Below is a selection of the basic texts of some the MiCL emails I've sent out over the last year or so. I reckon to send out emails once every two or three weeks.
In due course I'll add an index to key themes.
​
If you'd like to be added to the email list contact me at micl2025@gmail.com.
​
(Your email address will never be shared with anyone else.)
​
4th September 2025
​
September is here and so is the new Action for Happiness calendar, with its theme 'Self-Care September.' As Action for Happiness say (and as all wise people know), self-care is not self-indulgence it's a necessity.
Download the calendar at the usual link https://actionforhappiness.org/calendar
or use the Action for Happiness app: https://actionforhappiness.org/app
Action for Happiness … But can we actually become happier, longterm?
Academic psychologists have done a lot of work on happiness. They’ve explored such questions as at what stage of life are we happiest? And what will make us truly happy? There were many strands to this research and they have investigated many theories and possibilities.
One widely attested finding is that each one of us has what they have come to call a happiness 'set point or 'baseline.' It seems that each of us will have a fairly steady level of happiness, so that while certain things, certain events will make us happier (a new car, a new coat, a new hobby), these things will only change our level of happiness for a relatively short time. Soon we will be back where we started. Soon we will be as happy as we are used to being. On the other hand, certain things will make us unhappy (bumping the car, losing our coat, missing out on a promised promotion, an embarrassing incident), but again, these will only affect us for a relatively short time. Whatever happens to us, whether apparently 'good' or 'bad, our happiness level will soon settle to its 'usual' level, our baseline or set point.
But what about very dramatic changes? Maybe something decidedly 'positive', like winning the lottery or getting married? Or, on the other hand, something negative, even something catastrophic, maybe even becoming wheelchair bound — what effect will these have? Surprisingly, even major events like these, events and happenings like these, life-changing in many ways, don't change our happiness level for very long. Read on …
A few months ago Hannah Fry was appointed Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics at Cambridge University. She also regularly presents radio and television programmes on science and technology, things like how microwaves work or noise-cancelling headphones. (A couple of years ago she presented a programme on her own cancer diagnosis.) Among the things she’s explored recently is research on happiness and well-being. She has conveniently summarised one of the key findings in a very simple two-minute video. What she says links closely with something we often say in mindfulness (and which belongs to Christian life more generally). It’s about the value of gratitude. Here’s a link to the video clip. (The subtitles, by the way, are auto-generated and not always accurate.)
So, in the video she suggests that across cultures and traditions a phrase that is shown to raise baseline happiness is a simple five-word statement: 'These are the good days.' Her advice is that we say this to ourselves ‘as often as we possibly can’ and the evidence is that this really can change us and change our relationship to the world and to what happens to us day by day.
I’d suggest we might use a slightly different phrase:
'This is a day of blessings.'
(And look to say that as often as we possibly can.)
You may remember that traditional Judaism includes a practice that would have been familiar to Jesus and his first followers: looking to God and offering blessings (or thanksgiving) for each and every event in life. (For more on this see the link towards the top of the Core Practices page of the MiCL website: https://www.micl.online/core-practices. There you will also find a link for an MiCL version of the mindfulness gratitude practice, something which many have found very helpful in their routine of mindfulness practices.)
Of course, whether we are using the phrase, 'This is a day of blessings' or Hannah’s phrase 'These are the good days', we are not trying to persuade ourselves that everything around us is good and wonderful (least of all life’s challenges); rather we are looking to open ourselves to the possibility of being shown that there are more blessing around us than we usually notice and that they there may even be blessings tucked away inside those happenings and events that seem to us most difficult, even impossibly so. Try it: that's the only way to find out.
. . .
An initiative from British Red Cross: 'Bridging Divides.'
'Feeling like the world around you is becoming more divided? You're not alone.'
So say British Red Cross, and in response they are offering a free, five-week video series designed to teach people how to have empathetic conversations and how to connect despite differing opinions and political polarization.
The course is called, 'Bridging Divides'. It aims to help both individuals and communities learn how to navigate disagreements constructively, so as to foster understanding.
