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Articles
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MONEW articles
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Written by Georgina Lester
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I thought that it would be interesting to do a Wordle for MONEW. What is a Wordle? It is word cloud that is made up of all the words that are used in an article, a website or a series of articles. The bigger the word is in the image - the more that it has been used. I copied all the newsletters into www.wordle.net - and this is what it came up with. Interesting!
See the full size original here >>
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Health and Healing
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Written by Sue Weston
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Pain management
In meditation, T’ai-Chi and Qigong the use of the warrior practice of getting to know all that we dislike, by moving towards that which is painful, we get to know our enemy: the pain, or the obstacle. Our habitual tendency is to wish our pain went away, but it is there, we feel it. Accepting this pain is the first step of being able to live with it and also to dissolve it. A useful image to help us to meet our pain is to imagine sitting with a close friend at the kitchen table (a safe and warm place to be) and sharing the intimate details of the heart over a cup of tea or coffee. By making friends with any pain, tension and discomfort of the body or emotions we can start to dissolve and lessen its impact on our lives.
The best way to connect with pain is to take moment to ensure that our breathing is smooth and calm and brought deep down into the body by using the abdominal or natural breath. An easy way to access this calming breathing pattern is to lengthen the out-breath so we completely empty our lungsin a spacious way without effort or pushing. Tell yourself that you have all the time in the world when you start doing this. On each complete out-breath give yourself permission to relax, like you do on holiday, so a smile arises in each molecule of your being. On each in-breath imagine that peace is spreading throughoutyour body and mind. Breathe in peace, beathe ut a smile. As you do this connect to the natural generosity and loving kindness of your heart, our tender and soft spot. Now take your mind directly to the place of pain, develop a friendship with the pain, ask why it is there, find out what it wishes to say to you – the metaphorical sharing of a cuppa with a friend over the kitchen table. Soften into the pain, imagine it dissolving as you consciously breath clouds of kindness into its centre from your heart. Relax, release, rest. Continue doing this as you nurture and get to know your pain.
Developing an ongoing practice of noticing where pain and tension arise in your body, and getting accustomed to softening into your pain is a very useful skill for living an easier life. When we tense and wish we did not have the pain, we create a ring of tension that can amplify it.
Do contact me if you find this diffuclt to understand or put into practice. You can learn more by coming along to any of my Qigong sessions, I hold a regular lunchtime class in Monmouth at Bridges Centre, Thursday 12.30 -1.30 and in Pontypool at Widdershins, 2.30 - 4 each Thursday. Or better still, join me for one of the Holy Isle residential Qigong & Meditation Retreats, details can be found at my web site: sueweston.com
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Education and Training
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Written by Georgina Lester
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Getting Started
First session (of six) Monday 22 March
Run by Sharon Leighton and Georgina Lester
As are result of our very successful Talk in the Town “Getting to Grips with Social Media” on Thursday 25 February we are going to run a series of workshops designed to take you through from the very simple basics to the more complex techniques used by the social media marketing gurus of today.
We will show you:
- What social media is
- How important it is today
- How it is replacing traditional forms of interacting with the outside world
- Learn how to use social media for PR, learning, market research, marketing your products and services, building brand awareness, finding collaborators and partners as well as building advocacy
- Find out which social media sites to use
- Discover where to start
- and how to leverage your networks to achieve the results that you need.
These sessions will be suitable for the absolute beginners through to the more experienced users. People from all walks of life, in any profession, with any ambition are welcome to join us on this remarkable journey of discovery of what social media can do for you.
Venue to be announced and more details to be announced shortly. Please register your interest by sending an email to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
and we will forward relevant details as soon as they are available.
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MONEW articles
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Written by Helen Atton
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So how are you getting on with your resolutions? Or your Lent commitments? Be honest! Are you one of the many who abandon their resolutions within weeks?
Now we are into March it is timely to review what has happened: so many of us start the New Year with great plans. Our busy lives mean we can delay our start until tomorrow or next week. The problem is that tomorrow never comes and the stresses of life are made worse by worrying about not achieving the new goals we've set, so we might be better off never making that resolution in the first place. Our promises to ourselves to lose weight, change jobs or improve our relationships slide back into our old familiar habits.
