An Online event with Anne Jirsch, founder of Future Vision
In these times of great change, are you wondering what your future will be like?
In this ConsciousCafe Online experiential workshop, leading futurist Anne Jirsch will give you tools which will enable you to take a glimpse into your future life. You will learn how to work with Future Vision, a powerful process which will help you to access insight from your future self. You will find out what your special role will be in the years to come and also learn how you can impact the greater good.
Anne Jirsch developed her own Future Vision Training program many years ago and her techniques have enabled thousands of people to glimpse their future lives and feel more confident about the future. Her organisation also trains coaches in her methods so that they can help others feel more confident about their future lives.
A recording of the event is included in your ticket price.
Anne Jirsch is a London-born professional futurist with a large worldwide following. Her client base includes: heads of industry, politicians and celebrities from the world of film, music and sport. She is the best-selling author of five books which have been translated into 14 languages.
She has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows.
Dubbed ‘The Queen of FLP’ (Future Life Progression) Anne travels extensively with her sell-out workshops and seminars.
Join psychologist and consciousness researcher Kirsty Allan for an inspiring evening with Conscious Cafe, exploring why being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) is not a weakness—but actually a powerful gift.
Kirsty reveals how high sensitivity, once overlooked, is fast becoming central to conscious leadership and community healing.
Learn how your deep empathy, creativity, and intuitive awareness are part of a rare and valuable processing style shared by just 20% of the population.
Through this event, Kirsty will guide you to embrace your innate magic, overcome common challenges like self-doubt and burnout, and step into your authentic purpose with clarity and confidence.
A recording of the event is included with your ticket price.
Kirsty Allan is a psychologist, author, consciousness researcher, certified coach, therapist and community leader (working with Broughton Sanctuary, Wyrd Research, University of Northampton and more). She explores what it means to truly be ‘highly sensitive’. Kirsty invites you to join her in a movement of sensitive seekers who want to thrive - to step up and into their authentic roles in life. "My aim is to help sensitive people self-empower themselves so they can do their highest good in the world".
Kirsty's websites are belong.theifcrowd.com and kirstylucindaallan.com/
The backdrop of heightened anxiety and uncertainty due to the pandemic has caused each one of us to react in different ways. Many people we live and work with have become less flexible, reverting to their biases and wanting to continue to do things the way they have always done even though the evidence may strongly indicate that we all need to change our ways of thinking.
This lack of flexibility impacts on all our relationships with other people. How does our internal anxiety and tension manifest itself when we speak to others? Do they feel safe to share their own fears and concerns with us? Do they feel included in the conversation, part of what is going on, able to contribute and experiment? How do we continue to work collaboratively without feeling the need to take control?
In this interactive online event you will have the opportunity to think deeply about how you engage in conversation with others. Using material from leading-edge thinkers, Sylvana Caloni will show you how to enhance your conversational skills.
You will learn techniques for:
Drawing on the work of leading-edge thinkers about intelligence and brain development, together with ancient wisdom and practices, you will have the opportunity to learn to become more competent in your communication during these times of high stress and daily uncertainty.
This is an online event. Please buy your tickets for this event on Eventbrite and we will send you the Zoom link the day before the event.
About Sylvana Caloni
Sylvana Caloni established her coaching business in London in 2004, following a 15-year career in global investment banking. She partners with high potential executives on a promotion track, with recently promoted executives and with established leaders to enable them to become more successful and to deliver improved results. Many of her clients are accomplished managers or experts who acknowledge that the transition to leadership creates additional challenges.
In her former role as Executive Vice President responsible for global equity research teams she probed C-Suite executives across a range of international industries and geographies. From these insights and perspectives, she distilled the essence of business management and market out-performance. Together with this she weaves an understanding of neuroscience, Conversational Intelligence®, adult development theory, systemic and ontological coaching and neuro linguistic programming to best suit her clients’ needs.
Sylvana partners with her clients to make the invisible visible; to develop their self knowledge and to become aware of how their presence, behaviours, values and attitudes impact others. She assists them to appreciate the nuances of the different working and communication styles of their culturally diverse teams. Her clients become more flexible leaders, able to listen more deeply and to have conversations that create greater understanding and collaboration.