The ultimate aim of the course is 'to build more hopeful, connected communities', and to do this through equipping people with the skills to manage difficult conversations and find common ground.;
'As a neutral humanitarian organization with 150 years of experience in conflict diplomacy we feel we are well placed to help address societal divisions.'
​
Find out more and sign up at https://www.bridgingdivides.org.uk/
​​​
. . .
For the diary. An MiCL day together, Monday 6th October.
At the parish hall in Frant. As usual, the day will run from 10.30 in the morning through to mid-afternoon. A day of fellowship and sharing, with times of guided mindfulness practice. Everyone welcome. Why not invite friends? Details to follow.
Action for Happiness calendar for September 2025: Self-care September.
'Self-care is not selfish.
It is essential.'
Hannah Fry. Click here for a two-minute clip on changing our happiness 'set-point'.
​
(Hannah Fry is talking here about raising our set-point, but it is my guess that we can also lower it by constantly complaining of moaning. I haven't done any scientific experiment on this, except that duging my life I have practised a lot and, looking back, i can see that all it ever did was make me more unhappy. )
Charles Dickens, quoted by his daugher,
Mary Dickens, in her biography of him.
It comes from a time before inclusive language was a thing. We can't imagine him suggesting that women didn't have their share of blessings and misfortunes.
In a divided world, where we see so much conflict, so much intolerance:
British Red Cross 2025,
'Building Bridges.'
From a letter of Charles Dickens to his daughter, Mary. She refers to it in the biography she wrote of him. (This was all in the days before inclusive language was a thing. Women have their share of blessings and misfortunes too.)
Friday 1st August 2025
​
It can come as a bit of a shock to see how quickly the year is passing. It seems to be a common experience to feel that time passes ever-more quickly as we get older. The bright, positive response to this is to see that awareness of time passing as an encouragement to use the time that we have wisely. And what does that mean except to celebrate and enjoy the wonders, delights and blessings of life as they arise, and to value and deepen relationships – while yet also holding the way open for new relationships to be formed? We can look to see our relationship with God deepen and grow richer, and we can look for something similar in our relationship with other people. Healing of past hurts and breakdowns may be necessary too, of course.
​
But can we also look to see relationships with our-own-self deepen, and where necessary, to be healed? By ‘self’ here, of course, we mean our true self, the self that God created us to be and which he is always working to bring to that fullness of life which he always intended for us. (See John 10:10, ‘... I came that you may have life, life in all its fullness.’ Later in the same gospel, as part of his same teaching, we hear Jesus say: ‘I am explaining these things to you so that my joy be in you and your joy be complete’ 15:11.) That we should know joy and fullness of life was always God’s desire for us, from the very beginning.) Most of us need a bit of healing, even quite a lot.
​
And the way of healing is always grounded in kindness and compassion. God has endless goodwill towards us and he is always looking on us with kindness. For our part, we are invited to co-operate with him in his work of leading us towards fullness of life, not least by looking with kindness on that damaged, limited self that we carry within us, often from childhood (and which sometimes think is who we really are, the ‘real me’). Healing comes through kindness. That applies both to the healing of ourselves and to the healing of others.
One foundation of kindness is not to be consciously or deliberately doing harm, either to ourselves or to others – which is what so often happens when we look on ourselves or others with harsh criticism and judgment or when we try to force ourselves to be different. And yet we mustn’t forget that God’s kindness and goodwill include his willingness to forgive. As C. S. Lewis says somewhere, ‘We don’t need to make excuses for our ‘poor behaviour’; God himself is always making all the excuses possible.’ And through the life of Jesus, the Last Supper, the Cross and the gift of the Holy Spirit, all that is needed for our healing has been done.
​
​. . .
​
​Fr Gregory Boyle SJ ... Below is a link below to an extraordinary video about a Catholic priest in America who has worked for 40 years with former gang members. He says healing and rehabilitation of the gang members, even the most violent, the most despised, those who’ve spent decades in prison, is always kindness. Over the years, he has worked with tens of thousands of gang members. For this work he has received the country’s highest civilian award. (The project he set up is called Homeboy and he calls the people who are part of the organisation Homies.) By extension, the most despised parts of our-selves can only be healed and redeemed by kindness, God’s kindness first, perhaps the kindness of other people, but always our own kindness too.
