Sharing

My name is Colin Eveleigh and I'm a Mindful Heretic (I'll explain later!). As you can see this website is all about sharing ~ I'm sharing and giving away freely my direct experience and understanding of what it means to be mindful in everyday life. 

 

I live in Petersfield, Hampshire in the UK, and I'm a retired and very active psychologist - mostly keeping fit, writing, making artwork (which you can see here in my gallery), DIY and enjoying the grand kids! I have an unusual background having first started out as an NHS psychiatric nurse in the 70's and then somehow ending up as a consultant organisational psychologist in the international corporate world.

 

Looking back, my career has been about helping people from all walks of life to solve their problems, achieve their goals and be the best they can be. Along the way, I acquired and used many tools and techniques. I had quite a collection and first came across mindfulness in 2002 and thought this was the best one yet! I did my training with Bangor University, started a dedicated meditation practice, taught others about mindfulness and mindfulness became the most important and vital part of my working and everyday life ~ it still is, but I no longer think of mindfulness as a tool or technique and ~ shock horror ~ I don't meditate as a formal practice any more. I'm not against it ~ far from it. I encourage others to meditate ~ especially beginners ~ and I think it's good, I still enjoy it, but I don't have a regular practice myself.

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In 2012, after 10 years of practice, study, retreats, teaching and direct experience of being and not being so mindful, I started a local group to share and pass on the good things I had learned. Gradually, my own practice became less frequent ~ it's pretty common to 'fall off the cushion' from time to time and in my case, I eventually chose deliberately to stand up and step away from the cushion all together. Others have talked about the importance of being mindful in ordinary everyday life, but they seem to see this as a bolt-on addition to the main act, which is the practice itself. I took a different direction that made being mindful in everyday life the primary thing. I'm pretty sure I could not have arrived at this point without my solid and dedicated years of practice, and I am certainly keen for others to start that way, have that experience too and continue to practice as a way of life if they want to ~ many people do.

 

Some people might consider that as a 'non-practitioner' I have failed. However, I have a mindful belief that I'm not trying to achieve anything any more and real life is where we need to be. Let's see!  In my experience, learning to be mindfully aware in ordinary/extraordinary everyday life is the real test of being mindful. Meditation is amazing, but I'm not convinced that living life mindfully to the full depends on meditation practice. In my experience, there is no time for practice in real life, we need to be mindful as life unfolds from moment to moment ~ to be present to the reality of what is ~ aware of whatever comes our way.

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In Sharing Everyday Mindfulness, I will give you the inside story and offer an insight into how I came to be mindful in everyday life (mostly and/or sometimes.... I'm only human!) There are free handouts and books I've written that you can download and free audio practices I've recorded that you can listen to. To benefit from all this, you don't have to join or subscribe to anything! 

 

Wherever and whoever you are in mindfulness, and whatever story brings you to this site, why not get in touch? Doesn't matter where you are in the world - let's acknowledge that we are all interconnected! 

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P.S. When you click them, any of the pages here on the website ~ especially the gallery ~ may take a few seconds to load.

Breathe.... it's an opportunity to be mindful!