Meditation was best defined by the Dalai Lama as 'the process whereby we gain control over the mind and guide it in a more virtuous direction'. Earlier this month I talked about Mindfulness - the act of focusing on being in the present. But how does this differ from meditation?  Mindfulness is actually a form of meditation.   There are many forms of meditation apart from Mindfulness, including Transcendental Meditation.  In this kind of meditation a mantra or series of Sanskrit words may be used to help the mind find stillness. According to Deepak Chopra  the word mantra can be broken down into two parts: “man” which means mind, and “tra” which means transport or vehicle. In other words, a mantra is an instrument of the mind.  Other forms of meditation include: Zen.  This literally means  seated meditation.   Zen emphasises Buddhist teachings on the attainment of enlightenment through Sutras (scriptures or teachings) which are taught...

Do you remember the Sony Walkman?  When my sister was a teen she had one and I loved to listen to her cassettes.  Sony Walkman - kids today will have no idea what this is! Photo Credit - Pixabay Roll forward to 2004, and I was so proud of my  blue iPod mini with its white headphones. I loved it so much that I had my name engraved on the back.  Sheepishly, I admit I have no  idea what became of it.    In 2006, Beats by Dr. Dre (Beats) was founded by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine showcasing wireless headphones as part of their  line and boasting sound of the highest quality.  Commuters prided themselves in showing their shiny headphones off. Actually, the first commercially available Bluetooth headset appeared in  2000.   Bluetooth   was developed by   Ericsson in 1994 in Sweden and is ' a low-power  wireless connectivity technology used to stream audio, transfer data and broadcast information between devices '. ...

Love the beach?  But also love to spa?  Hot Water Beach is perfect for you. Hot Water Beach Hot Water Beach is a 2 hour drive from Auckland (State Highway 1/25).   The best time to visit is within two hours either side of low tide when hot water bubbles through the golden sand.  To get to the hot pools though we had to walk through the icy sea water so were really surprised at just how hot the water was! Standing in my own hot pool! Spades can be hired locally and  Moko Artspace  just opposite the car park is worth a visit.  A bit further down the road is Hot Waves Cafe which make wonderful house chai lattes. But the best of our visit to Hot Water Beach was a pit stop at the nearby Alan Rhodes Pottery Shop in  Whenuakite .  A lovely lady called Bobbie gave us a tour of the studio and the artist's house - a wonderful concrete labour of love.  We also got to see the firing pit.  I would highly recommend stopping off...

Being in London during the summer was a complete shock to my system.  It was past 9pm and yet it was still light.  I was woken by the sun streaming through the curtains before 6am.  In Zimbabwe there is very little variation on when the sun rises and sets throughout the year - its pretty much 6am to 6pm and when the sun sets its completely dark, there is no lingering twilight. The concept of Daylight Saving Time (DST) where clocks spring   forward and fall   back according to the seasons was introduced to New Zealand in 1927.  In the early hours of Sunday morning on 24th September the clocks will move forward by an hour.  This means that there will be more light in the evenings. I think the best part about DST is that combined with the Equinox (the plane of earth's equator passes through the centre of the sun's disk so that day and night are of equal duration) which will be on Saturday 23rd September, this truly marks the start of Spring. ...

In 2011, my sister gave me the book  ' Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world'  for Christmas.  I was surprised by one of the first exercises in the book which concentrated on raisins. The exercise encourages you to feel the texture of each raisin, smell it and  chew slowly .  By focusing on the raisin our mind is brought to the present moment. And that really is what mindfulness is - the ability to be fully present and in the moment.  Which sounds simple but can be difficult to achieve with the constant chatter in our minds. Today there are many resources that can help us to achieve mindfulness with apps like Headspace  and podcasts like  Meditation Minis . The practice is encouraged by schools and in the workplace.  "Pause, Breathe, Smile" is a mindfulness course delivered to participating schools in New Zealand.  Companies like Google offer mindfulness courses to employees such as  Search Inside ...