3 minute video: https://youtu.be/gYAzPQHW8TA?si=5ZS-x7evxzslPnV4
20 min video: https://youtu.be/lUJ9sj20ckU?si=RQW-yObHmWeUwJBV
​
In 2024, Fr Gregory was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honour.
​
​There are lots of other things on YouTube (interviews, documentaries, and so on). Well worth a look.
​
From WikiPedia:
​
'Homeboy Industries is the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. It offers an "exit ramp" for those stuck in a cycle of violence and incarceration. The organization's holistic approach, with free services and programs, supports around 10,000 men and women a year as they work to overcome their pasts, re-imagine their futures, and break the inter-generational cycles of gang violence. Therapeutic and educational offerings (e.g., case management, counseling, and classes), practical services (e.g., tattoo removal, work readiness, and legal assistance), and job training-focused business (e.g., Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Café, and Homeboy Silkscreen & Embroidery) provide healing alternatives to gang life while creating safer and healthier communities.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Boyle)
​​
. . .
Our MiCL in-person day in Frant ... On the last Saturday in July, we met for the day at St Albans church hall in Frant.
It was good to share time together and some mindfulness practice. Through the afternoon were able to use the church for prayer and worship. Twelve us of us were able to gather, and in spite of some technical issues, others were able join the morning session on Zoom. Many thanks to everyone who made the day possible and such a success: Liz for her leading some of the sessions, Jayne for organising liaising with the parish, and everyone who brought food to share. Of course, everyone who came or joined on line brought blessings with them.
For the dairy: Our next MiCL day will be on Monday 6th October. Same venue.
. . .
Action for Happiness Calendar. If you would like to access or download the August calendar, 'Altruistic August' (sounds good!), find it in various formats and many different languages at this link: https://actionforhappiness.org/all-calendars or simply click the image in the column to the right. ​​
​
​
Ultimately,
Healing comes through kindness.
​
Growth comes through gratitude,
​
Wisdom comes through
trust.
​
And each comes as s gift we receive, not as something we achieve
by our own efforts.
Wednesday 11th June 2025
​
Coming soon ...
I have a couple of things in draft that I hope to post soon:
First, I'd like to post some thoughts about the Church's celebration of the the Ascension and of Pentecost and on the meaning of those celebrations for us as we look to live out our Christian calling.
Secondly, I'd also like to share some ideas about a prayer closely linked to Pentecost, and one we often use at the beginning of our online sessions. It is an invocation of the Holy Spirit, and begins, 'Heavenly King, Comforter ...'.
​
Here, for the time being, is the full text of the prayer as we usually offer it:
Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth,
everywhere present, filling all things,
treasury of all blessings, and giver of life:
come and dwell in us,
and cleanse us from all that defiles us,
and of your goodness, heal us deep within. Amen.
​
Pentecost, and the descent of the Spirit on Mary and the Apostles, from a sixth-century Syriac manuscript.
​​
Text of MiCL email, 6th May 2025
​
Eastertide! Every blessing!
​
We’re now two weeks into the season of Easter. Sorry not to have posted an Easter message before now.
And yet, in fact there's plenty of time to enjoy all the blessings of Easter. For, as the Church sees it, Easter isn’t just a day (or even a Bank Holiday weekend). It runs for a full fifty days (seven weeks of seven days plus one more day, see Leviticus 23.16, etc.) through to Pentecost (and taking in Ascensiontide).
Certainly, the Easter season is a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, but we can see it also as a time to practise learning to see or to recognize signs of new life and new hope breaking through into this world. The light breaks through into the darkness and life breaks through where there seemed to be no chance of life, no hope for life – or joy. It’s easy to forget that the disciples of Jesus weren’t expecting him to rise from the dead, or certainly not to do so as he did. For although in first century Israel, some people believed in a resurrection from the dead, many did not (see Acts 23:8 ), and even those who did were looking only to a final, universal resurrection, as something that would happen at the very end of the world and the end of all time. No one anticipated Jesus rising just three days after his death. They saw his death as the coming of darkness, of a night with no dawn in prospect. How shocked (and initially unbelieving) they were when light and life appeared as he rose from the tomb.
