A5 Starting in Canterbury and other tales from this morning.

This is the thing, anyone who knows me will surely know that I can be quite inquisitive.  Today I started an 8 week long Mindfulness course.  Now I have to be honest as much as I can see that Mindfulness is all the rage and trendy now, I did not have a clue as to what I was going to learn.  The course itself was amazing.  I did not know what to expect, but I was open and  it was really enlightening, and I had an awesome time and can't wait until next week.

Now some of the things I learnt today, actually have nothing to do with Mindfulness and everything to do with the fact that I like to talk and like I said I'm inquisitive.

So here is a question, do you know where the A5 starts?  Well for as long as I have know of the road the A5 I thought it started at Marble Arch in London.  Today I learnt that actually it starts in Canterbury! Imagine that, and that its a road that was built by the Romans and goes all the way to Holyhead.   Having checked on Google, it has is starting in London,  but a little digging , I understand that the modernisation of the road has meant that some of the A5 has moved or removed. And that's another thing, I would have sworn it went up north!!! And before you all have a go, I am not confusing it with the A1!


I am certain that I do not have to tell you that we spend a lot of our time on Autopilot though, after all our lives are so fast and so busy right?  However did you know that even when you are doing things that you are aware of that your mind is working on full steam  in the background.  We did this exercise with raisins, which highlighted this,  because we were really made to think about the raisin, it was quite amazing the level of thought and conversation that came out of it.


Now, don't laugh but not knowing what to expect at the mindfulness course  meant that I did not know we would have a meditation session.  Then that brought out a surprise feeling for me.  I missed going to the hairdressers. Random? Not as random as you would think. In this meditation we had to clear our mind, we were guided by our leader, and in the end, I had no thoughts going into my head, and I was nearly falling asleep. This is what used to happen at the hair dressers it was my time, time for me to think or not think, and I am now seriously considering growing my hair back.


Purpose is the seasoning of life. I knew this, but it was reiterated on my way there, and  I thought it was worth sharing.

If you are interested in learning about mindfulness, I would definitely recommend Mindfulnessnow, the teacher is really interesting, open and really welcoming.  Check out details here  

6 Degrees of Separation!

So, this is the thing, can you remember when you were growing up and you mum would say ' behave yourself' especially when you go out. All the time, my mum always said this, sometimes I'd tell her I'd been somewhere and she would say I hoped you behaved yourself  lol.  Well that was just what your mum said right.   Well who saw the film six degrees of separation with Will Smith?  In this film the lead character played by Will, managed to ingratiate  himself into high society Manhattan  by insinuating that he was friends with their children courtesy of attending the same ivy league university as the said children.  In actuality it was all suggestion, because of knowing someone who knew someone.  This six degrees of separation theory has been bandied around for a while now, and I am not sure if it has been proven or not, although I did hear something on Radio 4 proving it is likely to be true, let me say this, if you are Nigerian ( and I speak as someone with Nigerian heritage) its more than likely to be 2 degrees of separation!!  I have had this proven time and time again. For example there was the time I took my mum to a friend's,  50th Birthday party. I knew this friend through  my Old girl's association ( alumni) of which we were both active members.  We got to the party, and  it turns out that my mum knew more people at the party than I did, including the celebrants mother. It was as if I had accompanied her to the party.  If that was a one off I would say it was a coincidence, but it was not.  I have countless stories to tell including the one the friend of my best friends sister turned up at my office as a new member of my team ( don't panic I am not going to tell them all) about such coincidences,  however I will restrict it to the one that was prominent today.

Today I attended a memorial service for a lady, in my capacity as president of my old girls association .  I had learnt of this lady's demise,  through an email from an association member who was the lady's aunt.   I  sent my condolences and said I would attend the service, especially as it was being held in my neck of the woods and as the lady also went to the same school .  Now the lady in the picture with me is my sister friend, of many many years.  Prior to receiving this email she had mentioned to me that her cousin had died she had found it a bit shocking as she was young in our age bracket I remember talking to her, and consoling her as much as you could and that was it right?  Well actually no, because it turned out that the person who died is one and the same person whose memorial I was attending.   Her Aunt is also my friend's Aunt.  It does not stop there, either, because I also met a lady that I used to see on the train, in my days of commuting,  and it turns out that she is also the niece of the lady from my old girls association.   The lady who died was one of 5 sisters and  it turns out that one of them was in the same class at school with my older sister.

So my mum knew, like mums do, your behaviour can come  back to haunt you. Imagine how embarrassing it would have been if I had been misbehaving around any of these people. So folks, I hope we all listen to our mothers.

NK Dee has taken up a new opportunity!

My Home of Learning today!

Are you looking for that aha moment? So this is the thing, knowing me is to know that I am a people's person through and through.  I am an aspiring personal development coach trying to gain traction, and its amazing how much you know but how little you know all at once when you are trying to lift the lid on your entrepreneurial skills.  I recently took up a new opportunity, which I knew was going to be interesting and more than a little outside my comfort zone, but having gone to my first training workshop today, I am happy to report that I had a good aha moment.  Which was  I pay attention, get going and succeed, but what the success will bring for me personally is the opportunity to use my coaching skills!

The training event was very well presented, and it was a really good to spend the middle of the day with a group of friendly like minded people, a sign that I was definitely in the right place.  If you would like to know about this opportunity click here of course you know I'd love to hear from you so you can email me here.   Live your dreams everyone, time waits for no one.