BOB BROTCHIE

When did you first start practicing mindfulness and why were you motivated to do so?

I started around three years ago. I was in an intensely stressful job with multiple roles and fighting depressive episodes and anxiety.
Did you take a class? If so, what sort of a class did you take?
No, I didn’t take a class. I gradually found my way to mindfulness through personal development and research that started with the search term “Stress.”
How has mindfulness made a difference in your life?
      I have all but “lost” any depressive illness that had been with me for thirty years. My anxieties are greatly reduced and I have stopped searching and wanting that “something”! I now have an increased awareness for opportunities, I am so much more creative, and have even greater compassion and peace in my life. But most of all, I have “come home” to myself. I live in the here and now; the incessant worries of the past and future are all but gone.
What do you do for your livelihood (e.g., homemaker, teacher, firefighter) and does your practice of mindfulness affect that?
Mindfulness helps me to guide and find resolution for those I see in my counselling practice. It helps me stay balanced and grounded.
Is there anything else you would want people to know about mindfulness and you?
Just that my life has truly begun, aged mid-forties and so I know it is never too late. I am alive to life, as it really is, today!