What does it mean to live a life less serious?

/ George Halfin / Leave a comment

Does it mean you need to be happy all the time? Definitely not! Does it mean living a blissed out life where nothing happens? Definitely not! In fact it’s been funny watching myself whilst creating a book for the last two years. It has been a lesson in continually taking my life less seriously moment by moment.

The week before last, this meant dealing with my son needing stitches in his head after falling on a step the day before A Life Less Serious was launched.

This resulted in me spending most of the time I was launching the book on social media doing it from hospital waiting rooms with dodgy internet connections, whilst still being there for my son.

What did I learn from this and continue to learn from these experiences? – The more we are present to what is happening now moment to moment to moment – The more we are able to deal with life moment to moment to moment, present in the now rather than caught up in the drama of what our imagination and habitual thinking wants to create in the movie maker of our heads. I wish you a life less serious!

I’m hosting two one hour zoom events with some of the amazing and inspirational women who shared their personal stories in the book.

The first one is tomorrow Thursday 24 March at 8pm so if you’d like to join us you can register here
https://lnkd.in/ezBiyeDd
The other one is next Tuesday 29 March at 8pm so if you would like to joins us you can register here.
https://lnkd.in/em-W44Um

Reflections on lockdown

/ George Halfin / Leave a comment

In the last week of August we went camping in South Devon. It was a bit late in the summer but due to work commitments. it was the only time we could go. We were all looking forward to getting out of London and having a holiday and my husband and I hoped we’d have time sit back and relax and have time to reflect and enjoy drinks outside our tent each night once the kids had gone to bed.

It turned out it wasn’t going to be that kind of holiday!

On day one my mobile phone took a dip in the sea thanks to me chasing a Sainsburys bag into it, and our ipod with all our relaxing tracks also went with it. I cried bucket loads not for the concerns I had about if I was still in contract or had to buy a new phone. It was more of a release of all the emotions and anger and upset of the last 6 months with both our precarious job situations and home schooling, lockdown etc that came pouring out. It was cathartic.

My jeans and the rest of my clothes got soaked so I had to wear my sarong a vest and my rain jacket the rest of the day. Even when we went to Dartmouth quite a smart and beautiful seaside town! (Tee hee). I went into shops to see if I could get any trousers to wear that would dry quicker than jeans and was told I wasn’t able to try anything on. Being in between sizes this isn’t something that ever works for me especially with trousers so I was left to wonder the streets in my sarong and rain jacket. Another gift of Covid!

What can I say about the weather – it was changeable! We got the full English! –We had to take clothes for all weathers every day. We had heard there may be storm but having survived one in our tent before we thought we’d be OK. On Tuesday morning we woke up to windy weather. I went to the loo at 6.50am and thought it wasn’t too bad. At that moment, a gust of wind hit our tent full on and ripped our porch. It then started collapsing and I had to scream for my husband to get out of bed! – Luckily, some kind teachers came to help save the day and we quickly got the kids in our car while we salvaged our stuff and took down the remains of the porch and manage to salvage our tent. Later another pole broke but we managed to use the other spare one from our porch and the farmer who owned the field kindly leant us his trailer for the rest of the holiday so we could store our food and kitchen equipment in it.

We took the kids to an otter sanctuary in the pissing rain, sheltering on an empty train platform to have our lunch. Then thought we’d drive round Dartmoor National Park. As we were driving through the skies suddenly cleared. We missed an official viewing spot so my husband took a small road and we parked up and started to walk up towards a Tor (rocky outcrop).  When we got there, we saw probably one of the most beautiful views I’d ever seen. It was 360 degrees in all directions and beautiful and varying countryside in every direction you looked.

I have many happy memories of the holiday playing ‘dessert charades’ with the kids, my son teaching us the Charleston, eating the best scones I’ve ever had in the pissing rain and wind! Watching my husband and the kids body board in the pissing rain while I took shelter under some rocks!

Yes, there were times when my husband and I bickered and got angry at ourselves and each other and our kids managed to get us to stop. Yes, we had our less good moments and there was even one time when I even hankered after my lost youth and figure after seeing a load of 20 somethings on the beach. But none of these lasted long.

