Mind Insight

29/10/2026

When in doubt, walk.

You know the feeling. You’ve read the same email four times. The decision you’re facing has gone round in circles all morning. Pushing harder isn’t getting you anywhere.

That’s often the moment to get up and leave the desk.

Movement unsticks thinking. In a Stanford study, Oppezzo and Schwartz (2014) found that walking raised creative output by around 60% compared with sitting. It isn’t procrastination. It’s a different mode of brain function.
Ten minutes is enough to shift your state. Edwards and Loprinzi (2018) found that a brisk 10-minute walk reliably lifted mood. Time outdoors also brings cortisol down, with the greatest effect at 20 to 30 minutes (Hunter et al., 2019).

Where you look matters too. Screen work holds your gaze and attention in a narrow, effortful focus. When you lift your eyes to a wider view, such as sky, trees, or distance, your attention gets a chance to restore itself. That’s what the Kaplans’ Attention Restoration Theory describes, and it’s why you often come back with a clearer sense of perspective.

If you live with chronic pain or persistent ill health, a short, gentle walk at your own pace still counts. The aim is to change state, not to hit a step count.

So the next time you feel stuck, try this before you push on: 10 minutes, outside, eyes up.

What helps you get unstuck during the working day? I’d love to hear in the comments.

28/10/2026

“You teach mindfulness. Surely you don’t get anxious?”

Or stressed. Or angry.

I’ve been thinking about this. There’s an assumption that if you teach something, you must have mastered it, and that one slip knocks you off the pedestal.

I think it comes from one of the biggest misconceptions about mindfulness: that it will make everything OK. That you’ll stop feeling uncomfortable emotions, or reacting in ways you later regret.

I don’t believe that.

Life will always bring challenges. It’s in meeting them, again and again, that we build the flexibility, skills and resources to stop difficult situations spiralling in directions we don’t want.

So no, I don’t think you need to be perfect to teach mindfulness. Often the best advocate is someone who has their own practice, has faced real difficulties, and keeps showing up anyway.

If you’ve tried it and struggled, you’re not doing it wrong. None of us reaches adulthood able to think clearly under pressure. It’s a skill we have to learn, and that takes time.

Think of it as an investment in yourself: your health, your ability to perform at your best, to lead, to stay steady, to build the relationships you want, and to succeed as you define it.

Which of those would you like more of?

21/10/2026

“Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more.” – Mother Teresa

Most of the professionals I work with aren’t short on ambition. They’re short on now.

In 2010, Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert at Harvard published a study in Science tracking thousands of people through their day. They found our minds were somewhere other than the task in hand around 47% of the time, and that people were measurably less happy when their attention wandered.

When you’re running a business, leading a team or managing a long-term health condition, the pull to live in the next thing is relentless. Planning ahead has its place.

But a nervous system that is always bracing for what’s next never gets to stand down.

Coming back to the present moment isn’t about switching off. It’s a trainable attention skill that sharpens focus, steadies your stress response and changes how you relate to pain.

This moment is enough to start with. Where is your attention right now?

16/10/2026

When I left the corporate world to train as a chiropractor, I kept repeating one line to myself:

"Whenever there is forward movement, there is turbulence."

It was the right decision. I knew that. But it still felt shaky, and some nights my mind had a long list of reasons why I shouldn't do it.

That line helped me then, and it helped me again years later when I finally left India.

Think about it.

Planes shake on take-off. Rivers are roughest where they're moving fastest. Doubt often turns up precisely because we're heading somewhere new.

Here's how mindfulness helps me through it:

• Expecting the turbulence, rather than treating it as a sign something's wrong.
• Coming back to my why, over and over.
• Not judging myself for wobbling. Kristin Neff's research shows self-compassion makes us more resilient.
• Trusting myself, because I've got through hard times before.
• Being patient while the way forward becomes clear.

Mindfulness isn't a wellness fad. It's a tested way to stay steady and keep building the life you want.

If you're feeling the turbulence right now, maybe it just means you're finally moving. 💛

14/10/2026

“I can’t sit for hours.”

I hear this a lot. It’s one of the main reasons people dismiss mindfulness: the time commitment. And if you live with pain or stiffness, the idea of sitting still for long stretches is a non-starter.

So what if you didn’t need hours a day? What if mindfulness wasn’t another item on an already full to-do list?

