I have moved into my new cottage this week. It is a thirty minute walk from Samye Ling and under 10 minutes’ drive. I am warm and comfy in my new home, which has everything I need to live well. The move went as well as could be expected, my two dogs Holly and Nutmeg…
Change Said the sun to the moon, You cannot stay. Change Says the moon to the waters, All is flowing. Change Says the fields to the grass, Seed-time and harvest, Chaff and grain. You must change said, Said the worm to the bud, Though not to a rose, Petals fade That wings may rise Borne…
This last weekend I have been teaching weekend three of our Mindfulness Level 1: Being Present course. This weekend we focus on preference and acceptance. One of the big things that comes up over this weekend is a habitual pattern that many of us have that we are not good enough. This habit can be…
The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the…
I guess you knew it would come at some time. My obligatory January blog advocating the advantages of adopting a more vegan lifestyle. Well here it is – Veganuary! I’ve not been watching much TV or listening to much radio, but vegan friends who have been tell me they are despairing over the mis-information that…
I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-grey, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires. The land’s sharp features seemed to be The Century’s corpse outleant, His crypt…
A boy of 5 was taken to see Father Christmas. Father Christmas was in a grotto in a wood, accessed by a short train journey through woodland. Father Christmas asked the boy what he would like for Christmas. The boy was a little phased by this question. He paused. He almost seemed embarrassed – then…
Sitting under the mistletoe (Pale-green, fairy mistletoe), One last candle burning low, All the sleepy dancers gone, Just one candle burning on, Shadows lurking everywhere: Some one came, and kissed me there. Tired I was; my head would go Nodding under the mistletoe (Pale-green, fairy mistletoe), No footsteps came, no voice, but only, Just as…
I am away now to a bungalow by the sea for four weeks. I am treating myself to some solitary retreat time with two of my dogs, Holly and Nutmeg. Then I have some holiday time at Christmas and New Year with family. After the new year I have some more solitary retreat time. Then…