Mindfullness in the form of baking

Being mindful is a form of self awareness- something that's a real popular buzz word in the mental health field at the moment. Practicing mindfulness is seen to be really beneficial for positive wellbeing and there are many ways to do it.

I found a pretty mindful activity in the form of baking with my other half Beth yesterday. Have a look at her blog for the recipe and baking wisdom. I am currently writing this with the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the house!!

So we made some bread. Well.... Beth did some proper baking... she made an 8 stranded plait with mozzarella, pesto and herbs in it.... it was pretty impressive. Beth is a rather talented baker to say the least. She basically did all the baking and then left me to revert to being a small child again and gave me some dough to play with/make into cute shapes and just generally have some fun with!!

Here's what I made... the before and after pictures...


From right to left the ingredients are as follows:

1- Mustard seed roll

2- Caper roll

3- Garlic and parsley knot which has got the unfortunate appearance of a turd....

4- Parmesan, garlic and parsley plait

5- Should be a poppyseed pinwheel but the picture went funny and didn't load... but it is pretty honest!

6- Herby roll with mustard seeds, basil, parsley, mixed herbs, garlic and poppy seeds

7- A baked Stitch!

So... the process of baking involves patience and time. The bread requires a lot of kneading, especially if you're trying to put stuff into it e.g. herbs e.t.c. Also if you want to make an interesting shape like a plait or a knot then you need to have the patience to keep rolling the dough out as it's really springy and likes to go back to the original shape if it gets the chance.

So... clearly I am lacking in artistic and baking skills. However back to the original point I was making.... this is a really good activity for mindfulness.

Here are the pictures of the finished products! I was rather pleased with my effort!

And from a mindful point of view, I really found the process of making the bread really great for focusing on what I was doing and being able to just clear my mind and do something that wasn't too taxing but was a beneficial thing to be doing.

Beth and I then spent the next part of the afternoon doing some papier mache... who says we're grown up hey?!

A lovely relaxing a industrious day well spent I feel.

Loves xxxx

In memory of Matt Ryd

Now first of all I would like you to watch the video above. This is a video of a wonderful musician, Matt Ryd, and his story of having an eating disorder. I think his explanation and the things he says (or writes as the case might be) are truly amazing and very brave. 

My introduction to this wonderfully brave and talented musician came about in a very sad way indeed. I read a blog post by MGEDT (Men get eating disorders too) that was written in memory of Matt who very sadly lost his battle with an eating disorder recently. Initially the idea of watching the video knowing that this brave man had passed away felt wrong and wasn't something I wanted to do. However, I did go ahead and watch the video and I was glad, feeling really privileged to see what he chose to share as an awareness for eating disorders. 

MGEDT have a really important role to play in raising awareness of male sufferers of eating disorders. In their report of eating disorders in the media 'Warning this picture may damage your health'  B-eat found that the majority of individuals surveyed (72% in fact) could name anorexia as a type of eating disorder and only 3% said binge eating. The thing is, only 10% of eating disorders present as anorexia! There is also the common misconception that most eating disorder sufferers are female and are underweight, when in fact 80% of people with an eating disorder are overweight. 

Eating disorders do not just affect teenage girls. Anyone can be affected at any age, regardless of their gender, race, culturally upbringing or background. It is important to think about those individuals who may be suffering in silence as they don't feel they fit into the stereotypes so are ashamed to seek help or feel that they don't fit with what is expected so therefore don't have a problem. 

Matt Ryd's death is horribly sad, but hopefully some awareness may come from this tragedy and help more people to seek help that need it. 

Kate xx

Appearances can be deceiving

I was inspired to write something this evening after reading my wonderful friend Anna's blog. Anna has already featured in my blog recently... but hey she's so freaking awesome that she might as well have another mention! Anna blogs about mental health in a really brutally beautifully honest way. I think it's really reflective of how we should all talk about mental health issues. There's way too much stigma and avoidance about talking about it and as these issues can affect 1 in 4 people.... that's a BIG reason we should be shouting about it and making sure everyone knows. 

