival Hall and Southwark Cathedral. I think walking where there are people around rather than being too solitary is possibly more therapeutic, but I suppose it really depends on your state of mind.

Remembering 2012

Twenty-twelve feels like it was quite a successful year for me and Britain. It was dominated by the London Olympics which meant my hometown had a celebratory feeling about it for much of the year. It is nice to look back on a year that was about achievement, large and small, and visiting the London Olympic park in July 2020 bought it all back to me.

  

  

Below are the top 12 reasons why 2012 was such a special year for me and my family.

1.    The 2012 London Olympics

2.    Helped with Golden Wedding Anniversary celebrations for mum and dad

3.    Last holidays with my dad to Cornwall and Edinburgh

4.    Amy’s Saturday morning French class

5.    Amy’s singing class and concert

6.    Church concerts every first Sunday of the month

7.    Played piano at two of my piano teacher’s concerts

8.    Success with piano teaching (3 summer certificates including 2 merits)

9.    Did my piano teaching diploma

10.  Wrote ‘The Good Mothers’ Club’

11.  Produced cards, pictures, dolls for the church Summer Fair

12.  Enjoyed BBC favourites; Outnumbered, Merlin, Dr Who

Loving Kindness

I started doing the Loving Kindness meditation with Amy in July 2018. These are the basic sentiments expressed in it.

May I be kind and patient with myself
May I love and accept myself for what I am
May I forgive myself my mistakes
May I be safe and free from suffering
May I feel happy and healthy
May I find peace, joy and ease of well-being

These feelings start in the heart, spread throughout the body, limbs and head, throughout the house and reach out to other people and beings, to family, friends, neighbours, the whole world, the solar system and all corners of the universe and then all the way back into the heart once more. This meditation also includes breath awareness, slow and calm, and a body scan.

The Loving Kindness meditation is used to help treat sufferers of PTSD. I have found it particularly helpful.

Music Therapy

Sometimes I forget how healing and relaxing music can be. I have taught the piano to adults and children since the late 1980s, most intensively from 2008 to 2018. Sometimes when something you love becomes more of a business, the fun can be zapped out of it. Dealing with the pushy parents of my young piano pupils was the worst thing. However I have learnt to get the most out of listening to and playing music once more. Music I find most relaxing to play and to listen to is Einaudi, Debussy, movie music, jazz and pop music from my teenage past.

Spring Term Therapy

January is a traditional time for making resolutions. According to quite a few studies it is also not a very good time to be making resolutions. March and the beginning of Spring are the best times to be making positive changes. The therapies I have been exploring in the Spring Term reflect the fact that January and February are still winter months, a time to enjoy indoor activities like arts and crafts, watching films, reading books, listening to music and playing games.

25 Years in the NHS

I started work in my NHS London library in September 1997, a month after the death of Princess Diana. Celebrating 25 years of working in the NHS feels like a big thing. Recent years have been quite fraught, so I thought I would celebrate by living a more wellbeing-friendly life. These are the five areas I will concentrate on.

1. Enjoy Music, Art and Literature

2. Mindfully Meditate everyday

3. Continue with Ecotherapy

4. Help five people

5. Live a good enough life

Hopefully I will review my celebrations later in the year.

 

 

Moments to myself

I nearly forgot that I was trying to live more slowly and mindfully in the 1990s. In the 2000s and 2010s I have been busy rushing around as a working mum. In the 2020s I hope to make more time to just slow down a bit and smell the roses and the coffee, before they disappear. These two songs, I wrote in the 1990s, were unearthed when I was looking for more of my own material to perform with my daughter in public. I had forgotten how mindful they actually are.