Upgrade Your Day - Upgrade Your May

Upgrade Your May: Day 31 - Decluttering & Your Daily Upgrades Worksheet

Tue, 30 May 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Upgrade Your May: Day 31 - Decluttering & Your Daily Upgrades Worksheet

Hello and welcome to our final Upgrade of Upgrade Your May! Hoorah! How have you gotten on? If this is the first time you're seeing an Upgrade Your May post then you're in luck! You now have 31 days of upgrades to catch up on and choose your favourites!

If you are reading this as its posted, at the end of May 2023 then please do join me on Sunday 4th June 2023 at 5pm LIVE on Facebook for a chat and a round up of the month! I can't wait to hear how you got on.

Click here to click attend and get a reminder: Facebook LIVE Chat

The featured podcast today was another I recorded with the lovely Jules from Brighton all about decluttering. A great one to end on I think!

You can listen to the podcast by clicking the podcast image below or use your phone camera to scan the QR code to listen on your phone!

The freebie for today is a freebie of freebies if you like. It's a chance to pull together all your favourite upgrades of the month in order to mindfully add them to your weekly routines to really upgrade each and every day! Hoorah!

My Daily Upgrades

Thank you so much for joining me on this little adventure through mindful upgrading! I do hope you got something out of it. If you would like to continue your mindfulness journey I'd love to see you at this September's Mindfulness and Self Compassion course! It's a wonderful 8 week course that really does take you on an important mindful journey. We delve deep into some truly wonderful mindfulness techniques to encourage more joy, being more present and a greater self compassion to upgrade all our lives.

You can apply for the course right HERE.

If you want to keep up to date with my content and news of any events please join me on one of my social media accounts, or all of them, and you won't miss a thing! Click the logos below for each platform.

Thanks again and I'll see you very soon!

The Companion

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The Companion is a 152 page, A5 workbook bursting with ways to Upgrade Your Day® through mindfulness, happiness, self-compassion, gratitude, rambling & nature.

This workbook is the ideal companion to all things Upgrade Your Day® including the 3 Minute Upgrade®, a 3 month gratitude journal, colouring in pages, to do lists. meditation tips and charts and the Upgrade Your Day Game.

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Upgrade Your May: Day 30 - Affirmations & A 15 Minute Guided Meditation

Mon, 29 May 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Upgrade Your May: Day 30 - Affirmations & A 15 Minute Guided Meditation

Today's Upgrade topic is Affirmations! Today's podcast was so fun to record, running around the theatre in Edinburgh. Take me back!

You can listen to the podcast by clicking the podcast image below or use your phone camera to scan the QR code to listen on your phone!

Today's freebie is your next installment in building up your meditations to longer and longer, in the easiest way possible - a little bit at a time. How have you gotten on with the previous installments? You can find these by clicking the giant logo above and finding the blog posts with the 3, 5 and 10 minute guided meditations.

If you're ready to try 15 mins, click the link below!

To download the audio on a computer: click the link for it below, then right click the audio bar and click "Save audio as." To play it on your phone you can then either send it to yourself after saving on a computer, or open the link below on your phone, let it load, and it will playback even with no internet connection.

15 Minute Guided Meditation

Also today I would like to share with you one of my favourite mindfulness poems that helped me a lot recently. Read this slowly and aloud, and let me know what you think:

The Guest House
By Jelaluddin Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Why not leave a comment below, drop me an email, or head back to the social media that linked you here and leave a comment on how you got on. Any questions are also very welcome!

Thanks for joining me for Day 30, I hope you liked it!

See you tomorrow!

Upgrade Your May: Day 29 - Writing & A "Mindful Writing" Guide

Sun, 28 May 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Upgrade Your May: Day 29 - Writing & A "Mindful Writing" Guide

Hello and welcome to Day 29 of Upgrade Your May! We're almost at the end! In today's featured podcast I chat to the wonderful Malcolm McKee all about his writing career, it was fascinating!

You can listen to the podcast by clicking the podcast image below or use your phone camera to scan the QR code to listen on your phone!

The freebies for today are your final gratitude journal pages and a free guide on mindful writing! There are lots of lovely prompts in there worth having a look at if you've been enjoying your gratitude journaling.

