The seaside is on my Thrive list. It’s up there with proper food, sleep and exercise as things that I need to thrive. I had a 22-hour day yesterday, but it didn’t matter because I spent much of it by the sea in Northern Ireland. The sun shone, there were mountains in the background and the chips were fantastic.

I didn’t have to worry about Dad as he was tucked up safely in a hospital bed and I even managed to meditate on the flight over, which is just as well as the turbulence on take-off was horrific.

A Thrive list, in case you are wondering, is exactly as it suggests. Marion, my spiritual mentor, asked me to write one and make sure that I get oodles of the things I have listed.

Here’s my top 10 –

1. Sleep.

2. Alone time.

3. Exercise.

4. Proper food.

5. The sea.

6. Good company

7. Writing.

8. Theatre.

9. A tidy home.

10. Meditation.

I’ve spent a lot of time with my dad recently, which means that work and family pressures have mounted. At one point, I decided that I was far too busy to be spiritual. That would have to wait until things quietened down. Then I reasoned that the whole point of this spiritual mentoring is to learn something that I carry with me into everyday life…everyday hectic/stressful/dull/exciting however it happens to be life.

So, despite feeling that there is not enough time, I have meditated, tried to be present and resisted the urge to get high on stress. Tomorrow I am spending six-hours in silence at The House of Prayer near Hampton Court for a bit of numbers 1 and 2 on my thrive list – sleep and alone time. Yesss!

I filmed this yesterday. Glorious!