We didn’t get the time to chill out and relax like you might do on a beach holiday. We didn’t even get much of a chance to speak at night – we were too exhausted!  What we got and what saw was that whole holiday was like a metaphor for the last 6 months and what we had learnt during that time.  When we went with the flow of life and dealt with each thing as it came and were open, things occurred to us to do. We could enjoy the moment in all its craziness. When we fought it, we were mainly fighting with ourselves. Yes there was stormy weather but we were able to ride it out and even enjoy it just like we can with our stormy thinking. When it cleared even more beauty and clarity came into view just as it always does.  You see there is always light, beauty and  360 degree views that help us work out what to do moment by moment we just innocently cloud it by getting stuck and caught up with how we want things to be different from how they are now or worrying about the future. I say this as much to me as to you because its something we are constantly forgetting and remembering.

This is a time of year leading up to the Jewish High Holidays that many people see as a time of self reflection and even though I didn’t get the time I thought I would to reflect in the traditional sense  I learnt you don’t always have to stop completely to learn from life lessons you just have to pick up the clues as you go and learn from those.

To those celebrating the Jewish New Year today and everyone else I wish you health, happiness, peace of mind and light, and liteness in these strange and changeable times.

Much love to all.

PS Thanks to my NisaNashim Jewish Muslim sisters who I shared this with and helped me to see this to be able to share it with you.

New Year Reflections On A Fragile Planet

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Over Christmas I went to several sessions at Limmud (a Jewish Festival of learning) about the environment.

In one of them we talked about the story of a person who made a hole in a ship. Why did they do it? To dip their feet in the water? To fish? To cool down? Why? And what did the other people do to stop them?

When reflecting on the environment we are all in our own innocent way making holes in the ship we call the planet;- by our over reliance on using plastics, electricity, petrol, convenience products, excessive consumption etc. Sometimes we are not even aware of what we are doing.  Continue reading →

And That’s Just The Tip of the Iceberg by Chaya Cohen

/ George Halfin / Leave a comment

I’ve been thinking of icebergs recently.

No, not because the weather is particularly icy.

I have an image in my mind of an iceberg with the tip visible and the huge frozen mountain submerged underwater, totally hidden.

With the help of google images and freeware photo sites, I found some images that fit what I’m picturing.  Here they are:

 

 

 

 

And here is a illustration showing how most of the iceberg is submerged.

If not the weather, what prompted me to think of icebergs?

I’ve been thinking of ourselves.

When asked how they are, people respond differently.  Some give a big smile and a resounding enthusiastic reply.  Some ignore the question.  Some give a detailed answer, even detailed enough to make the casual questioner regret having asked.  Some give a resounding complaint.  Some people address their financial state.  Or their parents’ health.  Or their diet progress.  Or this week’s update of the current serial story going on in their life.

Truthfully, though, all of these options address the top 10% of the iceberg that is visible.  Perhaps, actually, the top 2% would be more accurate. Because we as people are amazing.  Infinitely so.  We have a pure soul.  We have tons of potential.  We do so much in the background, besides what we are also doing.

And we are so much more than our accomplishments.

We ARE.

We are human beings.

How we are feeling and doing is so superficial.

Even when I’m in the middle of a drama, that drama is not ME.  That drama is the top wave in the ocean.  It reflects what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking.  But I am the ocean.  When the wave crashes, the ocean isn’t in turmoil!  The upper layer is!  The ocean is just fine.

 

 

 

 

As are we.  Just fine, just great, with the visible tip of the iceberg doing some wild dances.

Chaya has been learning about innate health with and from me on and off for several years. As she has limited access to the internet she kindly gave  me permission to post it on her behalf so that you can benefit from it too. She now teaches innate health in her own right while raising a family in Israel. If you would like to hear more from her get in contact and I’ll pass your details on to her.

