Wheelfulness, it's a visual of calm

I ask the question: "How does this image make you feel?"I hadn't seen my friend Bettina for quite some time, although through our friendship group I knew she was okay and doing fine and embarking on a creative adventure, but as life throws lots of different challenges and buckets of things to-do's, time just gets a head start and before you know it, another year has passed. Seriously this whole weeks-turning-into-months-at-the-blink-of-an-eye has got to stop.Anyone that knows me, knows that I run at a very fast pace. I don't know why, it's just the way it is. So it was at a recent celebratory gathering that my fast paced existence had a chance to slow down a touch. Bettina unveiled her wonderful creative venture, which has perked the interests of clay loving people in the community, so too that even her explanation behind her creative vision allowed my heart rate to slow down to a nice acceptable rate. Bettina has taken the opportunity to allow people to come together in a creative environment, concentrate on the now and slowly train the mind to mindfulness. Albeit through a pottery wheel. Of course, my marketing head kicked in, brand extensions emerged and suddenly "Wheelfulness" turned into a new tea towel that read "Keep Calm and Keep Turning the Wheel." (See what I mean about fast paced?)However (and there is a point to this story), what I took away from my wonderful conversation with Bettina (apart from finding a date to book a class with my teen-turned-young-adult-stuck-in-his-room) is that at the core of her business lies the ideal that we are so prone to moving forward that we forget about the here and now, and that tuning into the present, (like the fundamentals of yoga and meditation) we can truly concentrate on our inner mind. How great is that? (Being best friends voice number one and two).Research #mindfulness and a number of pages appear dedicated to the art of simply concentrating on one thing at a time, how did we get so caught up in the 'outer realm?' Mindfulness at work, mindfulness with children, mindfulness in your everyday, ironic in a capatalist world, that we are encouraged to just be here in the now!https://www.sane.org/information-stories/facts-and-guides/mindfulnesshttps://headspace.org.au/blog/6-ways-to-practise-mindfulness/As I write this piece, I envisage the feeling of the clay between my fingers, the gooey texture of water, the concentration needed to allow the perfectly formed circular base take shape, the quietness of the action,I'm already feeling at ease.#relax #calm #calmwithpottery #mindfulness #easehttps://www.wheelfulness.com.au/#Wheelfulness to connect the practice of working on the pottery wheel with the psychology of #mindfulness. In my #Wheelfulness classes, I encourage students to reflect on how their ability to master the clay is enhanced by positive mindset and repeated practice." Bettina Stevanovic - PhD, BPsych (Hons) Founder of Wheelfulness