Welcome to The Mindful Gingernut. My name is Becky, and if you hadn’t guessed, I’m ginger! I’m a country girl at heart who grew up in rural Northamptonshire. However, five years ago, work brought me to London, the place I now call home. I grew up surrounded by a small but beautiful circle of friends…
A Reflection on Five Achievements That Make Me Feel Proud Of Myself
A few years ago, my parents brought me a book that opened my eyes to the importance of self-care: ‘Self-Care for the Real World’ by Nadia Narain & Katia Narain Phillips. One tip from the book suggests noting down five accomplishments that make you feel proud of yourself.
Do You Need A Plan To Be Successful?
This post was originally published on 7th November 2018 and updated on 17th February 2024. Planning – it’s a skill many of us pride ourselves on mastering. But what about those grand, overarching life plans? The ones that dictate where we’ll be in five, ten, or twenty years? For some, planning comes naturally. For others,…
Embracing Life After Loss
The last 12 years have taught me how important it is to live for today. This doesn’t always seem possible, especially when we’re wrapped up in work, eat, sleep, repeat. There are moments when we become consumed in the future or the past that we forget to live for the now.
The 3 Peaks Challenge: My Story
It’s been 7 months since my last blog post! I’d love to sit here and tell you that this is me back to my weekly posts, but I’m not making any promises…although I do hope it won’t be another 7 months before I sit down to write a new post! Life has been crazy since…
A Look Back At February
I don’t quite know where to begin with my usual monthly reflections. February felt like a weird month. I spent so much of it feeling tired and energyless. I felt stuck in first gear. The tiredness dissipated towards the end of the month, but as I pulled together my monthly ‘Look Back’, you’d never know…
Why I Joined Borrow My Doggy
If you follow me on social media, you might’ve noticed a bit of dog-related content on my stories recently. As much as I would love a dog someday, none of the lovely dogs are actually mine. At the start of the year, I wondered whether it was time to get another pet. My beloved cat…
FUSEBOX: A new space for young creatives in Kingston Upon Thames
I’ve been sniffing around the building site at the back of John Lewis in Kingston for ages. As soon as I heard the renovation would include a brand new co-working space – something I’ve been seeking for ages – my interest was piqued I had also heard that the project would include some space for…
My Top 10 Wellbeing Tips
Every month in my newsletter, I let my readers into some of my favourite self-care and wellbeing tips. Through various features, I’ve also gathered advice from others, some of whom are real-life experts in the health and wellbeing sector. This week, I’ve been looking back on the wealth of tips I’ve gathered through my newsletter, and…
A Look Back At January 2023
I can’t quite believe we’re a month into 2023 already! I don’t know about you, but unlike previous years, I really enjoyed January. I eased myself into the New Year and found myself relaxed, with a chilled but positive mindset. If you found yourself bogged down by January (or any other month), I find it…
What is a Sound Bath?
Last weekend, I treated myself to my first-ever in-person sound bath. Since then, I’ve had several people ask me, what is a sound bath? So, I thought I’d jump on here to explain. A sound bath isn’t the type of bath that involves water (although it can have a strange effect on the water in…
Why I’m Spending This Year Doing Things I’ve Never Done Before
This year, I’m setting out on one big adventure. Ahead of my 40th Birthday in December, I thought I’d set myself a little challenge. There’s some stuff that I’ve wanted to do for a while. So I thought, why not make it into a ‘thing’ in the lead-up to my BIG 40? It’s common for…
Setting Goals For The Year Ahead
If you’ve followed my musings for a while, you’ll know I love setting New Year goals. For me, it’s not a case of HAVING to set them. It’s more a case of WANTING to. They keep me focused on things I would like to achieve, and the geek in me loves to keep track of…
A Look Back at The Goals I Set in 2022
Happy 2023 🎉 It’s been a little while since I’ve been in this space, but it’s good to be back. November and December were busy months at The Mindful Gingernut HQ, but I’m back and raring to go. Before I get carried away with 2023 antics, here’s a little roundup of where I got to…
A Look Back At October
Wow! What an epic month of adventuring October turned out to be! It’s funny how I can go months without seeing people, and then out of nowhere, I have a crazy month of socialising and going places. Being an introvert at heart, I find socialising tiring. So as much as it’s been fun, I’m ready…
Post-Therapy Reflections
It’s been almost two months since I finished going to psychotherapy, and there is still a lot to reflect on. It has been one of the most insightful experiences I’ve been through so far. I learnt so much more about myself in those 12 sessions. In this week’s musings, I want to share some general…
A Look Back At September
In a month where we said our final goodbyes to my Auntie and the Queen, it’s been hard to get on with life as ‘normal’. Although it’s been a difficult month, it has gone by so quickly. It doesn’t seem like five minutes since the August Bank Holiday weekend, yet here we are in October….
My 2022 Goals in Review – Q3
As if we’re coming to the end of Q3 already 😫. I honestly don’t know where the last quarter has gone, and I’m overwhelmed with how quickly the end of the year is approaching. However, from a goals point of view, I always feel like the last quarter is about seeing and appreciating results rather…
A Look Back At August
I’m a bit later than usual with my ‘Look Back’ due to recent events, but I’m back with a round-up of August, which seems like a lifetime ago already! August was a bit of a strange one this year. We sadly lost one of my Aunties last month, which has left my family mourning the…
Thank You M’am For Everything
It wasn’t my plan to write about the death of Queen Elizabeth II today. But life rarely goes to plan, and it felt wrong to write about anything else. I want to start this post by addressing the fact that I know the Queen was not everyone’s cup of tea. Everyone is entitled to their…
My Italian Adventure – Part 2
After a lovely long weekend in Ferrara with my friend Magdalena, it was time to head south, back to Bologna, where I would spend the next four nights. Magdalena accompanied me to Bologna as she didn’t have to work until that evening, and as a newbie to travelling solo in a city, it was nice…
A Look Back At July
I started July in Italy, albeit on the last day of my trip. I had a late flight home, so I had a full day to explore Bologna before I headed back to the airport. I took the opportunity to climb to the top of the Towers of Bologna, eat some more pizza, and indulge…
My Italian Adventure – Part 1
I’d been dreading June since the beginning of the year. The tenth anniversary of my best friend’s passing loomed like a big dark cloud on the horizon. When my boyfriend’s parents booked him on a flight to join them on holiday at the same time as the anniversary, I found myself in a quandary. I…
My 2022 Goals in Review – Q2
A little later than planned, but I’ve spent the weekend reviewing my goals for this year to see where I am and to think about any further tweaks I need to make as we move into the latter half of 2022. I find that blogging about my goals helps me to: Check on my progress;…
We’re Going To Ibiza
Does anyone else always get a particular earworm stuck in their head whenever they hear Ibiza mentioned? For me, it’s the Vengaboys ‘We’re Going to Ibiza’. I don’t even like the bloody song! But ever since we booked our trip to go ‘back to the Island’, it’s been stuck in my head…on repeat! Last month…
A Look Back At June
So here we are, already in the second half of 2022. I’ve been appalling at maintaining my blog this year. It always seems to be the first thing to go on the backburner when life gets busy. The irony is, that’s probably one of the reasons I ended up seeking therapy earlier this year. My…
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