Good morning and happy Mindful Monday for the final time in August!

As the year continues to rocket along let’s take a moment to pause and consider some wise words from the founder of SYPartners, Keith Yamashita:

“How we spend our time is how we spend our days. How we spend our days is how our life goes. How our life goes determines whether we thought it was worth living.”

Woah, I love this for so many reasons. Thanks, Keith.

Right. Spending time.
Unlike money, once time is gone – it’s gone. You can’t earn more or buy more.
This sounds so obvious and maybe not terribly important, but it is. What Keith puts so simply is actually a tool we can all use to live a life worth living.

So as another year enters its final third, give yourself the time to think about what you’d like to do before the year is out, and what you need to do now to get it done, and make this year a year worth living.

Love sheep
Celebrating a life and honouring a death comes in many forms, and while the pandemic has kept many of us apart it has inspired some to get creative in saying goodbye. Watch here to see sheep help a farmer say farewell to his aunt. Beautiful.

A different kind of season
Observing the passage of time through the changing of the seasons need not be limited to summer, autumn, winter and spring.

How about:
May 21 to 25: “silkworms start feasting on mulberry leaves.”
June 11 to 15: “rotten grass becomes fireflies.”
September 8 to 12: “dew glistens white on grass.”
October 18 to 22: “crickets chirp around the door.”

These Japanese seasons are but a few of the 72 micro seasons that help bring presence and awareness of the ever-changing beauty happening all around us.

Can you think of some seasons that are especially for you?

Volunteering for longevity
The secret to a long and happy life may well be helping and caring for others. This recent study by Harvard's School of Public Health shows there's a strong link between volunteering and strengthening community spirit while also enriching individuals’ lives.

This in turn supports a strong sense of purpose and wellbeing while helping protect against feelings of loneliness and depression. Here's to helping!

And one more thing...

Chocolate for health?
The collective consumption of chocolate in the UK is approximately 660,900 tonnes. Woah.

Now, not all chocolate is created equal. Milk chocolate is essentially not good for you, but dark chocolate actually has some anti-inflammatory properties – yet it's still not quite a "health food". The real gold is pure cacao, which seems to help lower blood pressure, increase cerebral blood flow and a few other funky things.

Read more here and enjoy responsibly.

Big love guys,
Luke X