So, just as in Lent gave us forty days to practise not trusting in what we could do for ourselves to make ourselves happy, but rather to trust in God and his goodness. He has endless goodwill toward us and will look after us. Now Eastertide gives us fifty days to practice letting go of our tendency to pessimism and to practise being open to seeing signs of new life as they appear around us – and even within us (often, it has to be said, despite our tendency to negativity, scepticism, even cynicism). We are not invited to pretend that things are better than they seem (or to try to convince ourselves of that). But we are invited to be open to the possibility that God is at work and at work for our good.
God is generous: Eastertide is ten days longer than Lent. And in the early Church they said it was more important to feast in Eastertide than it is to fast in Lent! Let’s enjoy the feast!)
​
Traditional Easter Icons. The risen and glorified Christ lifts Adam and Eve from the tomb, symbolic of the way he will lift us. Note that Adam and Eve don’t lift themselves. Jesus takes them by the wrist; they do not take hold of his hand, as though they were equal partners with him. Their work (our work) is to make ourselves available. We humbly acknowledge our powerlessness and reach out for help. (I’ll write a bit more about this in the next few days and post it on the MiCL news page. I’ll include copies of other resurrection icons too. I've added a couple to the column on the right of this page.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
. . .
Our MiCL course ended just over a week ago on Saturday 26th April (which this year was Easter Saturday) ... I was pleased to have been part of things, to share time together, and to make resources available. Liz was, of course, a great help throughout the eight weeks, and within the next few days I hope to upload to the website a new mindful moment video that she’s produced. If you attended the course, please feel very welcome to join us for the regular weekly sessions (every Wednesday and Saturday). Come either regularly or just now and again. You’d always be welcome.
Also, if you attended the course I've grateful for feedback. ... How could we improve future versions os the course? What did you find especially helpful? Did you find it easy to engage with home practice? (Not everyone does.) Were the worksheets for home practice helpful? How could they be improved?
(A number of people asked about payment for the course. I’m happy to offer everything free of charge, and Liz is too. I’m also happy to cover the costs of Zoom and the website fees, but they do add up and I’m very grateful to receive contributions from several people to help with payment of these. I don’t want anyone to feel any obligation or pressure, but if you would like to help there’s a PayPal link on the 'About us' page of the website.)
​
. . .
​
Action for Happiness: Meaningful May
Action for Happiness has become a wonderful resource. Their calendar for May is at this link. Also from Action for Happiness is a very helpful video that Valerie and Heather mentioned at a recent MiCL session. It’s an interview with Dr Maria Silous, ‘Appreciating Goodness and Beauty in Our World.’ Dr Silous argues that appreciating the beauty and goodness in our world can help to bring calm and healing and, indeed, help us ’be better human beings’. Find it here. What she says fits very nicely (and yet also develops) one of the themes in our MiCL course and with the ‘gratitude practice’ we use often in our sessions. One of what we might call the MiCL ‘slogans’ is Growth comes through gratitude. (It’s always encouraging to find that other people see things much the same way as we do. It suggests we’re on the right path!)
As I say, Action for Happiness is turning into something very special. (It’s not specifically a Christian resource, but if we see Christ as the truth in an inclusive way — which many in the church have, even from its earliest days — then everything that is true or good or beautiful will in some sense speak of him and will belong to him. While nothing that calls itself Christian will belong to him if it includes cruelty, greed or harsh unkindness, whatever it’s label. See Matthew 25. 31ff, etc.) We can use things like Action for Happiness, but with discernment. And who these days doesn’t draw on findings and insight from secular medicine, science or technology? … … But with discernment.
Perhaps check out the Action for Happiness video offerings, talks from a wide range of people, including Jon Kabat-Zinn, Vidyamala Birch, Kristin Neff, Rick Hanson — and a vast collection of people, many of whom I’ve never heard of. (I can’t, of course, vouch for the quality of all of the talks, and we can assume that they won’t all be equally good, but I’ve no doubt that many of them offer wisdom and useful guidance. Be discerning.) Find the talks on the Action for Happiness website (https://actionforhappiness.org/) using the link at the top right of the home page. ​​​​​​
​​
. . .
