Every week, team members, tutors and supervisors of the Mindfulness Association offer meditation challenges as a suggested invitation.
I have been going through a bit of a demanding time, lately. I have just changed jobs and come back to work at the wonderful Mindfulness Association, have started placement for my Psychotherapy Masters, and have become the caregiver for my partner as he finds his way through long-term illness. All of these are very…
“Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.” Friedrich Nietzsche Autumn is announcing its arrival in many forms. I am observing changes in colour – leaves just tinged with gold, a different feel in the air – maybe a coolness, different sounds as the migrating birds start to fly…
“You don’t need to do everything. Do what calls your heart; effective action comes from love. It is unstoppable, and it is enough.” Joanna Macy Is it possible to make a difference in a way that gives inspiration and fulfilment and doesn’t cost us too much? Can we fill rather than drain our batteries,…
“How well we have lived How well we have loved How well we have learned to let go” ― Jack Kornfield So why might we want to begin to consider death in our lives? Unfortunately, like it or not, we are going to see loved ones die and come face to face with the…
Patient: Doctor! I feel like a pair of curtains Doctor: Pull yourself together! This week a blog appeared out of an insight I had after I sat mindfully unstitching and then stitching some curtains. I saw how the mind tried to steal my bliss by making up a story to make me feel bad. But…
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few” ― Shunryu Suzuki My mind is full, and not always mindful. And I’ve been doing this a while. It’s not getting easier, but it is geting deeper, messier. What a joy! The deep path of mindfulness training as opposed to the…
Today it feels like the whole world is conspiring against me! Today I’m having a day! It’s such a shock to feel something not very nice stirring deep down somewhere, a surprise. I don’t like it. And yes, I do want it to go away. Everything. I want everything and everyone to go away. Well…
There is a ruined old farmhouse in Northumberland called Blawearie. The name, apparently, means “tired of the wind”. Living on the North Yorkshire coast, I understand the sentiment behind this name and use if frequently, when day after day there is a relentless wind that rattles my bones, frazzles my energy and is a real…
Once when the lawn was golden green And the marbled moonlit trees rose like fresh memorials In the scented air, and the whole countryside pulsed With the chirr and murmer of insects, I lay in the grass Feeling the great distances open above me, and wondered What I would become and where I would find…