Mental Fitness, Magimix and BBQ Tool Offers

So, if you’re one of those people who enjoys one of my meanders then this week you’re going to be disappointed and I‘m sorry about that. Looking on the bright side, if you find my meandering just gets in the way, and you could well do without it, then yay, you’re waffle free this time!   

Mental Fitness versus Mental Health

Well, at least that’s what I thought anyway as I sat down to write. So, I continued writing and it went like this….I’m feeling really rather uninspired this week, and maybe a bit flat. In fact I’ve just noticed that I put on a grey pullover this morning, which seems a sort of semiconscious indicator that reflects the way I’m feeling! So not a promising start really, but these moods don’t last for long usually, or at least not in my case. So why am I telling you this in a sales email?

Well, mental health is quite a trendy topic at the moment (quite rightly)  and I think most of us go around thinking, or assuming that when we are feeling down/ below par/ depressed, that we’re the only ones feeling it and maybe are a little ashamed by it, as if it’s a weakness maybe…or is that just me?  Simon Sinek, who I saw being interviewed the other day, has got another expression for it.

He doesn’t like to the term Mental Health. He says it sounds like a fixed destination…as if you are not perfect, then there’s something wrong with you. Ergo, any kind of sadness or divergence means your imperfect! That’s not true and he feels it’s unfair to call it mental health.

He then uses the analogy of the body. Think about your body when you go to the gym, he says, this is called fitness and some days you have good days and others you have bad days. And this doesn’t really bother us.

But we don’t treat our mental fitness the same way. He says we are 100% mentally fit if we have sadness, if we have joy and if we have doubt, uncertainty and insecurity. So, he refers to his mental state as fitness. Mental fitness.

And I rather like that because it no longer has a pejorative feel to it. So I’ve had many feelings of being alone or lonely since Babette died, I’ve felt sad, depressed, just down and a bit grey (as I am now), and this despite having three grown up, and very supportive, children still at home! And they will say to me that “you’re rotten at telling us when you feel down Dad” and they are right, I am, and I think it’s partly, at least, due to the fear of appearing weak or inadequate (probably applies more to men..?) and ashamed. Not entirely sure where these feelings come from, but they are there and I’m pretty certain I’m not alone in feeling them.

So, I’m telling you this not for sympathy, not even for empathy, but simply because if you are like me, and inclined to hide your feelings, the next time you feel down, and want to close down, then maybe you’ll remember Simon’s words of wisdom. And you’ll remember that this is just part of being human, being frail or vulnerable, and that sharing these feelings with another is to pay that person one of the greatest compliments possible.

Ok, so off my soap box and onto product!

This week I’ve two offers for you, one a BBQ set and the other the wonderful Magimix 4200xl Food Processor, with money off !

Magimix 4200XL

I think, well I hope, that the Magimix range of food processors needs little in the way of introduction. I would say that they are the market leader in the food processor field, with three bowls, wide feed tube, Sabatier bladed business end, ultra quiet professional brushless motor, 30 year guarantee on the motor, made in France, dishwasher safe bowls and attachments for bread, pasta, pastry, eggs, mouses, soufflés, grating cheese and vegetables and, of course, it slices anything you care to mention in the twinkling of an eye!...even ice!

The price for the most expensive version (Satin) of this wonderous bit of kit is £340. Normally it has a Magimix backed £50 off bringing it to £290. And as if that wasn’t already a brilliant price, this weekend you can get a further £20 off by using code MAGI20 if buying online, or just tell us who you are if coming into Cobham or Reigate

Tower BBQ Set

Now, I didn’t ever think we’d be selling a Tower product in Art of Living. Call me a snob if you like, but I didn’t associate Tower with anything worthwhile in the cookshop world until I came across this rather nice BBQ Tool set from them. And it is just that…rather nice. Decent thickness of stainless steel, wooden handles (doesn’t say what wood, but I’d guess rubber wood, which a fast growing sustainable hard wood) and you get a long handled Fork, a Pair of Tongs and a long handled Fish Slice. All this is contained in nice wooden box. And once I’d got over the irritation of the box liner coming out when I pulled the tools out (I’ll stick the liner in if I buy one) I thought that this was a very good thirty quid’s worth.

So the RRP of this set is £29.95 and this weekend you can take £5 off by using code TOWER5 if buying online. Tell us who you are if coming into Reigate or Cobham.

Well that’s it for this week.

I’ll leave the last thought to the musician Nightbirde.

You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.

I hope you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend.
Kind regards

Andrew

Andrew Bluett-Duncan

Director