Sylvana has held several leadership roles including; Founding Chair of the UK Chapter of Advance, a global network for Australian Professionals and former President of Women in Banking and Finance. She is currently a Board Director of the UK Chapter of the International Women’s Forum.
Sylvana cares about creating opportunities for disadvantaged children. She is a Trustee of the Friends of the Rose Bowl, a charity that helps to fund a youth club. She supports emerging leaders as a coach on the UpRising youth leadership programme and as a mentor at Regent’s University London.
Join ConsciousCafe Canterbury for a discussion and exploration of luck and creating your reality. We will look at the science, art and philosophy of how to be in harmony with yourself and others and how you can then control your own destiny.
Barry Fairburn a Metapsychologist has studied this topic in detail and will share with us his more than half a century of experience and original research. He says “leaving luck to chance may seriously risk your health, wealth and happiness!”
All are welcome to join on Monday 12th August, 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Venue: The Yoga Studio, Highfield House, Summer Hill, Harbledown CT2 8NH www.canterburyyoga.co.uk
Cost: £7.00 advance / £10 on the door
characters. She can use these visions to help a person to gain more self understanding and healing.ConsciousCafe Canterbury is hosted by Cora Kemball-Cook and meets once a month on a new topic. You can follow the Canterbury page for updates all the latest events.
"A SKIPTON-based group which sees members travel from all over the north to discuss life issues and share opinions has gone from strength to strength, say organisers."
ConsciousCafe Skipton has been featured in The Craven Herald, the local newspaper for of Skipton and the Dales. Our wonderful Skipton host Gina Lazenby was interviewed for the article - she had a lot of high praise for her growing and thriving group.
"A really vibrant discussion group attracting people willing to reflect and share on issues that are important to all of us, like relationships, making a new start, finding work you love, and creating connection. It’s very participatory and people say they appreciate the warm atmosphere we have created. People are craving the opportunity for thoughtful dialogue and to have their opinions and feelings shared and heard by others."
Read the original article here.
ConsciousCafe founder Judy Piatkis with Singapore group leader Hanna Krasnodebska, earlier this year.
Conscious Café Singapore met recently for another interesting discussion, this time on the theme of Compassion, with special speaker Anita Kapoor who introduced the topic and led the discussion.
Compassion is at the root of human contacts and relationships, but is it really evident in the way we are currently interacting with each other, or with nature? What are our personal experiences of compassion? Is compassion a clearly defined state of being or does it have a spectrum? Is compassion a dominant modus operandi currently? What can we do to bring back the compassion into our interactions and stop being a cutthroat?
Compassion is a virtue of our humanness. It is wired into our biology via the vagus nerve that transmits information to and from lungs, heart and organs of digestion and additionally serves the parasympathetic nervous system that is calming in opposition to the fight-flight response. It is our “nerve of compassion” that promotes altruism, gratitude according to Professor Porges’ Polyvagal Theory. There is also the “love hormone” oxytocin that is responsible for the social bonding.
The dominating concept of “survival of the fittest” that originated from Darwin’s evolutionary theory have been influencing societies and cultures for the past 150 years. There is a need in the contemporary chaotic, fragmented, competition-dominated world to shift into a kind and compassionate co-existence. Participants shared their experiences of how the education system ingrains and reinforces competitiveness, how workplaces value and reward it, and how at the level of individual interactions this can be a dominant characteristic. In the presence and pressure of constant comparison we either strive to fit in or isolate ourselves into our own personal world - a private reality, we get depressed, feel anxious. If we do not get that top prize we are no longer “unfortunate” - that term has at least a smudge of compassion. No, we become "losers".
That disconnection has been spreading. The rise of individualism, the emancipation of the individual in modernity from many societal structures has been, on one hand, a positive development, but on the other it's increasingly producing its own antithesis – tribalism, conformism. Yet so many of us are craving a true community to belong to.
Our group discussed the aspects of compassion as a spectrum of engagement. Often a compassion is mistaken with pity, the feeling of sharing the suffering of another human being, while compassion is the feeling of empathy and a desire to help, to alleviate the suffering. It is very powerful to hear a personal story and participants were generously sharing.
