Ram Dass, Going Home #netflix

Posted on May 12, 2018 by

This short documentary is a meditation on life, death, what is important and what next. Fascinating. I loved the Seeta Ram (?) mantra that a man is chanting mid film. Can’t find it anywhere online!

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Writer pilgrimage – Jane Austen’s house in Chawton #amwriting

Posted on May 6, 2018 by

This weekend I have fulfilled my long held dream and visited Chawton to see a house where Jane Austen created and finished most of her works. Continue reading →

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Art therapy – Could you? by Mayakovsky #poem #happiness

Posted on April 28, 2018 by

Vladimir Mayakovsky is a Russian poet who lived and created at the dawn of the 20th century. Since my introduction to his art in school, I’ve loved it dearly – there is music to his unusual rhyme and composition, there is rebellion in what he says and how and there is an element of madness in all of his works. He loved madly and he lived on edge. Mayakovsky has always been my most favourite poet for his edginess, extreme openness, vulnerability and lack of fear to innovate in art while remaining true to himself that translated into his beautiful poems. I translated one of my favourite poems from Russian below. A better translation exists, I just wanted it to sound how I thought was closest to the original.

Could you?

I’ve smudged the map of everyday

At once by splashing glass of paint;

Revealing on a jelly dish

Slanted ocean cheekbones.

Upon the scales of a tin fish

I read allure of new lips.

And do you

Think you could

Play nocturne

On a drainpipe flute?

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How to start meditating today if you don’t know where to start #happiness

Posted on April 21, 2018 by

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Reclining Buddha. Yuliya Glavnaya 

At some point a while ago (it’s been years) I promised a post on what I learned in the introduction to meditation course at the London Buddhist Centre. I then wanted to try out the techniques before sharing them, long story short – I forgot about it. Universe reminded me in an interesting way. This week I was approached for advice on how to start meditating. While I was sharing the steps and tips that worked for me, I realised that whereas nowhere near an expert, I learned a lot about meditating so below is a quick guide on how to start meditating today if you don’t know where to start. Continue reading →

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To speak or to die? Call Me By Your Name #CMBYN #happiness

Posted on April 7, 2018 by

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Warning. This review contains spoilers. Also I have not read a book, I plan to. 

It is one of those movies – it blows your mind. You watch and rewatch it trying to grasp, understand how you got hooked, why it got under your skin, how it managed to create this instant recognition. Tears roll down your face to Sufjan’s softly voiced love ballad cast over shots of pure joy shared by two twin flames, two souls who incredibly found each other – you sob because you know that the end is near and the weight of impending loss is overpowering. You mourn having never experienced love so fully. You never walked the edge, so in love that you were free from gravity, fully alive. 

Mystery of love indeed. Scenes – beautiful, sensual, impeccably written, directed, shot and played – roll one after another weaving a familiar, yet not like any other love story. Look at these two. And sobs are back. 

You watch on the edge of the seat, Continue reading →

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How has shamanic experience changed my life? Let me see… #happiness #amwriting

Posted on March 31, 2018 by

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Source: Tatler magazine, Jo Bowlby with a shaman in Peru. 

It’s almost been a year since I went through a shamanic ritual (I wrote about it here). I still have a one pager where I hungrily have scribbled down key insights and advice immediately after I left Jo’s house. Recently a friend asked me to have a go at ‘spiritually mentoring’ her in order to help her overcome a lack of joy she is feeling, the same reason why I sought a shaman in the first place. She asked me how my experience with the shaman changed my life and upon reflection I realised that the change has been significant in the last 8 months. I’ll narrow it down to 3 areas:

  1. I write more.
  2. I love myself more.
  3. I share more.

Continue reading →

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Digital detox and happiness – putting ’smart’ back into phone #talk

Posted on March 24, 2018 by

Following advice I received from the shaman (bear with me), I did look at ways I could share what I learnt about happiness and mindfulness wider with the world. As a result, I am happy to report that I’ve been invited to be a speaker at the Focus Inside event which is an unusual, exciting one week pop-up in London aiming to experientially combine digital detox, mindfulness, mental health and art. What a combination.

I plan to talk about mindful use of devices which makes sense considering I am a marketer at a large mobile company and a blogger writing about happiness and mindfulness who recently went through a version of digital detox (I promise I will write a blog post on this in April). You would still need to pry my iPhone out of my hands and my phone is closer to me at night than my husband 🙂  but I did conquer some of the iDemons such as mindless scrolling, falling into content rabbit holes and what started to look like addiction.

The event is free to attend (some sessions require booking and nominal payment) so if you are in London on what I am hoping will be a beautiful spring Saturday of April 21st, come and say hello. The event programme can be found here, I am on a 2pm panel with some cool folks (how about the lady who created walk-in meditation studios for the City workers!). See you! 🙂 

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