Gratitude Journal Final Week

Mindful Writing

Upgrade Your May: Day 28 - Musicals & "Mindfulness & Music" Guide

Sat, 27 May 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Upgrade Your May: Day 28 - Musicals

Hello and welcome to Day 28 of Upgrade Your May! If you are just joining us, fret not, the whole month of blogs, podcasts and freebies will stay up as an archive of mindfulness for you to save and access any time you like! You can do this whole month at your own time, in any order, whatever suits!

In today's podcast I spoke to the wonderful Nicola Keen. Nicola has had the most incredible career as a performer and was kind enough to chat to me a bit about in the podcast.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking the podcast image below or use your phone camera to scan the QR code to listen on your phone!

Today's freebies are access to our Spotify playlist and a very special guide to Mindfulness & Music! This is a good one, I hope you like it!

Mindfulness & Music

Upgrade Your Day Spotify Playlist

Upgrade Your May: Day 27 - Food, Mindful Eating & A Mindful Colouring Page

Fri, 26 May 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Upgrade Your May: Day 27 - Food

Hello! Welcome to Day 27 of the mindfulness journey that has been Upgrade Your May! Today we take a look at food. Not only do we chat to the owner of the wonderful Eton Pantry, but we have a FREE guide on mindful eating and a lovely mindful colouring page!

You can listen to the podcast by clicking the podcast image below or use your phone camera to scan the QR code to listen on your phone!

Click the links below for your freebies! Have a read through the guide before you next sit down for a snack or to eat dinner. Don't try to follow the guide as if its gospel, it's just a suggestion for a way to get some more mindfulness into our days. There is no right and wrong. It should be fun and feel helpful to you. If it isn't, this isn't the upgrade for you. But have a little look and see how you feel!

Do print out the mindful colouring page though, thats always a good time. If you missed the blog post explaining the idea behind mindful colouring, have a look HERE.

If you want to listen to the 3 Minute Upgrade at the same time, like I suggest in the video, head to Day 12 of Upgrade Your May HERE.

Introduction to Mindful Eating

Mindful Colouring Page - Food

PS Have you signed up to join us on our next ramble? It's the summer one this time and will take us all around Windsor & Eton, ending up in The George pub for refreshments (not mandatory). Dogs are welcome and we ramble for 2 hours at a very easy pace.

Sign up here: The Upgrade Your Day Summer Ramble 2023

The Pen

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Upgrade Your May: Day 26 - Cold Water Swimming & A Mindful Word Search

Thu, 25 May 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Upgrade Your May: Day 26 - Cold Water Swimming

Hello! Welcome to Day 26 of Upgrade Your May! Today we take a look at cold water swimming as a mindful upgrade activity! In the featured podcast I spoke to my lovely friend Olivia, who now lives in Melbourne, about how she found this past time and her journey with it!

If you want to see my experience of cold water swimming you can! I was streaming it live to Facebook last year when I went down to Brighton to see my friend Jules!

Watch again here: Cold Water Swimming with Jules in Brighton

You can listen to the podcast by clicking the podcast image below or use your phone camera to scan the QR code to listen on your phone!

Our freebie today is a lovely mindful, and mindfulness themed, word search! Print it out, or open it on a tablet, and have a go! Take a moment just for you to focus on something else, rest and reset.

Mindful Wordsearch

Why not leave a comment below, drop me an email, or head back to the social media that linked you here and leave a comment on how you got on. Any questions are also very welcome!

Thanks for joining me today, see you tomorrow!

PS If you're stuck and need to see the solution to the word search you can click HERE to find it.

The Companion

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The Tote

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The Pen

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Eco-friendly, recycled cardboard & plastic. Blue ink ballpoint pen with cardboard holder, wooden clip and coloured plastic accents.

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Upgrade Your May: Day 25 - Dance & Mindful Movement

Wed, 24 May 2023 23:02:52 GMT

Upgrade Your May: Day 25 - Dance & Mindful Movement

Helllooo! Welcome to Day 25 all about dance and mindful movement. The featured podcast today was one I recorded with my friend Kerry who owns a wonderful dance school, who despite the odds, carried on through lockdown, and maintains their open and kind attitude to dance and performance for all. I love it. This was a wonderful story to hear about, I hope you enjoy it too!