We touched on the importance of the self-compassion: that special kindness towards oneself that is interlinked with forgiveness towards our own errors, mistakes and failures. Various examples from personal practices on how to cultivate it were shared: looking after oneself, seeking physical comfort, letting go of perfectionism, practising mindfulness, being aware of emotions and shame arising, allowing oneself to seek help.
We concluded that there is rising awareness of the importance of cultivating compassion in children as well as in adults, and that we all as individuals can contribute by being aware of our daily interactions and response choices. Compassion in action.
This blog post is written by Hanna Krasnodebska, leader of ConsciousCafe Singapore. Follow the Singapore group page to keep up to date with upcoming meetings!
Conscious Cafe London hosted what can only be described as a brilliant evening with Christa Mackinnon, psychologist and shamanic teacher. After a networking drinks event, Christa presented a fascinating overview of the 'Power of Altered States of Consciousness'. Christa said that we are all so busy that it does not allow us the space and time to be as creative as we are capable of. We became aware of how frequently we have the opportunity to go into a different internally focused space and how innovative we can be in that space.
There was also a lot of discussion about ayahuasca and the power of plants, how they affect us and how we might use them to improve the lives of those who could benefit from their healing properties.
Afterwards we packed into a local restaurant for more conversation. It was a very memorable evening. Thanks to everyone who came.
This post is written by Judy Piatkus, founder of ConsciousCafe and leader of ConsciousCafe London. Follow the London group page to stay up to date with upcoming events!
Join ConsciousCafe Canterbury for a discussion and exploration of different states of consciousness and how we might discover them. We will look at aspects of Shamanism, dreams, visions and other altered states.
£7.00 in advance (ticket purchase at the bottom of this page), £10 on the door
Refreshments provided.
Venue: Highfield House Yoga Studio, Summer Hill, Harbledown, CT 2 8NH
Further info: Cora Kemball-Cook – corakc@hotmail.com Tel 07711 830275
Catherine Hill will lead the discussion on In Sickness and In Health, Making adversity work for you. In 1986 Catherine was badly injured in the Pam Am hijacking in Pakistan and since then has endured over 40 operations and constant pain. She wrote a book about her horrific experience and life after the hijacking, this was described as “inspirational and optimistic…convinces us of the unquenchable force of the human spirit”.
Catherine says she has learnt a huge amount from dealing with the challenges in her life and she will share some of her wisdom.
Cost: £7.00 if paid in advance or £10 on the door.
Refreshments provided.
Venue: The Conservatory, The Anne Robertson Centre, 55 London Road, Canterbury CT2 8HQ (parking available on site)
Relationships have changed dramatically over the decades. Back in the day most people simply got married. Few of us got any skills training, roles were more clearly defined, divorce was rare and expectations were radically different. Where did you learn from, did you just model your parents’ behaviour? Were you influenced by the movies we watched and Hollywood’s idea of romance?
Today authentic communication is what is needed, but are we fully prepared for that? Mutual understanding seems to be a rare gift in a modern relationship. Over 20 years ago, Psychotherapist Malcolm Stern realised the deep need people have for learning how to be together. Since then, he wrote his book Falling In Love/Staying in Love and his experience working with groups and individuals led him to be the co-presenter of Channel 4’s prime time relationship series Made For Each Other in 2003-2004. We invited London-based Malcolm to join us at Conscious Cafe Skipton in March to talk about how we can develop the necessary skills to transform our relationships.
Relationships are where we learn about ourselves
Malcolm opened the evening with a sharing about his own personal relationships journey and how he came to specialise in this area. He said that being in a relationship is one of the greatest tools we have in our lives because you can’t hide in a relationship. This is where we are most exposed -there really is nowhere to hide. You have to be willing to grow, whatever age you are, because life is always about learning who we are and how we are being. If you want to develop yourself then you need to be in a relationship.
It’s all about LOVE
A relationship is really an opportunity to practice the skills of loving. We only have one task in life that is to learn to love. As much as we need to look after ourselves, we can’t really do this in isolation. Few of us ever fly alone in this world. In quoting from ‘The Prophet’ (Kahlil Gibran) Malcolm said “Relationships will strip us to the bone, they will show us where the shadow is in play”.
