I absolutely looooove swimming, watching the sea, being in nature, reading, and taking time to be still. While I don’t always meditate formally, this is my form of meditating and recharging my battery.

Pre-parenting I had plenty of time for this, and spent many long hours on the beach, at Sea Point swimming pool (for those not based in Cape Town, this is collection of public pools alongside our beautiful Atlantic Ocean), or meandering on the paths of Table Mountain.

Nowadays, when I’m visiting these spots, it’s not quite as still as it used to be, and I certainly don’t get to relax and read as much as I did before.

But there’s a new joy in the way I experience them, through the eyes of my son… climbing rocks is a new pastime; floating, kicking and blowing bubbles in the pool at one another; building sand castles; and walking a bit slower on the mountain… this means I see things in a little more detail.

I’ve also been introduced to new interests and activities, such as:

• watching helicopters (Cape Town Helicopters viewing deck is our home from home, they are the BEST!);

• tracking building sites, so we can watch the cranes and diggers, concrete trucks and people moving up and down, sideways… each person clear on their part in the ‘human machinery’ of the construction site; and more (yep, I take endless photos and videos which we watch often!)

My son absolutely loves spending time doing these things, and so it has become part of our special weekend time together. I’ve come to realise that in a way it is part of a new form of ‘informal’ meditation for me.

We can watch quietly for looooong periods of time, talk occasionally about what’s happening, and my stillness is sometimes interrupted by J’s excited exclamations as his favourite helicopter takes off, or the bucket is gently lowered by the crane to be filled at the concrete mixer truck, but actually, it is a lovely time to be still and reflect. They are often quite noisy spots, which in a way, prevents too much thinking, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Being a working parent, it’s not often that I get alot of time to sit and be still.

Meditation takes different forms, and yes, I could still create more completely quiet time for myself (the meditation purists in my circle might be cringing at this stage!), but I also get to share these experiences with my son, which is truly precious time.

So I’m curious, and would love to hear back from you…

How do you take time for yourself?

Do you have a formal or an informal meditation practice and what does that look like?

If you’re a parent, how has your meditation practice evolved?

In the meantime,

If you want to take some more conscious time for yourself, I’m hosting a Me-Time retreat on Friday 16 March, which will include some guided reflections and conversations, some pampering, some meditation (both guided and your own gentle down time 😉), and gentle movement. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll add you to the ‘first-to-know’ list with final details.

Taking it to a deeper level, there is also the Power of Purpose Course on Saturdays 3^rd and 10^th March 2018. A surefire way to get in touch with your deeper ‘why’, to get clear on what you’re wanting, and be given tools to get you there, bumps and all! Again, if you’re interested, give me a shout… It’s 2 full days, with a week in between, and includes all materials, an audio recording which you can go back to any time, and access to a network of people who have also done this work.

For now, though, I wish you a glorious weekend, and look forward to connecting soon.

Love always,

Mandy

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