Category: Mindfulness
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My bloomin’ orchids
I love reading other blogs, and while I was out and about a while ago, I came across a post: Waiting for trees to bud is good because it is hard – Incense and Crayons. Towards the end of the post the author writes: “This practice of watching trees grow…
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Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) for chronic pain
A few weeks ago I read a post on LinkedIn by Migraine Ireland that referred to something called Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). I’ve never heard of it before, but it instantly caught my attention as something that might be helpful for my healing journey. In their post they wrote: “Compassion…
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Nothing is inconsequential… including you
While I was busy living my life over the last 50 years, I generally assumed that the little things were essentially inconsequential… “Don’t sweat the small stuff” and all that jazz. Scraped your knee? Meh… it will heal. Arrive late to a meeting by a few minutes? Accidents happen. Did…
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Yin and Yang and You
According to Wikipedia, Yin and Yang is a part of ancient Chinese philosophy and cosmology. They symbolize “an opposite but interconnected, self-perpetuating cycle”. Yin is “retractive, passive and contractive” whilst Yang is “repelling, active and expansive”. The dichotomy of the two energies creates seasons, moods, evolution, balance… and infinite potential.…
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Turns out I’m more than “a brain on a stick”
I started The Mindful Migraine Blog in January 2024 as a New Year’s Resolution. In my mind it was a stand-alone endeavor. Feel pain – write about it. Encounter a trick that helps reduce that pain – write about it. Keep writing, and keep waiting for people to “find you”…
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Welcome to 2025 (teeth and all)!
I’m baa-aaaack! Welcome to 2025 (can you believe we are already 1/24th of the way through the year!!) I hope that everyone’s year is going as great as can be so far – I missed you all! I finished last year with a reference to a bygone Christmas Day which…
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Sandcastles for pain relief
A while ago, I was down the coast and took the dogs for a walk on an isolated beach. This beach has signs up that tell you “no dogs off leash”, but, due to the beach’s remote location, it happened to be completely free of other people or dogs. I’m…
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“Mindfulness and it’s discontents”
The more I learn about mindfulness, the more I discover there is also push-back. If mindfulness is a ‘movement’, then there are those who are advocates and those who are not. The internet is full of the first camp, and you don’t have to look too hard to find someone…
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The migraine-pain-brain-train
The other day I had to catch the train into university to see my PhD supervisor. It takes about one hour, as long as everything goes right. If there is any sort of problem, then it can be even longer. Very occasionally, I’ve had to get off and change to…
The Mindful Migraine 