The skills that we need to survive relationships, and for life in general, are kindness, thoughtfulness, listening and companionability.
Relationships are rarely problem-free
To create learning for our evening, Malcolm offered the opportunity for an attendee to step forward into the centre of our circle and present their relationship problems for insights. Malcolm pointed out that the group dynamic has enormous power in creating a safe space for opening up and sharing our wisdom, and the most powerful thing that can be offered is our presence and our ability for intentional listening. This depth of sharing would educate us all beyond anything that Malcolm alone could offer. If we can find out what the learning is in the relationship challenges we have, or have had, that is a true gift for all.
Having a sense of belonging is part of being human. It’s one of our most important basic needs. Where is your strongest sense of belonging? To a church, an organisation, a tribe on social media, extended family? Where is it that you feel most valued and recognised? Sometimes we can feel strongly connected to many people and many groups or ideas. Then again, we might move through periods of our lives when we feel disconnected, separated, perhaps lonely. Are there times when you have drifted away from an idea or a group and lost your sense of belonging? What was it that took you away, and what brought you back?
Feeling a strong sense of belonging to a greater community, a cause or even a circle of friends, not only stops us feeling alone, it brings happiness, motivation and wellbeing. What type of effort and practice does it take to build and sustain this connection?
This was the conversation that Conscious Cafe Skipton had when 18 of our community gathered in Avalon Centre for Wellbeing, near Skipton at the end of February. Here are the insights from the three questions we discussed.
Our discussions led us to express six key ways that help us connect and make us feel that we belong.
People thought the discussion was thought-provoking, enjoyed the different ideas expressed and liked having the opportunity to contribute and be heard.
More about Conscious Cafe Skipton events on our Facebook page.
Hanna Krasnodebska with some of the members of the recently launched Conscious Cafe Singapore group
On Tuesday 26th February 2019, Conscious Cafe's Singapore Group met at the cosy Reading Room to discuss the theme of “Love and Loving practices”, fitting with February’s holiday sentiments.
Hanna Krasnodebska, the group’s leader, started with the notion that love is an energy, and the highest frequency which connects us with the deepest part of ourselves; how love influences human biology, creating an internal environment for nourishment, connection and well-being.
The group discussed aspects of love in the context of forgiveness and gratitude, the giving and receiving. We talked about unconditional love, parental love as experienced from both familiar perspectives, that of a child in a family, and that of a mother who created and raised a family. One of our participants offered an insight: "a woman who experiences a rhythm of cycles has unique path marked with milestones of puberty, potential motherhood, life creating and nurturing family, menopause and becoming of a wise woman, a guiding elder.”
We explored self-love and how we find it challenging to accept ourselves as we are; how the family, community and wider environment influences us in our “quest for love and its expression”.
The gathering comprised of women and we observed that it would be very interesting and complementing to have a male perspective.
Conscious Cafe Canterbury is meeting on the fascinating topic of 'The Power of the Subconscious Mind'.
Our subconscious mind creates beliefs which can be baffling as they dictate patterns of behaviour that appear to be unwanted, unhealthy, negative and ultimately out of our control. Why do we do the things we do when we know they are not helpful, productive or sane?
Jo Price will lead us in this topic as we explore the workings of the subconscious mind. Jo from Reframing Minds is a powerhouse of interesting thoughts, questions and fabulous ideas around the workings of the subconscious.
Time: Monday March 11th 6.00 - 8.00pm
Venue: The Charles Dickens Room, The Anne Robertson Centre, 55, London road, CT2 8HQ
The conversation will continue afterwards in the bar of the Victoria Hotel nearby.
Cost: £7.00 if paid before March 10th or £10 on the door (Refreshments provided)
Since it's humble beginnings, Conscious Cafe Geneva's meetings have taken place at the MLC Café-Littéraire, a charming coffee-cum-bookshop in the heart of Carouge, run by the lovely Francis. Due to ongoing renovations, the café is set to close for while, which set group leader Debbie King the task of finding a new space.