I Get Triggered Too

/ George Halfin / Leave a comment

So l was at work and even though I was really busy something compelled me to look at an incoming email on my phone even though a voice inside me advised me not to. When I did the email was something about a mistake that had happened that could have financial implications for us, but the people who sent promised to try and sort it out for us. Well I got really wound up, angry, worried and distracted to the point when I couldn’t concentrate on my work. Thinking of all the things I should say to the people that in my eyes made the mistake and what the implications would be if they couldn’t sort it out etc. Thank goodness it was close to lunchtime and luckily I had the good sense not to quickly send a rude/concerned/reactive email back.

I went out for a walk to get some air and called my husband who I’d forwarded the email to. He reassured me that they would sort it out and offered to respond to them for me in calm and grateful way, something I was clearly incapable of! I thanked him and put the phone down but I was still really wound up. I bought my lunch and on the way back to the office as I going over and over things in my head I suddenly started laughing. You see at that time I had been co-facilitating a group for people struggling with issues around sex drugs and alcohol and in the groups we talked a lot about what triggers them to do what they do. Then it suddenly struck me, I have a habit of getting anxious and worried about what I term as ‘official financial stuff ‘and if I have to deal with anything related to this then I notice I get really triggered and angsty and take it all very seriously. That’s all that was happening now. Continue reading →

What we can all learn from School for Stammerers

/ George Halfin / Leave a comment
I watched a documentary called ‘School for Stammerers’  #stammerschool on TV last night and balled my eyes out throughout the whole thing. What caused me to have such an emotional reaction? I didn’t know anyone in the documentary and I don’t know anyone affected by a stammer?
When I reflected on it, it struck me that yes, the people in it were helped by learning how to use their diaphragm in a different way, but over 80% of what was causing their stammer was their thinking about it.
So throughout the programme they were coached on seeing that it was their thinking about their stammering that was causing the stammer to get worse not just the stammer itself.
Once they could see beyond their self-limiting beliefs they were able to say their name confidently (a real triumph), speak in front of a crowd of strangers and loved ones for the first time (way beyond what they could have imagined). Many of them had spent the majority of their lives doing anything and everything in their power to avoid speaking in public. For example using friends or family to speak for them or finding ways to hide themselves away so they didn’t need to speak at all (eg a 54 year old man became a long distance lorry driver). Some of them had built their whole lives on this! How much thinking and energy they spent to avoid dealing with the thinking about their stammer? How many strategies had they created to avoid situations where they had to speak? -And yet within 4 days they were able to go beyond their thinking and be who they truly were in the world.
To me there is a universal message in this for all of us. Yes these people had a stammer but how many thoughts, assumptions and beliefs do we all have knowingly and unknowingly, that hold us back? How much potential would there be in all of us if we were able to see that we innocently made this all up to protect ourselves and that it wasn’t true? Just like the people in the documentary saw that what they thought people/the public thought of them with their stammer wasn’t true, so their thinking about themselves wasn’t true.
That to me was the lesson of the documentary and why it moved me to tears. Because in those tears was the hope for you and me alike to go beyond our thinking and be who we are.

Continue reading →

It’s funny how life can look totally different from one moment to the next

/ George Halfin / Leave a comment

I’m constantly amazed how life can look totally different from one day to the next.

A few days ago I was fearful for our future and at times even felt like leaving my husband. I wanted someone to wave a magic wand to make everything better and magic us to a time when we could live a life earning enough to spend what we wanted, yet still both doing what we loved and spending lots of time with our kids. Continue reading →

Because I’m human

/ George Halfin / Leave a comment

Because I’m human I find life easier when I live my life as if I’m putting one foot in front of the other.

Because I’m human I find life easier when I remember that all there is what is happening now, ie me writing this, and that everything else that’s going on in my head is my made up creation.

Because I’m human I find life easier when I trust that everything will work out as it should irrespective of what I do because ultimately I can do my best but I’m not in control anyway.

Because I’m human I forget this…

Because I’m human and I forget this sometimes and I start to get interested in all the thoughts about what needs to be done.