Anna's recent blog post chatted about the misconceptions of mental health. I came across this Marilyn Monroe quote recently and thought the two fit together beautifully. There always seems to be a certain element of surprise when people 'come clean' about having a mental health issue. Even I HATE that turn of phrase... but I'm using it to kind of reinforce and demonstrate my point. There's a feeling of 'wow... but you don't seem mad' or just a lack of realisation that people who struggle with mental health can totally look like normal people... Shock horror I know!!! I realise it's rather unbelievable that all people with a mental health problem don't wear a sign or a badge that says 'hey, I'm cray!!' but they don't... and often a huge part of the problem is hiding the fact there's a problem!!! 

So today I want to chat about a wonderful project called Time to Change  one of their current campaigns is called 'Talk about mental illness: we dare you'. I personally suffer from some mental health problems... not quite ready to completely talk about them out in the open... but I'm getting there and I think it's massively positive to do so. So yeah.... let's all talk mental health and move away from some of these crappy preconceptions and misconceptions. 

Loves xx 

Tomorrow I shall be more like my labrador

I've become a little too addicted to Buzzfeed at the moment. I'm not ashamed to say it... it's a fact. I just love all the interesting and useless facts and funny things that exist in the world and come together on the magical site that is Buzzfeed.

The other day... whilst browsing something along the lines of 'cute animals that are fluffy'... or something along those lines... I found this gem!

As I read the caption alongside the picture of this adorable labrador (I'm not biased much of course....) I melted at the cuteness of it! I thought about my own labs... pictures below... (Meg doesn't look this cute anymore.... but for everyone's positive wellbeing I felt it imperative to share her cute puppiness with the world!)  

Meg and Bert demonstrate this beautifully. Especially Bertie who hates the car. He looks at you before jumping into the boot with a sad look that clearly asks if he really has to get in the car. Despite his obvious worry and the fact that once in the car he practically melts into the floor of the boot until the journey is over, Bertie places all of his trust in us and still gets into the car. He trusts that we will keep him safe and take him somewhere nice, on a little adventure. 

As I was reading this and thinking about my own dogs; I started to think about how this would be a benefit in life. How actually taking the labrador approach and just looking at the world in it's simplest form without all the complications might actually be beneficial for us and our own positive wellbeing. If I think about myself... something which I am not all that comfortable doing... I realise I spend a huge amount of my time overthinking absolutely everything and anything I can. It's something that often leads to a huge amount of anxiety and above all a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME!!!!! If I lived more in the style of Meg and Bert and just accepted things happening as they come and think about the positive outcome at the end rather than any discomfort and yuck along the way... then perhaps I'd feel better overall. 

Therefore my goal is to be more like Meg and Bert... fingers crossed this won't extend to sniffing butts and peeing outside... perhaps that would be a little too far to go! 

Life is full of beauty.

'Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Smell the rain and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential and fight for your dreams.'

Today I'm feeling rather thoughtful. I'm not sure where it's come from but I've spent a little time today thinking about the world and all sorts of things. I spent a lovely relaxing afternoon with the wonderful Beth in town mooching about and now I'm feeling decidedly relaxed.

I don't think there's a particular theme to todays blog other than it being full of some shout outs really! I have some pretty awesome friends and family. A few of whom will feature in today's post.

The first is my little sister Lizzie. I find it funny to call her my little sister, as she's all grown up now and almost ready to head off to University. Lizzie has always been a bit of a style icon to me.... I can sense her head expanding as I write this!! She's always had a way of being able to put together outfits e.t.c. and just look effortlessly beautiful, demonstrated by these photos.

So clearly she got all of the attractive genes!! Anyway.... this stylish lady has her very own fashion blog. I think everyone should have a read. It's actually quite good.

http://elizabeebee.blogspot.co.uk/

I also want to share two other bloggies! The first belongs to my lovely honorary wife Beth and the second belongs to my lovely friend Anna. Now these two blogs couldn't really be more different! Beth's blog is a gorgeous homely look into her baking genius. Anna's is a beautifully realistic view of mental health and inside the human mind. Both are really good and worth a look.

http://thebakingginger.blogspot.co.uk/
http://annapob91.blog.com/

Fin.