"I thought it would be REALLY difficult," says Debbie. "So I set aside a day to go hunting for one in Geneva, thinking it would be the first of several expeditions. And guess what - I found three! Not a single person refused me. At the venue I liked the most, the patron simply opened his arms and said 'of course! Walk this way and look at this little room beside the bar which you can have all to yourselves FREE, whenever you want.' AMAZING."
Debbie left town feeling on top of the world, with the most powerful thought: the universe truly provides for a well-intentioned deed.
ConsciousCafe Canterbury held a wonderful, deep and honest conversation on the topic of uncertainty at The Conservatory, which is the perfect place with an intimate feel. Perfect to hold a thoughtful and mindful discussion.
Our conversation ranged far and wide from talking to the moon, and finding solace from the moon and nature. We realised that we need to accept uncertainty as part of life. We felt that religion may help some people deal with uncertainty by giving them something they could trust in and a feeling of something greater than themselves. One participant, Vicky, said it is best to “go with the flow and accept that we are just a little wave on the ocean”.
Each of our group looked back to a time many years ago when they faced uncertainty and dealt with it and looked at what they had learnt. Richard remembered that at a difficult time of uncertainty in his career, keeping a dialogue with everyone really helped him. Another participant said that she had learnt that uncertainty “bears a gift”, and “we can learn to thrive on uncertainty. Feel it, allow it and surrender. See what your gut feels”.
Everyone is different in their reactions to uncertainty. For some, it may trigger fear and stop them progressing whilst others feel the fear and uncertainty but don’t let it hold them back. What are your experiences with uncertainty?
This post is written by Cora Kemball-Cook, leader of ConsciousCafe Canterbury. Follow the Canterbury group page to keep up to date with upcoming meetings!
Thank you to all those who braved the snow to come to ConsciousCafe Geneva last night. We broke a record – one person had to get the train home to Bern afterwards! Our discussions on “2019 and Beyond – How can I be my best self?” were all about our values. It was fascinating that people prioritised very different values, and it helped with my life lessons on judgement to realise why people might not act according to MY expectations sometimes! Why are our values so important, we asked? Because they are our life guide and compass. They show us the way. They make us who we are. They are so important than when we live or work in conflict with them we can become ill, physically and mentally. Do we all live to our values? Even when challenged? We wondered, if asked, would your family and closest friends be able to say what your main values are? After very engaging discussions we ended by examining just ONE value we would like to strengthen in ourselves and a brief closing meditation focused on feeling, being and exuding that value as we went out into the world. Conversation at ConsciousCafe Geneva takes place at small tables, which we mix up several times, so the conversations constantly change and you meet new, like-minded people. For many reasons there always seems to be a very warm atmosphere and we all leave uplifted. It’s about the people contact I think, connecting on a deeper level than usual. And it’s really very beautiful! Join us sometime.
ConsciousCafe London met for their first 2019 gathering to enjoy a discussion on the topic of Expectations versus Reality.As soon as we began to explore the subject, it became obvious that expectations versus reality touches every aspect of our lives several times throughout each day.
We have expectations of others and expectations of ourselves. Sometimes we are much harder on ourselves if we fail to achieve our own expectations than we are on others who we feel have let us down.
We have expectations of how people will treat us - at home and at work - and few people are able to live up to our ideals. We have expectations of organisations, expectations of systems and expectations of technology. In our Western society we expect things to work. When systems fail us - as happens frequently - we often struggle with disappointment and frustration.
In Western society we have little tolerance for systems not working. If we lived in a more fragile society, we would not know what to expect on a daily basis. We also don't know what our expectations of the future of the planet might or should be. Our expectations are infinite and our knowledge very limited.
Our solutions to the problem of expectations versus reality included expressing gratitude for everything we have, focusing on what we receive from others that makes us happy rather than what makes us unhappy and doing our best to live in the present moment so that we are not constantly focusing on our expectations of what will happen in the future.
The topic was very enriching and people shared generously of their feelings - both expectations, disappointments and positive outcomes.
Thank you Gita Shri Kumari for a beautiful and inspiring meditation to start the event. Thank you everyone who took part. I hope I have expressed your experience of the event but do please add comments if I missed anything out.
We look forward to seeing you again soon.
