It's 1 September!

Those who know me well know that I suffer badly from seasonal affective disorder or SAD as it is helpfully known. Last winter it almost finished me off but this year I am not going to let that happen despite my decision to stay in London and not return to the bright light of Madrid. So what does that mean? It means dusting off my light box and using it every day, getting up and outside as much as possible, watching my diet, lots of swimming and lots of doing good things that make me happy. I am not going to fall into the trap of moaning about it if I can. I am going to try and stay positive and keep fighting it.

One of the things that really helps me is meditation and reiki healing. If I give healing, I get it back threefold and it really does make a difference. Last week I attended a healing event in central London where I gave healing to around eight different people. I was on a natural high for at least 24 hours. Then Saturday involved a flash meditation mob meet up in Trafalgar Square and this was also fabulous. Despite the rainy weather that day, it stayed sunny from the start to the end of the meditation session. There was a beautiful energy in the group with people from all walks of life gathered in front of the National Gallery. I have never done anything like this before and it is kind of addictive! If I can, I plan to go to the next one on 21 September in Marble Arch which is for International Peace Day. It will be beautiful.

Tuesday news

Time is flying by now and I only have 12 working days to go. Very excited about moving on to next stage in my life journey.

Well I am now a fully fledged Reiki healer and it is really exciting. I love giving and receiving healing and it is definitely helping me. That and the sunshine and the prospect of travels to come.

Went to a Vaughantown meet up last night at Camino which is the bar where i am going to have my leaving drinks. It is Spanish and it is local and it serves great wines and tapas. What more do I need? Leaving drinks are 7 May from 5.30 and final day is Friday 8 May. After that - who knows at this stage but I have plenty to do before I go.

Some lovely things are happening to me and I would like to think it's the reiki effect but maybe that is being too optimistic. More news when I have it on that front! Meanwhile I take each day at a time and it is good right now. Hasta luego!

Not Tuesday but might as well be!

I now have 20 working days at RNIB. That is a sobering thought. Not sure if counting down the days is a good or a bad thing , especially as I am having a re-think about what to do when I finish here. I have someone to live in my flat so that is good news! I don't have good vibes about going to Spain in June however. I never meant to go so late in the academic year and I know that August is going to be impossible for work so maybe I need to do something else for a few months? If you are reading this Emma, give me your thoughts!

In the mean time, I have been to a reiki share which was an amazing experience. I am so new to all this and I really need to get as much practice as I can so that I can develop my own way of giving healing. It was a small group and a really good thing to do on a Sunday evening. We each had five minutes of group healing and i really liked the feeling of all that energy from all those hands. I am off to another session tonight so this is definitely becoming addictive. I feel that reiki is such a logical extension of my meditation practice and my natural empathy skills. I believe that I can help friends and family in times of stress and most importantly, I can really help myself.

It's been a quieter week on the writing front but I have a good topic for the next session. I have to write a "one sentence" poem ie a stream of consciousness with no punctuation. I think one of my internal - or should that be infernal monologues - is the way to go! If I like it, I will post it here.

My beautiful Bobbins bike is up for sale on Gumtree and the East Dulwich forum and will be good to see it go to a new home. It is a traditional Dutch style bike with a basket and I love it but need the money. Any takers?

Tuesday again!

See what I mean! Well it's been an interesting week and I have made progress in some areas of my life.

Firstly, I have now done stage one of a Reiki healing course. Thanks to the synchronicity of meeting Anthea and then discovering she lived around the corner from me! It was quite an experience and a really good day of chatting and reflecting on my spiritual journey so far. I am pleased to report that I now officially have "hot healing hands" and I need to use them!! The next stage of the process is 21 days of self healing and then I get to do stage 2. I can honestly say that I am feeling the benefits of Reiki already - having had treatments from my friend Sarah before. And I was duly impressed when Anthea healed the pain in my shoulder on Saturday so my natural cynicism is being broken down.

Secondly my writing group performed last night and I really enjoyed reading my work to an audience who may have been small in number but were certainly huge in appreciation. Cakes and wine were shared and we all bonded over the microphone in our lovely crypt. My next gig is Saturday 25 April at The Poetry Cafe and I am really looking forward to it now.

Otherwise it has been a time of more clearing out and I managed to get rid of a few books this weekend at a book crossing meet up in Kent. Sunday was a lovely sunny spring-like day but freezing. I was glad to be in a cosy pub with a non-meat roast lunch and some good company. If you don't know about book crossing, check it out at www.bookcrossing.com

So, only five more weeks at work and hopefully I will soon have a training date for Spain as I am keen to move to the next stage of planning/sorting and maybe even packing. Hasta luego!