Sometimes emails pop into my inbox from someone I haven’t heard from for quite a while, and I’m always happy, happy to know that they are still here, still thinking of me.

It’s been a while since I’ve been in your inbox, so I hope you’re happy too.

I’ve just returned from a stroll on the beach – my happy place. And I’m determined to tap this post out, to sit with discomfort, to sit aware of distraction, aware of my procrastination tendencies when it comes to writing these emails, to sit with it, to see how it feels in my body. Hoping that by getting this awareness I will be able to stay focused. It will be interesting.

You may have guessed from my tone, my language, that this is a mindful practice.

This is Day 5 of Mindful in May, a wonderful program facilitated by Dr Elise Bialylew https://www.mindfulinmay.org/.

I was inspired two weeks ago by the transformation in nature. Where I live, we’ve had a characteristically long dry summer which produces our ‘sunburnt country’. The pasture is dry, the residual grasses a pale gold. The only green the leaves of the native gum trees.

Then it rained. The first rain for four months. Within a week the land transformed to a vibrant fresh green as the seed, dormant in the soil for so long sprang to life.

It gave me hope that my writing was like this pasture – just needing some impetus to bring it to life again.

Along with listening to insightful interviews Elise conducts with some of the world’s leading mindfulness experts I’m reading ‘The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control’ by Katherine Morgan Schafler https://www.perfectionistsguide.com/. When I find myself reaching for a pen or highlighter to mark sentences in a book I know it’s resonating. In this book Morgan Schafler identifies five types of perfectionists, encouraging readers to embrace their perfectionism. To become adaptive perfectionists rather than maladaptive perfectionists. It’s sprinkled with real life case studies with clients of hers.

If you are thinking ‘that’s not me’, think again. The fact that you are reading this suggests you are striving for vitality in life. And anyone who strives consistently is likely to have perfectionist tendencies.

Which brings me full circle to mindfulness practice. Traditional meditation practices can conjure up images of monks, sitting in what to many of us as muscle taxing postures for hours and hours in silence. I love that many authors in this space reference the paradox of mindfulness practice. Yes, it is beneficial to sit in silence and stillness, practicing awareness in the present moment. Dozens of health benefits have been documented from this practice including overcoming anxiety, lowering blood pressure, improving immunity, reducing inflammation in the body, improving memory, and protecting the brain from dementia to name just a few.  Nevertheless, we ultimately benefit ourselves and the people we connect with and serve by bringing the clarity and compassion we gain from this practice into our daily activities and work.

It’s good to be back. Thank you for encouraging me to emerge from this drought of writing.

Wishing you vitality in abundance,

Esyltt