​
EASTER ... Light breaks through, and we journey on ...
We walk in the light ...
We walk by the light ...
We walk to the light.
​
New! Excellent!
Posted 12-5-25
Mindful Movement: Hand practices
​
From Liz Smith, a complete set of guided hand movement practices, a 26 minute video.
Use the complete session or focus on particular practices. Here are 'time stamps' so that you can select individual exercises from part way through the video. ​
​
Introduction:
00 -1.40 General guidance
​1.40–2.55: Settle with the breath.
​Movements from 3.48
​3:48: Gentle, free movement.
​5.00: Hand opening and closing, co-ordinated with the breath. ​
8.55: Pause, rest, and notice sensations.
​9.55: Finger tracing.
​12.50: Pause, and 'check in' with sensations and feelings
​13.09: 'Finger flicking', or the alternative, 'finger pressing' from 13:48.
14:40 Pause, rest, relax ...
​15:15: Tracing 'figure of 8' on palms.
​18.32: Pause, rest, relax.
20:20: 'Prayer hands'
​22.10: Pause, rest, relax.
​22.30: Wrist rotations.
​24:25: Bring hand together, notice sensations, be with the breath.
​26:35: Close.​​​​​​​​​​​
Click the arrow to open the video
You can also find the video on the Resources page of this website.
​
And click here for a YouTube version of the video with the option of subtitles. (For some reason which I don't understand, the video may start part-way through, but you can easily rewind to the beginning.)
MiCL Programme for 2025
Regular twice-weekly online MiCL Sessions
​
We plan to continue our usual twice-weekly Zoom sessions: Saturdays, 10.30am–12 noon. These are much appreciated by those who attend, and personally, I find it helpful and encouraging to be part of these sessions. (For the Zoom link, password, etc please e-mail me on micl2025@gmail.com) Please note that all regular sessions are offered completely free of change.
Please keep in mind that if you have attended sessions on the past but haven't been for a while, you’d be very welcome to join us again. Also bear in mind that there’s no on-going commitment to attend regularly: come regularly or just come now and again. And if you can only come for part of a session (say the first half of a Saturday morning) that would be fine too.
Quiet Days, both 'in-person' and on-line
We are planning two on-line quiet days: Saturday 19th April, and a day in November (exact date yet to be confirmed). These will be on Zoom. There will be a two-hour session in the morning and then one-hour sessions in the afternoon and evening. (Come to one or more sessions.)
Two or three 'in-person' Quiet Days. We’re looking into venues, with the church hall in Frant as one possibility (we’ve been very welcome there before) and also the possibility of a session at a new venue on the South Coast. These 'in-person' days will be in the summer months when better weather and longer evenings make travelling easier.
Mindfulness Courses: Two are planned:
-
Mindfulness in Christian Life: An Introductory Course.
This will run through over 8 weeks, beginning at the start of Lent and running through into Easter. (Saturday 8th March-Saturday 26th April.) It will be ideal for anyone completely new to MIndfulness practice, but will be equally suitable for anyone with some experience but looking to ‘refresh' or deepen their practice. It will cover all the usual elements of an introductory mindfulness course, but will Emphasise practices that can help us hold our hears open to receive God's gifts and blessings- most especially the gifts of faith, hope and love (see 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 13:13). Use the link to the right to access a leaflet about the course,
​
​​
2. A Breathworks Mindfulness Course
​
Both Liz and I are accredited Breathworks teachers. We’re keen to offer one of the standard Breathworks courses that will mean either their 'Mindfulness for Health' or their 'Mindfulness for Stress' course. The dates for these aren’t quite settled, but we’re thinking of beginning in early summer. (Breathworks is a provider of health-focused mindfulness courses. For more on Breathworks Mindfulness click here.)
To sign up for newsletters and updates (usually one or two a month) get in touch by email: micl2025@gmail.com.
Click the link above to download the leaflet for
the 2025 course.