** If you haven't been to a ConsciousCafe discussion before, come and join us. Everyone present took part in the above discussion. We explored the topic in small groups and then came together to share. Our combined exploration resulted in much personal discovery. It was a great afternoon.
Dear Friend,
ConsciousCafe has experienced a lovely 2018, full of expansion and innovation. We started the year with thriving groups in London, Bath, Bristol, Canterbury, SW Dorset (Dorchester), New Forest, Oundle, Skipton, Plymouth and Geneva. In March Nicola Foster facilitated her first discussion for ConsciousCafe in St Albans and in September John Sackett and Joy Sackett launched their new Bournemouth group. We have had several requests from people who would also like to launch groups. Viv Garbe will launch East Herts (Stevenage) in 2019 and Hanna Krasnodevska will create our second international group in Singapore early next year too.
Another first was receiving the special Editor’s Pick Award for 2018 from Kindred Spirit. For seven years now we have created the space for people to come together and explore a wide range of topics in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and non-judgment. During that time we have shared many deep and intimate conversations and have seen beautiful friendships being formed. We are all proud of what we have created and so it was a lovely gift to have our work recognised by Kindred Spirit who really ‘get’ what we offer.
Every group has a varied range of activities. Some groups have monthly discussions while other groups offer keynote speakers and events.
In London we have had a range of experiences. Isabel Losada’s talk about Sensational Sex in March was hugely popular and has also been very warmly received at our ConsciousCafe Plymouth and Canterbury groups.
Jane Bailey Bain talked about How to Create Your Future Story to packed houses in both Geneva and London. Christa Mackinnon’s talk to our group in Plymouth was sold out and she will be sharing her presentation with Q&A in London early next year. Our groups in Skipton and New Forest also offer a wide range of activities as well as discussions.
Meanwhile ConsciousCafe conversations have taken place on a huge variety of subjects. There is so much innovation and creativity among all our members and our Group Leaders have been taking full advantage of that.
In London we have explored Self-Love, Overload Anxiety, Courage (an idea which originated from our St Albans group), Creativity, and Self-Care. Mikkel Juel Iversen facilitated a truly memorable conversation about Homelessness and Dina Glouberman, known to many of you as the co-founder of Skyros, spoke about the themes of her newly published memoir. In the autumn patisserie chain Konditor and Cook offered us gorgeous space for Colin Smith who gave us an excellent workshop on Improving our Listening Skills. This turned out to be a particularly fun evening as we held a networking event beforehand followed by supper at Pizza Express afterwards. We have also enjoyed a Summer Tea and a Winter Festive Tea, having the opportunity to spend time together in a relaxed atmosphere on a Saturday afternoon with no one needing to rush to catch their train home.
When we first launched ConsciousCafe the world was not in so much turmoil as it is now. But as we approach 2019, after a challenging and difficult year for so many people globally, it is becoming increasingly important that we make the time to talk to one another about the things that really matter to each one of us. It is often only by speaking about them that we can truly explore what our thoughts and feelings and ideas are. And it is only by listening to one another in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect, that we can hope to be able to understand each other’s differences. ConsciousCafe offers that space and the opportunity to connect with likeminded conscious people who we might not otherwise meet.
We thank you for joining the conversation during 2018 and hope to see you in 2019. Please feel free to invite your friends to ConsciousCafe. So many people tell us that their lives have been deeply enriched by having the opportunity to join this community.
Every ConsciousCafe leader gives their time generously and freely. Huge thanks go out from all of us to Britt, Jo, Peter, Anne, Charlie, Cora, Helena, Gina, Nicola, Debbie, Grace, Alan, John, Joy, Viv, Hanna and all of you who are supporting them. All our leaders come from their hearts.
We offer a huge thank you to everyone who has helped us financially this year and especially our generous supporters. I work 2 – 3 days a week for ConsciousCafe and everything we do is funded by all of you who support our vision and our events. We always try to keep the price as low as we can so that everyone can take part.
As always, we are very grateful to Joyce Deen for her care in admin and book-keeping and to Kate Cowan who is responsible and thoughtful about all our marketing. We welcome Tess Burton who has just joined us to develop our social media profile.
If ConsciousCafe has nurtured your soul this year and if you would like to help us launch more groups next year so that more people can benefit from what we offer, please become a ConsciousCafe supporter for 2019 (£50 or £40 (concessions)).
