It is hard to underestimate the value of this practice.  When an animal is wounded it goes into the forest and lies down until it regains its strength. When we are wounded we keep going because we're so busy and there's so much to do, right? Er, no actually. The best way to get more done, is to do less. Yes, as counter-intuitive as that sounds it's true! And there's neuroscience to support it. We think we are multi-tasking but we're actually 'switching' really quickly. It's actually much more efficient to just 'do one thing at a time'. Wow mindfulness! While eating just eat, while walking, just walk.  It's also much more restful and beneficial to do this.

On Saturday I had a group of 10 people for an 'all day' silent retreat in Tober Mhuire. We all had a wonderful day in this beautiful space, as you can see from the photos, but it wan't just the environment, it was the silence and the opportunity to stop. Invariably when we take time out like this we return to the 'real world' feeling refreshed and energised. At the end of the retreat I asked  each person to offer a word that summed up their experience and they said beautiful things like: 'peace, calm, serenity, gratitude, joy'. How amazing the now radical act of stopping and resting is.

So whether you only have one hour a week or a few minutes a day it's worth it for your mental health and wellbeing to take some 'time out' to stop, calm and truly rest. Wishing you many mindful moments this month.

*This month's pic was taken at the Jordanstown shore 2 minutes from my house in January 2016, we don't need to go to Hawaii or Australia for beautiful scenery... even if it is a bit colder here! :)

Book of the month
Don't have the time to read... maybe like me this past month you need to take some LONG drives - perfect opportunity to listen to a good book then.  I listened to Elizabeth Gilbert's (she of Eat, Pray, Love fame) latest book on my recent journeys to Cavan and Tullow. It's about the creative process and is specifically targeted at creatives but its full of interesting stories and I really enjoyed it. "Big Magic" is available from audible and all good book stores :)

Talk of the month.
Check out Elizabeth's TED talk on 'your elusive creative genius' She posits that instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. :)

Quote of the month
"I take my time. I want to be myself. I don’t deny myself in the here and now. This is our practice—we call it aimlessness. We don’t put a goal in front of ourselves and run after it constantly. If we do, we’ll be running all our life and never be happy. Happiness is possible only when you stop running and cherish the present moment and who you are. Who you are is already a wonder; you don’t need to be someone else. You are a wonder of life."

- Thich Nhat Hanh