SINCE the start of November, a young Batesford boy has been one of more than five thousand Australians walking each day to raise funds for non-profit web-and-app meditation program Smiling Mind.<\/p>\n
From the first day of November and for the remainder of the month, Paxton Turner will walk 21 minutes each day to keep the program free for everyone.<\/p>\n
He said it\u2019s important to him to give people the resources to better their mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people out there that don\u2019t have the greatest mental health and I want them to have good mental health onwards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use Smiling Mind a lot in the house. My mum will lay down with our sister in bed and they\u2019ll do a session together. It\u2019s very good for your mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll sometimes do one before school and it\u2019ll give me a great day ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Smiling Mind program launched in 2012 and offers mindfulness units for home, school, and workplace settings.<\/p>\n
Since starting the initiative, Paxton surpassed his original $250 goal roughly week into the fundraiser, and has now raised more than $600.<\/p>\n
He said it feels great to have made a difference so early into his campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve achieved a big goal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Undertaking most of his walks after school, Paxton is joined on his neighbourhood circuit by his mother Hayley, who said she couldn\u2019t be prouder of her son.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband Corey and I are extremely proud of him,\u201d she said. \u201cI haven\u2019t actually told him to do it, in fact, he\u2019s the one who reminds me to log the walks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re proud of him for not only committing to it but committing to helping other people.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaxton turned 11 on the 10th November so he started this as a 10-year-old. It\u2019s a pretty big thing to be thinking of other people before yourself at his age.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paxton\u2019s fundraising is so far set to deliver more than 20 mindfulness journals to Australian children, allowed roughly a dozen parents access to the Smiling Mind app, and provided about three classrooms with mindfulness resources.<\/p>\n
His fundraiser page can be found at bit.ly\/3QJyaaH.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SINCE the start of November, a young Batesford boy has been one of more than five thousand Australians walking each day to raise funds for non-profit web-and-app meditation program Smiling Mind. From the first day of November and for the remainder of the month, Paxton Turner will walk 21 minutes each day to keep the […]<\/p>\n