Click the image on the left to hear the podcast or, if you're on a computer, open your phone camera and scan the QR code to listen on your phone.

The freebie today is a lovely guide on the beginnings of trying some mindful movement. I absolutely love this practice and find myself doing some version of it daily now without even trying.

Download it below, give it a go, and let me know how you get on!

Mindful Movement

The Tote

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Upgrade Your May: Day 24 - Crafting & Mindful Origami

Tue, 23 May 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Upgrade Your May: Day 24 - Crafting

Well hello there! And welcome to Day 24. Your next installment of Upgrade Your May. Brought to you by Upgrade Your Day and me, Martin Cabble-Reid! I do hope you are well. In today's featured podcast I had a mad old chat with my pal Alicia all about crafting as a mindful activity. I think of all of the upgrades we've talked about this month, this one might be a bit more obvious to some of us. How much better do we all feel after creating something? It takes all our focus and thought. All worries and cares are out the window for the duration of the creation and its marvellous!

You can listen to the podcast by clicking the podcast image below or use your phone camera to scan the QR code to listen on your phone!

The download for today is a chance to have a go at some simple mindful making. A bit of origami. You can try one of the simple designs, a heart or a dog, and see how you get on. Or if you're feeling a bit more ambitious why not try the crane. The origami crane, originating from Japanese legend, is now an international symbol of peace, healing, and the transformative power of hope. If you get a moment to look up the story I highly recommend it.

Start off with a square of sturdy paper. The larger the better. Then get folding. As you make each fold, realise your focus is all on the folding. Notice how the paper feels. And pay attention to how its changing as you fold.

Let me know which one you try, and tag me in a photo of it if you get a chance! I'd love to see!

Easy Heart & Dog Origami

Not So Easy Crane Origami

The Tote

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Upgrade Your May: Day 23 - Crystals & An Intro Guide to Popular Crystals

Mon, 22 May 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Upgrade Your May: Day 23 - Crystals

Hello! Welcome to Day 23 of Upgrade Your May all about crystals! This was another un-tapped upgrade for me when I sat down with Stella, but it's so interesting and I hope you find it is for you too!

In today's featured podcast I spoke to the lovely Stella of Moonstone Healing again, this time to hear all about her journey with crystals. And she even gave me a couple to start my collection!

Click the podcast graphic below to give it a listen, or open your phone camera and scan the QR code so you can listen on your phone, or save it for later.

The free download for today is a little guide to the most popular crystals, like what they look like and what they mean, to save and to get you started with crystals. And to see if if they seem like something you might like to dip a toe in to!

Introduction to Popular Crystals

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The Tote

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Eco-friendly materials from 5oz cotton sustainably sourced & made in factories SEDEX audited and ISO9001 compliant. Size 380 x 420mm

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The Pen

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Eco-friendly, recycled cardboard & plastic. Blue ink ballpoint pen with cardboard holder, wooden clip and coloured plastic accents.

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Upgrade Your May: Day 22 - Rambling & Woodland Meditation

Sun, 21 May 2023 23:00:00 GMT

Upgrade Your May: Day 22 - Rambling

Hiya! Welcome to Day 22 of Upgrade Your May! Little upgrades to your day... every day in May! I hope you're enjoying it as much as I have putting it together for you. Today we have a good look at rambling! Now I like a good ramble, and I love going on a rambling walk too! I could do both for England. The joy and peace rambling has done for my life is insurmountable, and my only wish is to help as many people feel the same way. Give today's featured podcast a listen and see if I can convince you to give rambling a go.

Click the podcast graphic below to give it a listen, or open your phone camera and scan the QR code so you can listen on your phone, or save it for later.

The free download for the day is my guide to Woodland Meditation. What is it? Is it just hugging trees? How can you have a go? All the answers are in the download below!

A Guide to Woodland Meditation

The Pen

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Eco-friendly, recycled cardboard & plastic. Blue ink ballpoint pen with cardboard holder, wooden clip and coloured plastic accents.

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