You can train your brain with short, regular habits built into what you’re already doing:

One conscious breath before you open your inbox
One pause before you speak in a tense conversation
One moment sensing your feet on the floor while the kettle boils
One look up and out of the window between tasks

This isn’t a watered-down version of the “real thing.” It’s how the brain changes. Donald Hebb’s principle, that neurons that fire together wire together, explains why repetition matters more than duration. Small, frequent practice strengthens the pathways that help your nervous system return to steady more quickly.

One small act at a time.

What’s one thing you could do today to train your brain for more calm and ease? I’d love to hear in the comments.

09/10/2026

Do you ever make a big decision, feel completely sure it's right… and then lie awake at night listing every reason not to do it?

I've been there. I started seriously considering leaving India in 2017, and I finally left in 2023. Covid certainly got in the way, but honestly, a lot of that time was me arguing with myself.

Mindfulness is what helped me move forward. Not as a nice idea, but as something practical I used every day:

• I accepted that doubts were going to come. That's just what happens with big change.
• I kept bringing myself back to why the change was right.
• I stopped judging myself for having doubts. Kristin Neff's research on self-compassion shows that kindness towards ourselves makes us more resilient, not less.
• I trusted myself. Most of us have already been through hard times and found our way.
• And I was patient while the path became clearer.

Mindfulness isn't a wellness fad. It's a tested way to stay true to yourself and create the life you want to be living.

Is there a change you've been putting off? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

07/10/2026

How much lighter would things feel if you stopped expecting yourself to have all the answers?

Here's the thing: your brain is a prediction machine. Neuroscientist Karl Friston's work on predictive processing shows we're constantly trying to reduce uncertainty, which is why not knowing can feel so uncomfortable, even threatening. When you're running a business, leading people, or managing your health on top of everything else, that discomfort can quietly drive you into over-planning, overthinking and stalling.

But you don't need the whole map. Nobody has it, however confident they look.

What you need is the next step. And then the next one.

The Spanish poet Antonio Machado put it beautifully over a century ago: we make the path by walking it.

What's one small step you could take today? Share it below if you'd like. You're not on your own with this. 💛

30/09/2026

How many steps have you taken today without noticing a single one?

We walk constantly: to the car, round the supermarket, back and forth to the kettle. And for most of those steps, our minds are somewhere else entirely, running through the to-do list, replaying a conversation, planning tomorrow.

That isn't a personal failing. It's the default. Research from Harvard (Killingsworth and Gilbert, published in Science) found that our minds wander for close to half of our waking hours, and that we tend to feel worse when they do.

The good news is that those autopilot moments are also the easiest place to train attention.

Next time you're walking anywhere, try this for just one minute:

Notice your feet making contact with the ground
Feel the air on your face
Tune into the sounds around you

That's it. You don't need to slow down, close your eyes or find somewhere quiet. Nobody around you will have any idea you're doing it.

Each time your mind drifts and you bring it back, you're strengthening the neural pathways that support focus. Attention behaves like a muscle, and everyday walking is a gym you already belong to.

Where do you walk most often in a normal day? That might be your best place to start.

29/09/2026

Back pain getting the better of you?

Try KCR to get back to more of what you love.

Appointments available in Cheltenham.

Link for more information in the comments.

When they said, “Choose a pumpkin for the school,” he may have misunderstood the assignment… 🎃😂

Good job he knows someone who does KCR!

24/09/2026

You learn a lot about yourself when you're running.

I ran the Run Cheltenham 10k at the weekend, and it went badly. I felt awful from the start, and it didn't get any better. My training had gone well and I'd prepared properly on the day. Sometimes running is just like that.

I came in five minutes slower than last year. I was frustrated at first, but my time is still right where it should be for my age, experience and ability as a dedicated recreational runner.

What got me round was a good dose of "I've started so I'll finish" and a lot of smiling. That's a tip from Eliud Kipchoge. Change your facial expression and posture, and your brain takes it as a sign that all is well, which then reassures your body. There's research behind it too. A 2018 Ulster University study found runners who smiled used energy more efficiently and found the effort easier.

Did mindfulness help? It's probably the main thing that got me through. Jelly Babies helped too.

Will I do it again next year? In all likelihood, yes. It's wonderful to be part of such a great community event. (Once it's over!)

Were you running on Sunday, or cheering from the side? I'd love to hear how you got on. 👇