Because I’m human and my thoughts create my feelings, the more I get interested in my thinking about what needs to be done, the more sped up and the more and more overwhelmed I feel.

Because I’m human I start collapsing all the things I need to do and all the different arrangements I need to make so they become bigger and BIGGER in my head and they seem insurmountable.

Because I’m human and I forget I sometime relate to my circumstances like they are me, and I start to think it’s because it’s the school holidays. It’s too much, I can’t juggle my kids, my job my life! I’m not a good mother, wife, colleague, daughter, person etc. etc. etc.!

Because I’m human I start to feel more and more overwhelmed by these feelings until I feel like a volcano about to go off!

Because I’m human when this happens I erupt like a volcano and I cry and I howl and I try and hide in the kitchen

And my children see me and I have to say ‘sorry mummy’s just got herself all worked up now’

And I cry and cry

And I think I’m an ‘Innate Health teacher’ I should know different!

But in that moment all I can see is how real my thinking feels to me and I cry and I howl, and I beat myself up for not being good enough and I go to bed crying and angry at myself.

Because I’m human and I get this way I can’t sleep and my mind is racing

And I realise it may be a good idea to listen to Syd Banks so I do;

But my mind is racing and I can’t hear what he is saying

But I do hear him say “Seriousness like life is a thought and this thought creates a feeling. And if you create the feeling of seriousness then you are in a very serious state.”

(And I hear laughter from the audience and him.)

Then I hear him say

” You are very liable to have stress, strain, sickness and unhappiness and jealousy and everything else… Now seriousness doesn’t help you do anything in life but destroy yourself.”

And even though I’m not quite ready to hear it something does resonate with me,
because at the back of my mind something knows that what he is saying is true

And eventually I fall asleep.

When I wake up I don’t feel 100% and I’m still beating myself up

But part of me knows that beating myself up is a habit

But I’m not quite ready to give that habit up.

Part of me also knows that I’m just taking everything very seriously at the moment; and even though I’m still doing it

A little compassion for myself creeps in

And eventually after a few days I remember what makes life easier and then I’m back again

Until I forget, which I do because I’m human, (sometimes for an hour, sometimes for a day sometimes for a week, sometimes longer).

That’s my version of being human. What’s yours?

Go on I know you have your version too

Because you are human just like me.

If anything I’ve written resonates with you and you are curious to find out more, please get in touch I’d love to hear from you.

Lessons from mouse pooh and machine gun fire going off in my head

/ George Halfin / Leave a comment

So last week my youngest was a bit off his food and I had this feeling that he was coming down with something. This led me to think that maybe I wouldn’t be able to go to work.

For two days he seemed OK but not great. I went to work one day and that night he had there’s no way to say this delicately a ‘wet fart’ and I knew then I most likely wouldn’t be going to work the next morning. With that at the back of my mind I gave the boys a bath and started to get them ready for bed. As a precaution I had been leaving bed mats around the house (as anyone would do who has experienced the full impact of a kids stomach bug) and I noticed as I got them ready for bed that a mouse had left a gift of a pooh on one of the mats by my son’s bed. I quickly disposed of it.

Then…

A machine gun fire of thinking started going off in my head!
Continue reading →

What is a drama workshop anyway? – How we all see what we want to see

/ George Halfin / Leave a comment

drama-workshopSo about a week or so ago it was a bit of a rainy Sunday so I decided to take the 5 and half year old to a drama workshop as I thought he may enjoy it. When I read the description I thought there would be some kind of making of sets involved and my son loves making so I thought it would be perfect for him. I obviously read the description wrong because it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. It turned out I wasn’t the only one because I happened to bump into two sets of friends at the workshop both of whom read it differently as well and expected it to be some kind of performance or something.

It turned out it was an interactive drama workshop where the parents and children had to take part! Needless to say I wasn’t that into it and neither were my friends and I can’t honestly say I did that well at playing along with it and fully participating myself. My son also wasn’t that keen and decided to opt out of some of it. I had also assumed it was going to be an hour and half but it turned out only to be 45 minutes, probably a good thing considering. Continue reading →