...with and without a golf bag
23 February 2023|Golfing with gratitude, Thoughts about
A few years ago I did an online mindfulness course. I'd always been interested in it and wondered if it would help me find some better ways to relax and destress from work. Overall I enjoyed the course and I've tried to incorporate some of it into my daily life. I've not done any daily meditation as I find I prefer to do that with someone else helping to guide me through the process and I generally fall asleep when trying it on my own. But there are a couple of things I've continued with.
The first is daily gratitude. Now that might sound a bit naff, but for me, it simply involves telling myself each night, before I go to sleep, what I am grateful for that day. Then in the morning, before I get out of bed I take a moment to think about the day ahead and again remind myself of what I'm grateful for. Now, this is all in my head, I'm not saying it out loud and getting a slap from my wife for waking her up! The things can be mundane and simple or they can be bigger, depending on what's going on at the time. It's most usually gratitude for the health and well-being of myself as well as my family and friends. Or it could be the back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 on the Jubilee the other week! I've tried to introduce it at the dinner table once a week too, where we all say what we've been grateful for that week. Again it can be as simple as the food in front of us or the cycle ride we did, the time we spent with friends or anything else that comes to mind. It doesn't need to be something complicated or grand. The kids think I'm some sort of a mentalist, but they're going along with it for the moment!
The other thing I've continued to work on is mindful walking. What do I mean by mindful walking though? I've always enjoyed walking and started doing much more of it when I was training for the charity walk I did last year. The Fife coast is an amazingly beautiful place to walk and I would recommend the coastal path to anyone (maybe not Buckhaven). Mindfulness, to me anyway, is about being more aware of the things around you. How your food tastes, the texture in your mouth, how things smell, the noises around you etc. I know a lot of people walk with headphones on and listen to music or podcasts etc. and for me, I can do that when I'm exercising but not when I'm trying to practice mindful walking.
The Lade Braes, St Andrews
When I'm walking I like to fully embrace my surroundings. Listening to the noise of the ground under my feet. The noise of the burn when I walk the Lade Braes. The roar of the sea and the noise of the birds when I walk the East and West sands. Taking time to appreciate the views, the smells and the natural beauty when I'm out. I enjoy the quiet contemplation, the times it gives my subconscious to work things through and the conversations I have with my inner self.
Top end of the West Sands looking to the Eden estuary and beyond to Tentsmuir
The East Sands (the local’s beach)
I've tried to take mindful walking on the golf course with me too. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't, but I keep trying. It's a great way to remind myself that there is a much bigger picture than the game of golf I'm playing that day, to stop taking it so seriously and enjoy the view (and company).
Sun setting over the 17th hole at the Castle Course
I'm grateful for the opportunities I have to do these things. Being more mindful is helping me appreciate them all more too.
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