Costa Women Blogs

I am an artist by profession: I paint figurative pictures in acrylic. So why do I write a blog on mindfulness meditation? Being an artist is very interesting occupation, one never gets bored with the job,...

An early business card I designed, posted in support of Journalists and Press Freedom

JUSTICE FOR IBERIAN FUNERAL PLANS   Iberian Funeral Plans are delighted to announce that they have been accepted as the provider of plans to the employees of the Justice Services arm of Sodexo within the UK. Sodexo Justice Services operate 5 prisons within the UK but are responsible for 120 sites across the world and form part of the Sodexo group. The solid Sodexo group according to their 2013 figures operate in 80 countries worldwide and have a consolidated revenue of 18 billion euros! Iberian Funeral Plans Managing Director Stephen Nelson is delighted to be working with Sodexo and his Sales Manager, Marilyn Richardson will be co-ordinating the U.K. Sodexo sales drive.   For further information on Iberian Funeral Plans please contact marilyn@iberianfuneralplans.com T: 952 490 690   M: 646 924 509 www.iberianfuneralplans.com

Happy, healthy and prosperous 2015 to all my Costa Women connections. Now that’s out of the way, when are we going to become friends as opposed to online friends? I have it on good authority from Ali that there are 25 Costa Women in Torrevieja alone. That doesn’t take into account Guardamar, Benijofar, Benijuzar, Quesada, Algorfa and Rojales. And of course, the other way, we can go into Punta Prima, La Zenia, Campoamor – need I go on? The thing is, ladies, we can get a good thing going here. There are a number of us, of varying ages and circumstances, and we can all support each other, network, and just have a natter and a drink. I know that other Costa Women have tried to get something going in Torrevieja but nothing came of it, and that’s a real shame. So, New Year, new stuff. Let’s make 2015 the year we set up a Costa Blanca Costa Women group. I’m happy to get things going with an informal meet up, with a view to setting up a group with regular meetings and organised activities. I run a group on Facebook called Writers On Spain. No prizes for guessing what it’s all about! Anyway, a couple of months ago, I met up with Inka Piegsa-quichshotte, a fellow writer and Costa Woman, at the Casino in Torrevieja. It occurred to me then that it’s a great place to meet up. It’s a beautiful place, with seating indoors and outdoors, so it doesn’t matter what the weather is doing. When I met Inka, it was persisting down, so we sat in the elegant salon. Two days later, I met another Writer On Spain, Steve Hall of This Is Spain fame, and we sat on the terrace, looking over the Marina. Even if you don’t know Torrevieja, everyone knows where the Casino is, and it’s on the bus route. There’s also a huge car park opposite, so it ticks all the boxes. So, my suggestion is we meet up informally at the Casino, with a view to setting up a Costa Women group, with all the good stuff that goes along with it. Themed meetings, meals out, trips, coffee mornings, wild, wanton evenings – whatever you want, because this will be your group, ladies. Everything has to start somewhere, and Costa Women Costa Blanca will start at the Casino in Torrevieja on Thursday, 29 January at 12.00 noon. This will be an informal meet up, to get to know each other, float ideas for the group, and maybe rope in a few willing – or even unwilling – volunteers to get things moving.  If you want to make an afternoon of it, the food is excellent and reasonably priced, and you won’t need to work the roundabouts to pay for your drinks. If you’re within travelling distance, and you’re free on that day, let me know if you can, or just turn up if you can’t commit at this point. I’ll probably create an event – if I can work out how to do it! Looking forward to meeting as many of our lovely Costa Women as can make it. Hasta 29 Enero, amigas!

New Year Resolutions: a list of tasks to achieve and fulfill in the New Year. The promisses of our resolutions are beautiful, lofty and noble. The expectations are great. But on the way to their fulfillment we miss something and we quite often arrive at the next New Year with the same list of the same resolutions. So what happens, where do we lose our course? The discrepancy between an idea and its execution lies often in broken communication between our own mind and our own body. The talking mind is talking constantly to itself, creating new stories or repeating the old ones, but it seldom comes out of its own field. It is talking in a language that the body doesn’t understand. So here we are: the mind is giving orders in Chinese and the body is understanding only Swahili. How much of real contact and cooperation can come our of this? The solution seems to be obvious and easy; let the mind learn the language the body is using. Listen to the body, consult it, appreciate it and it will allow you to put to being your ideas and your resolutions. Where and how can we learn this language since it is not the language of intellect? You probably guess the answer; yes by learning meditation. LEARN MINDFULNESS MEDITATION, the rest will follow.

  For a great antidote for the New Year blues, look no further than Belinda Beckett’s new downloadable e-guide:  The Beckett List 2015: 12 Sizzling Trips & Weekenders in Spain, Gibraltar & Morocco. The interactive, calendar-style guide features a different offbeat excursion for every month of the year, all do-able from the Costa del Sol. Get your FREE copy here. Discover the world’s weirdest outdoor art gallery Watch giant tuna being landed at sea Rent a pavement pitch for Easter in Jerez See another side to Gibraltar without getting stuck in the queue   Bang up-to-date, with tips you wouldn’t find in a conventional guide, there are links to carefully-selected videos and websites, so you can armchair travel and make reservations before you go. Or share with your visitors so they can plan their own days out when you’re too busy to take them on the Grand Tour!   You can also meet Belinda in a Google Hangout with Fiona Catchpowle  here.