In loving memory of a dearly beloved family friend Sandra Brooks, such an example to us all of looking beyond the turmoil and seeing the beauty of the world. Always smiling and laughing, your memory will be cherished by so many. Chapeau Sandy, a life lived well.

How we spend our moments is how we spend our days which is how we will live our lives.

In this months Wellbeing Invitation we will continue exploring the idea of 'what we gaze upon we become'. A simple Occupational Therapy inspired prescription of activities intended to support wellbeing that you are invited to spend as little, or as often as you like on. They’ll be a recorded atelier at the end of the month to have an opportunity to explore your experience of the tasks.

What you find meaningful is entirely individual and some of my suggestions may not appeal, listen to that and honour your time. You’ll find the full descriptions and resources in the link below.

1. To Learn - A Poem

Amongst other things , such as being a great party piece, research from Cambridge University showed that learning a poem off by heart can have a positive impact on our wellbeing through improving:

our concentration
our ability to communicate
memory
sleep quality

It also has the potential to be protective against disease associated with aging such as dementia as it increases brain capacity.

I will personally be taking my time over the coming month, one or two verses per week, The Sun by Mary Oliver. You’re welcome to join in with me or pick one you prefer.

2. To Look - Watch a Ballet

'Besides enriching and nourishing your inner world, art and culture illuminate your inner life and boost your creativity and imagination. With better tolerance, enhanced health and learning, and opportunities to unite with each other, art and culture improve the quality of life and boost well-being for communities and individuals alike' - The Importance of Art and Culture in Our Life: A Guide

You are invited to watch a Ballet in real life, or online, as a real tangible meditation. Ballet has the ability to touch people on a deep, abstract level and in some ways, ballet is more valuable now than ever. We are so technologically overloaded, constantly flitting from one post to another staring into computers or their phone screens for entertainment. But watching a theatrical performance of a ballet is unique in that it's completely live and in the moment, unfiltered and unedited.

If you’re unable to see a live performance you can join me in watching A Midsummers Nights Dream online, adventures and misadventures, mischief and magic, woodland creatures and fairyland foibles. If you don’t know the story by Willian Shakespeare you can learn a little here.

I encourage you to be as disciplined as you would be in a theatre. Not forgetting the intermission to have an ice cream or a nice drink.

3. Cultivate Compassion

Just two weeks of loving-kindness meditation can change brain activity, make people feel more compassionate towards themselves and others, and even elicit generosity.....

In a pilot study by the University of Wisconsin a group of people were trained, via the internet, to pratice loving kindness meditations for 30 minutes a day for 2 weeks. A comparison group were taught cognitive skills to reappraise situations. After two weeks the loving kindness group showed a significant improvement on the Self-Compassion Scale. When having an fMRI scan they were shown images of human suffering, such as a child with an eye tumor, they demonstrated increased activity in the insula part of the brain which is linked to empathy. The more active the insula was, the higher their scores on self-report scales of wellbeing and self-compassion.

Activiation of the insula also predicted generosity when given the option to donate their fees for attending to charities.

This month you are invited to try out a variety mindful compassion practices, I’ve created a playlist of 12 separate mindful compassion practices ranging from 4 to 34 minutes below.

That’s it really. Just to find some pockets of time to carve out, but hopefully a manageable prescription of activities for you.

if you have any questions you can contact me josephine@thewellbeingatellier.com if you do have anything to share about your experience, I’d love to hear from you, you’ll find a video review of the activities at the end of the month at the bottom of this letter.

You’re also welcome to use the hashtag #awellbeinginvitation on social media to share your experience with others. I’ll be sharing my own observations on social media, you’ll see the pictures below.

If you would like to thank me for this offering I invite you to make a contribution to Sandra’s memorial, The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust a charity dear to her heart and the nature I grew up around.

Warmly,

Josephine