Unexpectedly, the other day my son presented me with a white plate.  On it was a cup of raspberry herbal tea and one perfect pink camellia.  Utterly perfect in it's simplicity and thoughtfulness.  He made a comment that maybe he should have put more flowers on it, I told him that one was just right.  

Sometimes it is too easy to pick out our weaknesses and more difficult to recognise strengths.  In the journey of being the best I can be I am turning my focus to strengths.  Out of curiosity I completed the VIA Institute character strengths survey.  I have included links to this in my resource section.  It is interesting that my top strength is deemed to be perspective "Being able to provide wise counsel to others, having ways of looking at the world that make sense to oneself/others".  I wonder what yours is??

Last Friday i stood in an alpaca field with my son.  We were let in by a lovely lady whose business we were visiting.  My son is interested in knitting and crocheting and I wanted to take him where he could see some of the animals who give us wool.  One of the tenets of mindfulness is that we use our senses to connect with the present.  By providing him with a practical experience of where some of the wool he uses comes from my hope is that he feels a part of this connection; that it adds a bit of mindfulness to his creations and an awareness of our inter connectedness..

Mindfulness is not just sitting still and meditating.  When we incorporate it into all aspects of what we do, we are choosing to live a fuller, happier and more thoughtful life.