What to give up for Lent?
A friend posted on her facebook, ‘hmmm what to give up for lent this year?’ And it’s got me thinking…
The ‘typical’ items to go are usually chocolate, coffee etc but I was thinking of something a bit different…
Last week I heard some ‘good news’ about someone who had ‘wronged’ me many many years ago (and of course that’s ‘wronged’ in my opinion!). However rather than feeling happy for them, I felt something different. And not a good different. Did this person deserve this happiness? Maybe it was not really happiness, but a facade. Clearly an unresolved part in me, that has unknowingly held onto some hurt from the past.
So, to get to my point… for lent this year how about giving up a negative emotion that doesn’t serve you? I suspect this could do more good for ourselves and others, rather than just causing a dip in Cadbury’s sales!
Toby and I visited Samye Ling (a Tibetan monastery) with a recent group of students. During the visit Ani Lhamo one of the Nuns shared with us a very powerful meditation, where you bring to mind someone you dislike and then for 5 minutes you sit quietly and think only of love for them (if you are familiar with typical ‘nlp’ techniques, this process seemed to allow the unconscious mind to perform a perceptual positions, time line and belief change!) These few minutes created a space to think about someone in a new positive way. Each time the mind was seduced by negative memories or thoughts you simply bring your mind back to the task at hand – to think only of love for them. And with this simple meditation the negative emotions slowly start to change, to shift to something other than the way they were. We can’t change the events from the past, but we can change how we feel about them now. And having done this for the person I mentioned earlier, I am now happily wishing them a lifetime of happiness, which is much more in line with who I truly am and the way I wish to be in the world.
So, if you’re thinking of giving something up for lent, then think of an emotion that doesn’t serve you. Stress? Anxiety? Jealousy? Anger? See how it goes. Try it for 40 days – and hey if you really want to bring that negative emotion back into your life go for it – but I suspect this might be something worth giving up for good.
With Love, Kate
Pancakes…
I love March… This month brings us special days where we can eat and drink as much as we like and we have an excuse to do so…
First off we have Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) – Tuesday 8th…
…then we have England V Scotland on Sunday 13th where rugby fans like myself either celebrate or commiserate (the latter I hope if you are Scottish)…
… and of course we have Saint Patrick’s Day on 17th March and even if you are not Irish, it gives call for a Guinness or 9…
Anyway, I feel like joining in on the celebrations this month, and have set up a little ‘celebratory competition’ for you all…
First of all, here’s what you could win:
1. A £15 iTunes voucher;
2. …Some pancake mix;
3. …A Guinness gift;
4. …And a British bulldog cuddly toy (I personally like this one the best) 
And here’s what you have to do to win:
Somewhere on my sites (both tobymccartney.com and tobyandkatemccartney.com) I have hidden some pancakes, a Scottish Rugby player, an English Rugby player and a leprechaun (4 items in total). They are on random pages waiting to be found…
All you have to do is find them, copy the page urls (taken from the top of your web browser), and paste them together with your name into the comments box below this blog post…
I will choose 3 winners from a hat on Saint Patrick’s Day (17th March) and if you are one of them I will send you your goodies…
Have a wonderful March, and good luck!
Toby
Happiness classes
Great news…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/happiness-lessons-for-all-407247.html
Toby
What Creates A Great Champion?
With the Olympics getting ever closer there seems to be more and more attention placed onto ‘what creates a great champion?’ I know little of professional sport; however I am utterly stunned at the commitment shown by athletes at the top of their game. The incredibly long growling hours of what is often boring repetition. After winning the Beijing Olympics, Rebecca Adlington told the Guardian that she got up at 5am and was training for four hours a day, six days a week, doing 10 pool sessions in total! On top of that she had physiotherapy, massage and strength training. During the week she would get home at 7.20pm, grab something to eat, watch a bit of TV and then crash. Her life was all sleeping, training, driving and occasionally finding time to eat.
It’s all very impressive, but for me the section of her story that really stood out and made me sit up and take notice, was before her public success while she was at school. Rising at 5am to swim and doing homework in the back of the car! I guess it’s easier to maintain that level of commitment once you have lifted an Olympic gold medal, but to continually get up at 5am, throw yourself in a cold pool of water, when you don’t when (or if) it will pay off and your peers around you are living a very different ‘easier’ life, is, to me amazing. To exchange instant pleasures for delayed gratification is surely one of the main ingredients of a champion.
I suspect that many people (and I include myself in this often) are fully engaged in microwave thinking – a deep belief that compensation should immediately follow any effort. Champions, leaders and those that are highly successful are different. They earn these labels by perfecting their competencies. If you look at champions, that label took years of hard work and sacrifice to achieve, with little or no apparent compensation along the way. So with ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ or ‘Goals’ prominent in many people’s thinking at the moment, good questions to ask ourselves might be “Am I more interested in pleasure, or gratification?” “Am I more focussed on pleasure-based activities that deliver short and sweet payoffs or on gratification-based activities that take longer to achieve but deliver long and meaningful payoffs?” The choice is ultimately our own.
Wishing you huge success for the year ahead,
Kate
P.s. If you really want a shock, the Guardian published Rebecca Adlington’s full hour-by-hour training schedule online. Just scroll to the bottom of this link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/10/rebecca-adlington-swimming
Mindful Chocolate
This week our yoga teacher brought us an end of term treat. Chocolate truffles! But instead of mindlessly ramming them down our throats whilst chatting about late night Christmas shopping hours, she guided us through a stunning short ‘chocolate meditation’. Slowing the experience of eating a chocolate down so that it stimulates all senses. An exercise in awareness.
In these last few days to Christmas there is this inevitable rush. My friend today told me she ‘had’ to be at the shops for 8.30am to be in any hope of a parking space. I’m met with the question ‘you all ready for Christmas then?’ everywhere we go. Somehow we as a culture seem to take our normal amount of busyness and increase it 10 fold in order to celebrate. I know it’s maybe an overused saying, but, less is often so much more.
A few years ago Toby and I had Christmas in India. The area was mostly Hindu, and there was no sign of ‘Christmas’ anywhere. Not the usual music, decorations or Santa hats! And yet strangely, we experienced the most purest Christmas spirit by exchanging simple gifts and singing carols with friends in the dark whilst sharing insect repellent on a warm night. A totally unconventional Christmas for us both, yet by having and doing so much less we both agreed we enjoyed Christmas so much more.
Huge thanks to my yoga teacher for sharing this meditation with our class. If you’re anything like me, chocolates near to you may disappear at an alarming rate at this time of year, but in the interest of doing less and experiencing more, I passionately recommend you trial this meditation. So, go and dig out that box of chocolates (you know exactly where they are) and REALLY allow yourself to enjoy!
Steps follow below.
Merry Christmas
Kate
1. Lay out a napkin or towel in front of you. Sitting crossed legged and breathing evenly, focus on the chocolate. How the light affects it. The colours, textures (ensure the chocolate is out of its wrapper.).
2. Slowly pick it up. Notice the weight of it. It’s texture. Rotate it. Observe the shape and colour.
3. Bring the chocolate up to your nose, and inhale deeply. Notice what thoughts come to you as you do this. Let the thoughts come and go.
4. Place the chocolate in your mouth without chewing it for a few moments.
5. Then slowly bite down and chew. Notice the flavour, richness, and texture. Be aware of it’s after flavour.
