the Mindful Monday Newsletter. 2nd December 2024.

From Mindfulness Matters. Today . An eclectic, hand-picked selection of stories from the past week. Hope one, or some, of these pieces allows the opportunity for connection and the chance to pause, feel and think. ?

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?The Stories -

Thank you to Jeremy Williams for this - Today, 344 years ago, we lost the greatest sculptor known to mankind, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Let's discover 21 of his most iconic masterpieces.

The 6 New Rules of Communicating. The era of teleprompters and leaders’ talking points has come to an end. Welcome (back) instead ‘spontaneous talking’ - the basis of the famous “Socratic method”, a simple back-and-forth dialogue. You might say it was the podcasting of its day. Socrates aimed to speak plainly—seeking the truth through open and unfiltered conversation.?

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Is Creativity Dead?(5-minute watch). “Everything looks the same. Everything sounds the same.” Filmmaker Kirby Ferguson argues that our culture appears to be plagued by a dearth of creativity. However, beneath the surface of mainstream culture, there is gold to be found if it wasn’t for the ‘powerful force’ suppressing it.

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The Walt Disney Company may divide opinion, but I was moved by this piece. The Last Verse, features a new verse for the world’s most played song, It’s A Small World’. Written by Richard Sherman before his death this year and commemorating his extraordinary song writing partnership with his brother Robert. Very happy memories of listening to this on our many trips to the Disney parks, with our children in the past.

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Very nice. Amazon unveils a '5-Star Theatre' campaign featuring Adam Driver.

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In big gaming news (for me at least) Monument Valley 2 has been released 10 years after the original. Mindful and mesmerising.

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If you are a mindfulness teacher, then A Christmas Gathering, organised by Christoph Spiessens Spiessens is a fun event to attend. 19.30 UK, on Tuesday 10th December. ??

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For those interested in Japanese culture and iconography here are Kamon, the original logos of Japan.‘Traditions are living entities. The Hatoba family enriches and evolves the role of the?Monsho Uwaeshi, the artisans of Japanese family crests, ensuring that the thousand-year-old craft of?monmaking remains relevant in the 21st century.’

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?I was touched by this ‘reverse poem’. A colony of maggots building a fox through careful effort. I am a toddler drifting to the edge and climbing backwards out of the pool….

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In their latest collaboration, WWF and the London-based creative animation studio NOMINT, present?In Hot Water at COP29, a film, shot on thermal camera, that dives deep into the devastating impacts of climate change on the world's ocean.

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From Aeon. Many worlds, many selves. If it’s true that we live in a vast multiverse, then our understanding of identity, morality and even God must be re-examined.

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?1000 Questions to Save Wisdom .The Save Wisdom Project has a goal “to preserve wisdom, for you, your family or the world.” The idea is to record yourself answering these questions as a way of passing on your wisdom to future generations.

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?Rory Sutherland: Are We Too Impatient to Be Intelligent?(12-minute read) As ever, a fascinating and very entertaining read from Rory Sutherland . It’s packed with stories on the problem of reducing everything to a number, how our perception of time is misunderstood, and why the opposite of a good idea can be another good idea. HT Storythings | Certified B Corporation?

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Wonderful. Since 1987, Karin and Lennart watched and recorded the weather every third hour, day and night, seven days a week, every day of the year, from their station by the lighthouse in Falsterbo, Sweden. Earning “a lousy salary, and a fantastic life” they remained steadfast through childbirth, illness and snowstorms—not missing a single observation in 36 years—while thousands of stations around the world fell to automation. Told through the eyes of their daughter Maja, this extraordinary and heartwarming love story shows lasting happiness exists in profound connection with nature and everyday rhythms. ?

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#mindfulness #meditation #sustainability #communication #wisdom #impatience #multiverse #climatechange #creativity ?

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