You can find out more here.
Or if you simply feel moved to honour what we do in aiming to raise consciousness in the world through conversation and connection, please donate on our ‘From the Heart’ button on our website supporters page. Every small amount you are able to give us helps us to continue the work we are here to do which is to raise consciousness through conversation and connection so that, by developing mutual understanding, we help to make the world a better place to live in for each one of us.
We wish you all a very restful holiday and hope that 2019 will be a happy, healthy and abundant year for all of you and your loved ones.
With love,
Judy and the ConsciousCafe team
As ConsciousCafe Geneva ended 2018 with a Festive Finale last night I take a moment to reflect on the past year. We have had cafes on diverse themes such as Love; Wisdom; Time; Identity, Nationality and Nationalism; and yesterday Gratitude. We have been guided by inspirational speakers : Bonnie Fatio and “The Gifts I Give to the World”; Diana Ritchie on “Conscious Living through Sophrology”; Jane Bailey Bain on “Creating Your Own Life Story”; and Chris Burton on “Pivotal Moments that Shape Us”. We also had the great pleasure of having our Founder, Judy Piatkus, join us for a very special evening with “Two Inspirational Women". On each occasion our ConsciousCafes have lived up to their purpose, bringing people together to connect through conscious conversation and the profound interaction between strangers has been heart-warming and uplifting. It reveals the beautiful best of humanity. Each cafe has helped me to expand my ideas about the world and learn from the wisdom of others. I now count our regulars as good friends. All of these things I appreciate.
So how appropriate that we closed the year talking about gratitude before we partied a little. I shared some of the research that suggests that gratitude can affect us emotionally by lowering depression, stress and other toxic feelings, and by increasing self-esteem and fostering mental strength. It seems that being thankful can also have a positive impact on us physically with studies showing links to improved sleep, lower blood pressure, better immunity and healthier hearts. So our first conversation revolved around our reaction to this research and sharing whether and how we experience gratitude in our own lives. One woman’s words helped me to realise that when I say thanks for a glorious day/sky/event/friend it anchors me more fully in the present moment.
Debbie King, Bonnie Fatio & Judy Piatkus
We then looked at ways to experience more gratitude, in particular we tried out an exercise called “Three Good Things” where you write down three good experiences you had that day, even quite ‘simple’ ones, and how they made you feel. As I watched people share their notes I saw their faces illuminate as they remembered, relived and felt again the magic moments they had experienced that day. Things as simple as waking to snow, remembering a special hug, lunch with friends, the uplifting feelings that came from an exercise class. We realised that by taking this moment to reflect back on the day we appreciated events more fully. Incidents in time that would otherwise have passed by and perhaps not been long remembered. Some people write these daily memories on a slip of paper, pop them in a jar then give themselves the New Year gift of reading them at the end of the year. Forgotten moments are reawakened. Some years ago my husband gave me a ’gratitude rock’ which I still have, clasp when I pass it, and give brief silent thanks for my blessings. I shared this idea by giving everyone their own rock to keep, and we had our closing meditation holding them. Everyone chose their stone carefully – it’s important they feel just right in the palm of your hand!!
Studies state that cultivating gratitude does not necessarily reduce seeing the negative features of life – “people have no trouble seeing the bad stuff” – but it encourages us to acknowledge the good things and thereby open ourselves to the potential boost that saying thanks can give to our mind and body health.
What were you grateful for today?
References :
9 Powerful Ways Gratitude can Change your Life : Amy Morin
Can Gratitude be Good for your Heart? Paul J Mills & Laura Redwine
Our discussion group in Geneva is led by Debbie King, former Chief Probation Officer and Counsellor.
Click on our ConsciousCafe Geneva Meet Up page or Facebook page to message Debbie directly or for further information.
All of us are creative. At every moment we are creating the lives we want to live, the space we inhabit, the way we accomplish our work, how we relate to others.
These are some of the conclusions reached at our wonderful discussion on the topic of creativity at ConsciousCafe London this week. It was very special because when we came together and shared our thoughts we were able to access a deeper than usual part of ourselves and share it with others in what turned out to be a very rich and inspiring conscious dialogue.
