Learn how to be powerfully responsive instead of instinctively reactive with John Quill, Teacher of Mindful Self-compassion.

In this valuable event John Quill will share his experience and belief that you can consciously add the special ingredient of kindness to your day-to-day practice of life, whether or not you already practice mindfulness or meditation.

When you have a problem that is causing you anxiety or when you think you have done something wrong and give yourself a hard time, or when you get emotional, you always have choices. But in the heat of the moment, many people, even the most mindful and conscious of you, can react with

- Fight: blame yourselves and struggle to regain control, or pick an argument with someone else
- Flight: isolate yourselves and close down, or avoid the real issue by doing what the other person wants to keep them happy
- Freeze: worry about whatever happened or might happen, and get more and more anxious as you overthink things

The good news is that, when you find yourself reacting in these ways, you can help yourself, and other people, by mindfully noticing what's happening, and introducing kindness. You can do this by, very consciously, taking a mindful moment to pause, and take a breath, and breathe in kindness. This can soften everything, take the edge off the emotional reactions, and lead to choices that are better than if you choose from judgements of self or others.

This approach is especially important at times when you might not like the situation you find yourself in or you might not like yourself at that moment or the thoughts and judgements you are having. That's when you can find yourself trying to control events, even though, in reality, there's not much that can be changed through control.

However, along with kindness, you can allow the current reality to be whatever it is, pause your reaction, learn from the experience, and then make even better choices. This is not giving in or giving up, rather it's stepping away from whatever's happening before stepping forward into the next moment.

This all takes practice, and there isn’t a magic key to make it happen instantaneously. And certainly not in ninety minutes!! However John will give you a taster experience of Mindful Self-Compassion and answer your questions, and if you like what you hear you can join an eight-week Mindful Self-compassion course with John or with another teacher.

A recording of the event is included in the ticket price and will be sent to everyone who registers. Once you've registered, a Zoom link for the event will be sent to you the day before.

About John Quill

John is retired, following nine years as chaplain in an independent girls school, where he developed his interest in mindfulness and was trained to be a teacher of Mindful Self-compassion. Before that he was a management consultant following time as chief executive to two charities - a hospice and a training agency.

That followed time as a manager in local government, before which he worked for Worcester Diocese in the area of social responsibility. He came to that after working in two parishes as a newly ordained priest in the Church of England, though his approach to spirituality has shifted from religion and the worship of an external god, to an inner spiritually that he accesses through the practice of mindful meditation and kindness for himself and others. Before all that, and straight from school, he became an accountant.

He brings a rich mix of experience to the service he offers in retirement of support for others. This includes the eight week course in Mindful Self-compassion, and individual coaching and support based on mindfulness and kindness for self and others. He is also a trained teacher of Mindfulness to children and is available to offer this support to schools and individual children, as well as a Parenting Workshop based on the same principles.

His website is https://compassionatecoaching.co.uk/.

Tickets start from £5.95.

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