So, slow as I am, it struck me once again this morning about how we (well, read I), really need to get on with it and stop making excuses! It's not someone else - no one is coming in to do the run, take a walk, stretch the muscles, do the yoga, or even say the prayers of gratitude for you (or more correctly, me). 

It was a good early start and I managed a quick run in the predawn hours before my 7am depart to London. One big tick for some exercise done. And challenges overcome - do you know how great the temptation to snuggle back under the covers at 5.20 this morning?!

Sitting behind 3 men on the train I totally forgot about exercising my love and gratitude practice though and went into indignation, albeit with an amount of appreciation for life choices I've made!! Had I been Julia Roberts, wittily in Notting Hill or similar, I'm sure if have made an intelligent, cutting retort but I left it and tried to let their comments on various women, political situations pass.

I'm not sure at what point the penny dropped but by the time I was on the platform I'd remembered! Sending love and gratitude (silently) to everyone passing me was a great way to get back in touch with my appreciation for humanity. And, bless the men I'd perceived as misogynistic, racist types too, aside from other things, they truly made me appreciate the beauty of life once again.

Echart Tolle talks about how our training ground in mindfulness is real life, messy, chaotic family life, hectic business life, day to day normality, not merely reaching states of internal peace on retreat. Accepting, loving, being on a daily basis. Whilst I absolutely agree, some of us (and here I definitely mean me), need a training ground too. Practice enables us to find the peace we're seeking amidst the chaos. So maybe set aside some time, take 5 minutes to yourself and start to learn to love, to say thank you for all your blessings.

At one point, in a difficult situation I was recommend to read The Gentle Art of Blessing and since have recommended it onwards to many clients and people. It really relates to a simple but life changing practice and I'd love to recommend it here too.

With love and gratitude. Thank you for reading this and wishing you a love filled journey through life,

Em x

As I swam this morning watching the water move around me in the early morning sunlight it struck me; what if our kind thoughts really are like ripples on a pond? What if peace really does start at home like Mother Theresa said? What if each of us did a random act of kindness for a stranger every day in September? Or even just whenever the opportunity arose?

Reading A Course in Miracles, doing the associated workbook and alongside those reading David Hamilton's 'It's the thought that counts' has been some of the best holiday reading I've made time for. And has helped cement many of the concepts I've been aware of for years.

We are, powerful beyond our understanding and awareness. Whilst humans can create disaster, they can equally create miracles, lasting peace and harmony. I don't believe we need to feel disempowered because we can't do it all right away. My mossie bites have made me smile remembering the Dalai Lama's quote about size 'anyone who thinks they are too small to make a difference should try sleeping with a mosquito' or words to that effect.

So for world peace let's start at home. Find our own peace, let this ripple outwards, act with kindness in our communities, remembering that really we are all one and the same. Names divide us, labels separate us and yet who can say who is more valuable to the progress of our world - the ant who cleared up the dropped litter or I who dropped it? Who are we to judge any species, any nation, any individual? And maybe, just maybe, those ripples will ripple everywhere.

With peace and love,

Em x