Shaun Robinson - CE Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand

Painting:  I paint pictures and ever since I was I boy I’ve done models and so I paint those too.  For me that’s all part of that take notice, being in the moment stuff.

Reading: Just for pleasure. Often it’s at the end of the day, it’s an important part of my sleep hygiene. Sleeping well is a really important part of keeping well for me, I need the ability to relax and come down from my very busy mind.

Gardening: Getting my hands in the soil, watching the plants grow and getting that sense of nurturing them.  It’s another active way of me coming into the moment rather than being in my head.

Be active

Moving: I try to keep exercise going and do something physical every day.

Keep learning

Music: I’m in a little band and that gets me thinking about doing some guitar playing or singing on a regular basis. 

Learning: If I don’t read at night I listen to a podcast – it keeps my mind active, not in the way of my work, it’s just being curious.  I’ve just been listening to the History of Rome and it’s fascinating to go through the whole 2000 years of Rome and see the big patterns, and I don’t have to do all the work about it, but my mind continues to be stimulated.

Parenting:  I’ve got teenage kids and when I’m parenting them that’s the give. I have to be giving to them, providing for them and trying to nurture them and support them. I have a partner and giving time to that relationship is also important, we’re both busy people, we don’t live together by choice, so we have to plan that connection time into our life.

Friends: Sometimes I get to the weekend and suddenly I’ve got a gap and I think, I’d better go see some of my friends or they’ll forget what I look like!

Spirituality: There is a spiritual element to my life.  I dabble a lot with mindfulness, and I really appreciate the Buddhist perspective, and generally that sense of there’s something more than just my life, and the spirituality of connection to nature, which I get a lot through my gardening.   A sense of the bigger universe and the value of all life, that’s something I stay connected to.