So why do we do this? Perhaps one reason is that many of us don't really believe that we can change the way we are. "I'll never get away from here!" or "I have a heavy build and can't lose weight". This kind of thinking is called a 'limiting belief'. If we continue to tell ourselves that we can't do something, we'll continue to not be able to do it. In life we get what we concentrate on.
You may have met people who appear lucky and to whom good things always happen. These are usually people who chose to see the positive side of life and grasp what comes their way.
It's all in the mind! If you open your mind to new opportunities they will appear.
So if you want to lose weight, concentrate on really feeling how good you'll feel and look when you have achieved your goal and then behave as if it has already happened. Walk taller, dress better and you'll feel more confident and people around you will notice that. In turn you will feel more positive and optimistic and the next chocolate bar might not look so attractive! Or if you're unhappy about the way your partner seems to behave, think about your own role in the relationship. Are you being the best partner you can be? Try to think of positive ways you'd like to be treated and do these things for your partner.
Here's another thought. If I were to ask what your new year's resolution is many people would say that they want to lose weight or become fitter. If I then asked what your priorities and values in life are, the tendency is to talk about career, money and relationships. If you want something to change you need to make it your first priority, take it more seriously if you like. Work out the reasons for what you want and keep reminding yourself of them.
Here are some tips on resolutions.
1) Only make one. You're much more likely to succeed if you channel all your energy into one goal.
2) Write it down. State exactly what it is that you want, by when and how you're going to do it. Write it in the present tense, "I am", not "I will".
3) Work out the reasons why it's important for you to succeed. Ask yourself questions like, "what will achieving this give me?" and "how will I feel when I have achieved this?"
4) Do something different. If you make the same resolution every year and it doesn't happen, perhaps it's time to change it to something more achievable, maybe related to your original idea. When you've achieved that you'll feel more confident to increase your targets.
5) Simplify it. Break down your goal into the smallest steps possible. Sometimes what we want to do can seem overwhelming and therefore we can't see a way through. Write down these steps so you can tick them off when they're completed.
6). Get on with it. Once you've broken down your goal just take that first step, even if it's only very small. You are now on your way to success.
3) Get help. Don't feel you have to do it all on your own. Why is it we feel everyone else can climb mountains alone and we can't?! Ask a friend, a coach, a mentor, someone in your family. People like to be helpful.
8) Reward yourself often. If you remind yourself of how well you're doing by rewarding yourself at each milestone on the way, you will increase your motivation and reinforce your progress by seeing how far you've come. We all like to be rewarded when we've done well. Perhaps those people who helped you would like to celebrate with you!
If you'd like to know more about how coaching can help you keep your resolutions, give me a ring on 0797 4444 082. |
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MONEW articles
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Written by Susie Nagle
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MONEW committee member, Susie Nagle writes:
Kay Julian's recent Talk in the Town, 'Creating An Effective Workspace' provided a ray of hope for many MONEW members who have cluttered desks, cluttered wardrobes, cluttered lives.
On the way home I thought about how the frantic pace of modern day life had provided opportunities for women such as Kay, who has developed a successful business by helping people organise themselves so that they don't spend hours looking for items in their in tray or in their wardrobe. Apart from Kay's obvious charisma, what is it that makes her business successful? The answer is that she has a Unique Selling Point. All businesses need one if they are to compete successfully with others in the same field. Below I offer a few ideas for developing your own Unique Selling Point or USP in order to stand out from the crowd:
Analyse your competitors: Have a look at your competitors and their USPs. Identify their strengths and weaknesses to see the gaps.
Examine your own business: Brainstorm every USP possibility with friends and family. Don't judge the ideas, write them down, challenge yourself allow the ideas to flow. Crystallize them to a list of 5 to 10 possibilities.
Get feedback: Ask friends, family, work colleagues and your current customers what they think of your ideas. Don't be offended if what you thought was a great idea received the thumbs down. Use this information to narrow your USP ideas down to one single strong concept.
Develop a tag line or slogan: Distil your USP down to one (at most two) focused sentence. Add your USP statement to every page of your website, your letterhead and all of your advertising and marketing.
Ensure your USP is relevant to and fulfils the customers' needs. You may be unique, but you need to focus on customers who will pay for that uniqueness!
MONEW of course has its own USP:
MONEW supports women in achieving a positive work-life balance.
It does this by involving interested women of all ages and areas of expertise. Join us and develop your own uniqueness! |
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