often have to say as my uniform and that I’m clutching atub of cookies to hand out is usually agiveaway! But for the benefit of you reading this, let me introduce myself.I’m Padre Chrissie, awife and amum, currently based at RAF Marham as aStation Chaplain (Chaplain being the official title of aPadre).
Hello,
Now I’m aware you’re missing the cookies but that’s something Iwant to spend afew moments thinking about. It’s not about healthy eating (although that’s important as well), it’s about how we look after our headspace and ensuring that it is equally healthy.
What do cookies have to do with headspace? Well, it’s not the cookie itself,it’s what the cookie invites people to do. When Igoaround
the station offering cookies; oily gloves come off,swivel chairs turn away from the desk, computer monitor goes to sleep, documents
are placed down, and gently people
Rev(Flt Lt) Christina Lacey. ©Crown Copyright
stop. Sometimes only for the time it takes to eat acookie, but for most that stopping lasts abit
longer.The cookie is the invitation for people to
I’m aPadre. It’s something Idon’t
stop and to take abit of
abreather.It’s agreat way for me, in my role, to get to know people in arelaxed environment, but more importantly than that, Iwant to enable people to have a moment to stop.
There’s lots of research showing that taking abreak is important to our wellbeing and
productivity.Although it may feel like we’re too busy to stop, paradoxically,instopping we can increase our productivity as well as keeping our headspaces
healthy.So, asimple cookie becomes an invitation to begin ahabit which helps develop greater work resilience as well as ahealthy headspace…some may call it spiritual resilience. When we stop for afifteen-minute break, for lunch, or dare Imention having a whole day off aweek, we give ourselves time to do things which energise and refresh us. For me it’s not just scientific, it’s wrapped up in my faith too. Ilove that God commands us to take abreak. To stop working and simply be. Over Christmas, most RAF personnel were given some extra days leave to celebrate RAF 100 and in recognition of how hard people worked during 2018.
What do you do when you stop? Make abrew, go to the gym, eat yummy food, take up agood book (or even the Good Book, had to slip that in somewhere, IamaPadre after all!), go for a walk, listen to music, call afriend, take anap, meditate, social media…what do you do when you stop? Perhaps you have stopped to read this? Iwant to leave achallenge here: to start giving your breaks some TLC, and ensuring your headspace is kept healthy in alife that can sometimes run away with us.
SPRING 2019
raf-ff.org.uk
ENVOY
HEALTH &WELLBEING ANYONEFORACOOKIE?
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