Guided meditation along with yoga have been my go-to practices over the past 18 months and even before the pandemic came along. They’re two proactive things you can do in terms of self-care and resilience – we cannot control what is happening outside us but we can choose how to act (and how not to react).
My blog post title today comes courtesy of my sister-in-law Liz and one of her guided meditations arising from a recent workshop she ran on wellbeing. I hope you might enjoy is as much as I did – I’ve shared this with my besties who are feeling various emotions of sadness, frustration and anger that we are once again in lockdown in Victoria. I’ve also shared with them Bruce Lee’s fighting words about the possession of anything starting with the mind: Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick. Perhaps something to remember as we try to focus on the present and live in the now.
I’m feeling for the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) organisers and hope they built some flexibility into their format this year like the Melbourne Writers Festival. Businesses who’ve managed to do this stand the greatest chance of being here after the pandemic. Unbelievably given we are now in lockdown 6.0 – I managed to get out on Tuesday as I was involved in ANZSOG’s new marketing campaign meeting my colleague Emma and staff from our agency Marmalade Melbourne at photographer Garth Oriander‘s studio in Prahran, along with videographer Giordi Caputo.
I had the great pleasure and privilege of looking after three very senior Victorian-based alum (including a Commissioner no less!) who were first photographed by Garth, and then interviewed by me while being filmed by Giordi. We got some great footage and I’m looking forward to seeing the end result once we have finished the process in some of our other jurisdictions in Australia and New Zealand.
Emma and I grabbed some Vietnamese beef pho at New Wind on Chapel Street for lunch where we were served by a lovely Brazilian waiter but it was a shock to see how many cafes were closed on the main street – the pandemic has hit some retail strips pretty hard. While many businesses are suffering, it’s heartening to read about other new businesses opening at this time like retro-inspired Tyler’s Milk Bar in Preston.
The Olympics closing ceremony is on tonight and it’s been inspiring viewing over this lockdown period. I was happy to read about restoration work going on for the modernist mural created for the Melbourne Olympics and speaking of modernist, Margel Hinder: Modern in Motion has opened at Heide Museum of Modern Art in Bulleen (one to attend once lockdown permits) and there is also a new book out on modernist textile designer Frances Burke.
Finally while I am going to refrain about commenting on vaccination, I did watch this Heineken advertisement and read this article by Peter FitzSimons with great amusement. Yep – I’m definitely looking forward to part-aying once we open up our states and country – the night is young, the sun continues to rise and we are all still here.
Miss Rosanna 