Breathe Life

(image: The Little Box of Mindfulness)

Today’s blog is about a very special calming self care gift box – The Steady Box that was kindly sent to me by post to review from James Marchant at The Little Box of Mindfulness here in the UK.

I chose the Steady Box to review as someone who lives with an anxiety disorder at times and I wanted to see this self care box and how it can help calm anxiety by being mindful. The Steady Box is created for ‘people navigating anxiety, worry or emotionally overwhelming periods. A thoughtful gift designed to bring grounding, reassurance and gentle moments of calm.’. The Steady Box creates space for pause, presence and the feeling of being supported.

I opened the little black box and on the packaging it says ‘You are in someone’s mind this moment is yours‘. So already as you open it, you are feeling loved and welcomed. Each box also includes access to digital mindfulness practices, extending the feeling of care long after the gift is received. When you open the little box which is compact and fits through a letter box easily, you open to a winking face and a message- ‘You are not your thoughts, this moment is yours. Breathe. You’ve got this.‘ and some beautiful resources nestled within:

(image: The Little Box of Mindfulness)
A painted blue and cream handcrafted ceramic thumb stone (created by a local potter) to help with mindfulness and slow breathing when anxious. You hold it between your thumb and finger, focus mindfully on its texture and weight and then breathe slowly, returning to the present. The stone feels so calming and will make a lovely gift to a friend or loved one who needs to practise calming anxiety through mindfulness and breathing.
A Little Mindfulness box- a ‘Pause Pack’ containing items to help you ‘reconnect and reflect’, exploring at your own pace. These contain reflection cards with calming photos, affirmations about dealing with anxiety and lifes challenges( and finding strength and peace) and on the back, mindfulness prompts. They remind you to be in this moment, be still, breathe, name and ground yourself in the present;
There is also a leaflet teaching you how to ground yourself in the present (eg 5 things you can see, 4 things you can heal, 3 things you can hear) and a QR code for digital mindfulness resources that James has curated online.
Lastly, the box includes a Mindful Checklist card where you can tick off activities to help calm anxiety through mindfulness eg ‘I drank some water’, ‘I moved my body’, ‘I reminded myself I am safe’, I let go of one unhelpful thought’ , ‘I paused and noticed my breath.‘

(image: Little Box of Mindfulness)

This box retails at £15 and it makes the perfect letter box gift to send to a friend that needs to breathe, find a moment of peace to steady and ground themselves. I would recommend it as someone who lives with anxiety- I particularly liked the calming activity of slowing down and breathing with the thumbstone. As someone who has learnt a bit about how to practise mindfulness, I would say this box would be particularly useful at managing anxiety before it turns into a panic attack.

The Little Box of Mindfulness describes this as a’ refined letterbox gift for moments when words feel hard to find. A way to offer reassurance, presence and the quiet message that someone is thinking of them.‘. I would agree that it would make a lovely gift to send to reassure someone!

James Marchant, the founder and creator of the Little Box of Mindfulness, said to me, “I created these boxes with the simple hope of helping people feel remembered and supported during difficult moments, so it means a great deal to know the Steady Box resonated with you personally.” I truly love these products and the story behind them!

James created ‘The Little Box of Mindfulness’ due to his own battle with anxiety, stress and career burn out. He says, ” I’ve experienced anxiety in my own life and have seen first-hand how difficult moments can affect both individuals and families.The Little Box Of Mindfulness was created from a simple belief: when someone is struggling, small acts of kindness can make a real difference.Sometimes it’s hard to know what to say or how to help. My hope is that these letterbox gifts make it a little easier to reach out and remind someone they’re not alone.”

James’ story is so inspiring and I truly love these gift boxes and the concept. As well as the Steady Box there are two other boxes in the mindfulness range. They also sell beautiful self care mental health gift sets for thinking of you, bereavement, stress and burn out which are lovely and contain different treats. You can see all the mental health gift sets here: https://littleboxofmindfulness.co.uk/collections/mental-health-gift

Thank you James for gifting me this wonderful box to review!

(Image: Little Box of Mindfulness)

This article is a sponsored and gifted review. All thoughts on the product are my genuine review.

breathelife

Here at Be Ur Own Light, we support many charitable initiatives. We were contacted by ‘Breathe Life’, an amazing UK charity campaign to combat loneliness in the elderly and wanted to tell you about them so you can get involved wherever you are in the world!.

The campaign says,

‘Every day huge numbers of older people are dying from loneliness. Research has proven that the effects are as bad as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. In the UK alone, one fifth of older people feel lonely. …. We believe small acts of kindness can help loneliness‘ (Breathe Life)

This is sadly not just an issue in the elderly as 53% of those aged 18-34 have felt depressed due to loneliness. As more and more people live on their own, this affects millions of people in UK society alone.

Its time to reconnect with our elders and Breathe Life seeks to do this. Never before have we lived such separated lives from our loved ones, only connected by technology.

To combat loneliness in our society, Breathe Life partnered with Life Links Cheshire have selected 5 Elders- men and women from Cheshire in the North of England with a wealth of widsom, joy and resilience to share to people of all ages. You can email them for 30 days, important questions you want answered and they can share their knowledge with you (and in turn make connections to combat isolation and loneliness). As the campaign states,

‘Together, we hope to give older people regular mental stimulation and a visceral sense of self worth by actively creating connections for them in which they feel they are offering something of value to society. We might restore a sense of pride that breaks the deadening effects of loneliness.’

For more information about the Elders, the Breathe life Campaign and how you can get involved:

breathelife