August 2021: Mindful Self-Compassion Circles of Practice meditations

I shall begin by expressing how grateful I am for my black cat angel, Buddy who never leaves my side and covers me with his special kind of lovin’.

Having consulted a physiotherapist at the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine and being told that in all likelihood I have shoulder birsitis (from which it’s possible to recover completely), the pain began to lessen and by doing the relevant exercises and yin yoga, I gained slightly more mobility in my left shoulder to the point that I could tuck my violin under my armpit and pluck folk tunes on it.

I could still produce art while struggling so much: my digital art sketch, ‘Sunflower spider’ made Jan and I laugh, and I made a VN video of my most recent artwork (on my YouTube channel). Also out of the blue I had an encouraging comment from najjwai on Instagram which gave me a boost: “Thank you for sharing your work with not only us but the world. You are an amazing artist.”

I came off ‘proven to be addictive’ Twitter (again), and savoured life on my allotments: the yellow damsons I hadn’t been blessed with in 2020; the stunning Disco Mix dahlia and deep red hollyhock Rosea flowers I grew from seed this year; blackberry / mulberry mousse juice; my first plums; the resident black cat, Jody spraying up my sweet peas, and my cream and yellow daisy plant growing back in a bucket after slugs and snails had almost demolished it.

Courtesy of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, I came across their online Mindful Self-Compassion Circles of Practice meditations that take place three times a day. They’re proving to be just what I need: during the first meditation, I visualized Maya Angelou holding my hand as I lay in bed in a Bagneux hotel room. She told me, “Believe in yourself,” then I said to myself, “Give yourself back your gifts.”

Finally I’d like to share this wonderful poem by John O’Donohue, called ‘For One Who Is Exhausted, a Blessing’. Lots of you will identify with it right now, I’m sure.