I started writing this blog with an absolute rant about the death of MP Jo Cox - but this is no political blog so its sitting in my drafts until one day I feel calm enough to delete it!
Some of you will know that the last few weeks have been a bit tough for me health wise. This time it's not one big issue but rather 'Death by a Thousand Cuts'! Lots of little things have gone south and resulted in my feeling pretty down and despondent. Now like lots of people when I am down I turn to food as a treat - but certain foods for me make my symptoms worse - not to mention the extra KGs that my poor kidney has to cope with - so what else can I do to keep my mind free of gremlins?
Well obviously there is my knitting and crochet but I am now at the stage where knitting comes so naturally to me that I can knit and re-write the telephone book in my head whilst I am doing it! I love sewing too but of course its not always easy to sew 'off the cuff' as it were (and excuse the pun!).
So I got to thinking that 15 minutes is an optimum time....... think 'Lean in 15' which has been tremendously successful with both menus and workouts which take just 15 mins! 15 minutes seems long enough to do something - 10 just a bit too short and 20 starts looking like half an hour!! ha ha!!
I have been studying Dementia a little in the last year or so as my Father has early stage Dementia and my Grandmother (his mother) had it pretty severely in her last 15 or so years. I will do anything I can to keep my mind active and keep any signs of Dementia away (on the plus side my maternal Grandmother lived to 98 and was as sharp as a button right to the end!!!). So one thing which is good for our brains is to learn something new - and a lightbulb struck - which don't I try something new for 15 minutes everyday?
I have many colouring books my kids have brought me in recent years - but I wanted something more than colouring.....and in any case some of those Mandalas will take hours and hours to complete!
So this week I have been dedicating some time - well 15 minutes at a time of course - to learning to do Origami! Each piece of Origami is different and there are literally thousands of different things to make. I found some papers at Lakeland of all places and set my timer - I have done two so far!
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| This is a 'water bomb' which is a cute little box - not sure exactly how watertight it would be but the construction was interesting! |
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| A Swan - fairly traditional simple Origami |
So I am going to start my own #Mindful15 - why don't you join me!! Won't just be Origami - but lots of new things, have bought some brush pens for some lettering, some tissue paper for flowers, maybe some little cross stitch or a quick new recipe - the idea really is to finish something each time and not add it to the basket of WIPS - because thats the opposite effect of what I'm after - don't need any more UFO's haunting me in my sleep!
If you do join me then please use #Mindful15 on your Social Media (I'll mainly be using Instagram) and let me know how you get on
xx
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