For some people their passion for creativity is enjoyment of the actual process of creating, whether they do it collaboratively or alone. Some of us need people to witness our creativity for it to exist. Others are happy simply to create for their own pleasure. We may create material objects - art, sculpture, batik, rune stones – for the sheer joy of the experience and for others to enjoy. Or we might write our journals for our pleasure alone. Some people create conceptually - planning lessons, growing businesses, developing relationships. Not all creativity results in anything tangible.
All kinds of things may block our creativity – time for ourselves, space in which to create, willpower, responsibilities. Yet everything we do is an act of creativity – whether we think we are channelling our inspiration and ideas from some higher source or simply using the talents and skills that we were born with.
Our conversation seemed to leave all of us on a high. We had probed so deeply and shared from our hearts. The event had turned out to be one of the most exciting of ConsciousCafe conversations (and there have been hundreds of very good ones).
Thank you everyone for taking part. See you again soon.
JP
*The title of this piece is inspired by a line from the poem One Summer Day by Mary Oliver
What a fascinating evening we had at ConsciousCafe Canterbury - and it also generated a lot of discussion both immediately afterwards and in the proceeding days.
Our three speakers all came from very varied and interesting backgrounds. Louise Cox Chester came from a career in investment analysis and fund management but decided to leave this high flying world to set up Mindfulness at work ten years ago. Her organisation supports global corporations through designing and delivering mindfulness based training that brings focus, clarity and calm to people. Mindfulness at work has worked with over 250 organisations ranging from Cisco and Savills to Unilever and UBS. They also deliver mindful self compassion programmes in the NHS, teach in schools and run a not for profit organic retreat centre in Wingham.
Viv Moore is a Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) teacher with a background in nursing and psychology, she has been a University lecturer with a PhD in Psychology. She runs 8 week MBSR courses and she has specialized particularly in helping clients with severe chronic pain. Emma Slade or Ani Pema Deki came from the banking world and the story of her transformation from high flying banker to Buddhist nun is told in her popular book Set Free which she sells in aid of the charity she set up Opening your Heart to Bhutan. As a practicing Tibetan Buddhist she says that in Tibetan there is no word for “Mindfulness” which seems curious as the practice has come out of Buddhism!
It was surprising to hear that it is not easy to even define exactly what mindfulness is despite the word being in such common parlance these days.
Louise felt that mindfulness could be defined as loving connected presence either towards self or others or towards an object; it is about being present. Viv felt that the practice dealt with the fact of life being suffering and is about addressing pain in our lives. Louise felt that mindfulness helped people make better choices in their lives, it would enable them to have a pause between stimulus and response, it would help them to communicate more effectively and to give their full attention to colleagues in meetings.
We discussed the fact that the practice may not be suitable for everyone, if someone was recently bereaved then a mindfulness meditation would make them more acutely aware of their grief, also people with mental health problems might find it painful or difficult to practice mindfulness. Everyone agreed that yoga practice can be extremely beneficial for everyone as it was mindful practice that made people aware of their bodies.
It was felt that some people got benefits similar to meditation from running or other sports or even from playing a musical instrument. We were able to experience two short meditations and in the feedback one person who had never meditated before and was surprised that in a guided short meditation they were able to clear their mind.
This is just an overview of what we talked about and I am sure that many of you found other nuggets of interest which I have failed to mention. Do let me know your thoughts on the evening.
Cora
ConsciousCafe Canterbury Leader
Congratulations to Judy Piatkus, our founder, on being the winner of Kindred Spirit magazine's Editor's Pick Award 2018.
This is a relatively new category in which Claire Gillman, the editor, chose someone whom she believes to be worthy of recognition for the important and meaningful work that they are doing.
Judy is absolutely delighted to have been chosen and wishes to share the award with all the ConsciousCafe Group Leaders and Supporters who work with her to raise global consciousness and connection through conversation.
Click here to see Judy saying 'Thank you'. Judy video
ConsciousCafe is a not-for-profit organisation, a friendly and welcoming community, a place to live life consciously.
Our discussion group in Geneva is led by Debbie King, former Chief Probation Officer and Counsellor.