Mindful people Archives - Miranda van den Heuvel

Not knowing

Miranda2022-11-13T11:03:09+02:00November 13th, 2022|

We like to have a certain control over our lives. That’s why we plan, make to do lists, create projects. Everything in our society is set to reduce uncertainty. The pandemic brought a certain shift in that. We realised that control is really very flimsy and that we have no grip at all on anything. Slowing down, waiting, not knowing, postponing, patience. These don’t sit well in our busy and fast paced lives. But worrying, pushing and pulling and controlling do not prevent chaos and disaster. Ev [...]

Measure

Miranda2022-11-12T23:47:24+02:00November 10th, 2022|

Every day there is something we seem to measure. 🌟How many things we ticked off our to do list. 🌟How well that presentation went. 🌟How successful our day was in terms of parenting. 🌟How much weight we’ve lost or gained. 🌟Whether we’ve reached that bar yet that we or someone else set. 🌟How we measure up to… well to what? Or to whom? And why? And who defines what the right measure is anyway? And what difference does it make, in the big scheme of things? I’m done measuring. Small or big. High or l [...]

Monotasking

Miranda2022-11-12T23:47:44+02:00November 4th, 2022|

I used to pride myself on my multitasking skills. I can still be a highly functional multitasker 🤯 The thing is: it's so damn exhausting!!! It's also so bad for you. Studies have shown that multitasking lowers your IQ and that chronic multitasking decreases grey matter density.😱 That's no small thing! Multitasking is really just task switching (we don't really do all the things at once) and it kills productivity. And your peace. So let's all switch to 👉 MONOTASKING! 🌟Eliminate distractions 🌟Def [...]

Radiance

Miranda2022-11-12T23:47:59+02:00October 24th, 2022|

My grandmother was a wondrous woman. She lived through two World Wars, bore 15 children, lost her husband and plottered through life without complaining: "niet kniezen, niet zeuren", which is Dutch for "no moping, no moaning". I am looking at a picture of her standing in my parents' garden behind a wooden wheelbarrow serving as a flower pot, courtesy of my mother's creative gardening. She is holding the stems of two tall sunflowers, peekabooing through them with a cheeky smile. That picture has [...]

Both sides of clouds

Miranda2022-11-12T23:53:22+02:00August 6th, 2022|

Today I made a collage in my art journal prompted by my art therapy course about 'Dark clouds above'. Click to enlarge The prompt immediately reminded me of Joni Mitchell's song 'Both sides now' where she sings about clouds, love and life and how you they show you their dark and light sides, their happy smiles and their tears and tell you that you don't know clouds, love or life at all. But through it all there is a journey, lessons, growth. There is sunshine after the rain and laughter throu [...]

Friendships that count

Miranda2021-03-12T09:45:31+02:00March 12th, 2021|

Whether you are in your twenties, forties, sixties or even eighties, a good friendship makes life so much more beautiful. There are friends and friends however. The key element in any relationship (and a friendship is a relationship), is TIME. According to the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, it takes about 50 hours before you can call an acquaintance a casual friend, 90 hours to move from casual to friend at least 200 hours before you can call someone a real, good friend. Renowned [...]

Choices are luxuries – or are they?

Miranda2022-05-31T14:06:03+02:00November 20th, 2020|

Strolling through the aisles of the supermarket, I like to have a large choice of jams or teas. New and exotic flavors tingle my curiosity in experiencing something new on my bread in the morning. I choose with pleasure. However, it is with much less pleasure, let alone curiosity, that I choose my laundry detergent from the large offer on the shelves. I usually go by price and ecology label. The same goes for restaurants: I enjoy choosing from a smartly chosen list of courses but I hate going t [...]

How to be mindful

Miranda2022-06-03T12:55:47+02:00July 17th, 2020|

What is mindfulness? The most widely used definition comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn, the microbiologist-turned meditation teacher who designed Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), the eight-week mindfulness course, which is favoured by scientists who are interested in studying the effects of meditation. Kabat-Zinn has defined mindfulness meditation as “the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally”. By focusing on the breath, the idea i [...]

11 awesome videos on the importance of creativity

Miranda2022-06-01T11:07:40+02:00April 24th, 2020|

Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity: Tim Brown (Ideo) on Creativity and Play Ji Lee: The Transformative Power of Personal Projects How to add some fun to the things you need people to do John Cleese - Creativity in Management Don Norman on how happiness triggers creativity Stuart Brown: Why play is vital -- no matter your age Meet Jen Stark, a young artist who has found a way (by 'accident' or 'chance') to turn cheap paper into art. Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity Daniel Pin [...]

What matters now

Miranda2022-06-01T11:10:16+02:00April 17th, 2020|

Seth Godin, Purple Cow guru named 'America's greatest Marketer' (by American Way magazine), writes a very atypical blog. He writes a post almost every day. And from reading them you can just see him biking to work every morning (I don't know him well enough to know whether he does this or not but he seems that kind of guy to me) thinking about something someone said last night, or about the funny kid he sees in the street or the ad he saw on tv last night. Sometimes his posts are just that, tho [...]