The Gift of Being Present
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We welcome Pam Sidhu onto the podcast, who is a presenter on BBC Radio Derby and a qualified Mindfulness Practitioner. With a varied background in reiki, NLP and nutrition to name a few, Pam’s passion lies in supporting others to break through old mental patterns or loops and start to become more aware, in order to be more present in our ever-demanding and fast-paced world. Pam shares with us the quote that really resonates with her and sums up her work and mission “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf” (by Jon Kabat Zinn).
the gift of being present
Pam chats about how she helps people to quieten down the noises of everyday life and in doing so, she has found you can tune into your intuition as a result. Pam always felt that there’s has got to be more to life than what she was experiencing and learning at school, or from her family and went on a quest to find what was ‘missing’ and soon discovered, as the saying goes, that it’s not a destination but a journey.
Pam shares the story of how mindfulness came about and the neuroscience links that support it. Back in the 70’s, Jon Kabat Zinn took mindfulness from Buddhism, stripped it of spirituality and used it to create a map for anyone to use. So regardless of their beliefs, spirituality or religion they could still practice mindfulness. He started the first scientific study of mindfulness and the results recorded showed so many benefits like better sleep, an increase in happiness, a decrease in anxiety and depression, better pain management and lots more.
As Pam shares with the people she works with, mindfulness is not a magic pill, it’s a practice that you have to do regularly to get results. Think of the mind as a muscle and you can train it - you can start to come back into alignment. We are living in a world where we are getting so much thrown at us all the time, bombarded with information like news from across the world. It’s too much, but we can start to quieten down that noise with nature and the environment, with being more present and aware of your surroundings and what you are connected to in the moment.
Pam uses the analogy of having lots of different apps open on your phone. If you do that then the battery will go quicker as opposed to only having one app open. Pam explains that most of us are walking around with hundreds of apps open and we are getting drained really easily. Pam shares a short exercise of how to come into the moment using our 5 senses.
Another thing that might be helpful is to know that the mind likes something to focus on or anchor onto - like the breath or a feeling etc. Telling someone to ‘think of nothing’ doesn’t work. In today’s world mindfulness is a key survival tool as we’ve never been in this place before where we are getting so much information constantly on tap. The practice of mindfulness can give you perspective and help you not to get too ‘caught up’ in whatever is happening in your life.
Sibby shares her own personal story with mindfulness and one of the techniques she uses to help - separate the thought and let it pass by like a cloud so you don’t have to engage with the thought, act on it or do anything with it. It has changed her life dramatically.
Pam also discusses how to shrink down negative memories and blow up positive memories as we record things subconsciously, so this technique helps our subconscious mind to work in a way that we are managing or in charge. Pam helps others to create a movie in their minds and add more good stuff to it, intensify the feelings and blow them up, exaggerate them in order to hold those memories in the subconscious mind, instead of it being full with the negative ones.
Sally talks about when you become aware of yourself, of your thoughts and feelings that you are having - who are you, when you are in this state of awareness? Pam talks about the difference between you being now here or being nowhere? The only difference of course is a space in-between the first example - NOW HERE. Pam says when you are off thinking about something, you are nowhere and therefore not using your ability to be conscious and aware of what is around you.
To find out more about Pam, you can connect via Instagram or check out her YouTube channel.