How to feel a little calmer while life has some challenges.

After last year's Christmas celebrations were "cancelled" for many of us in England due to surging Covid infections, this festive season was supposed to be extra special.  Somehow perhaps we could miraculously heal the isolation of the past festivities by having extra hugs and a third helping of Christmas pudding this time?  Even though I enjoy a quiet Christmas day with Martin, I also relish being out with others.  Whether that is having a mince pie with friends at their beach hut and playing with their twins or even simply having a winter swim and chat with other neighbours.  Last year we couldn't do any of these things due to restrictions, so this year I was going to do it ALL.  Or so I thought.  Except by the Wednesday before Christmas, my snuffly cold had worsened and I was in bed with a fever of 37.8 ℃.  Even though the lateral flow tests had been clear, with a fever I needed a PCR test.  Apparently I had about a 50-50 chance of having Covid rather than a bad co

Last weekend I actually went away for a much needed yoga retreat.  It was all the more exciting and poignant because I have not been to any kind of "group thing" since the pandemic reared its head.  Having delayed getting my vaccine for six months and then being ill for weeks afterwards, this was finally my chance to escape.  It wasn't even far away, just over an hour's drive but that was enough.  I packed a weekend bag (full of thermals) and left my house alone, for the first time in nearly two years! I arrived at my retreat destination, a lovely Quaker House in Surrey, checked into my spacious, warm room and wondered what on earth do I do now?  I had turned my phone off for the retreat, there was no cooking or tidying to do, no work on the computer, no internet, no micro-managing, no yoga books to study.  For a moment it felt rather unsettling and unfamiliar.  And then I remembered, I was supposed to rest, relax and enjoy the present moment.  Or failing that, I cou