At the end of November I was out for an impromptu dinner in a local restaurant. An elderly couple on another table caught my eye. I noticed them because they were wearing party hats. You know, the coloured paper ones you get in Christmas crackers. For some reason I couldn’t explain, it brought tears to…
I have had the great good fortune this week to be teaching at Samye Ling with Choden on the new Access to Insight retreat. During the retreat, it was a great chance for me to practice along with the participants. We practiced acceptance, self-compassion, the four immeasurable qualities of loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity…
I have not been able to write my blog for the last two weeks, which is strange for me, as the words usually come quite easily. However, my life has been in a very uncertain state of change. My old home was sold, I didn’t know where I was going to be moving to, and…
You know when words slip out of your mouth and cause chaos? They cause an argument or some disruption. The words are often spoken without thinking, without consideration. You seem to hear them as if someone else said them. Then afterwards, the turmoil it has caused to yourself and others subsides. And there are no…
Yesterday I took my daughter back to University. Last night I experienced a scary and quite gruesome dream. This morning I woke up feeling sad. My body felt heavy, there was a pain in my heart and a heavy and pre-tear feeling in my eyes. So when I woke up, my inclination was to stay…
Kingfisher: the colour-giver, fire-bringer, flame-flicker, river’s quiver. Ink-black bill, orange throat, and a quick blue back-gleaming feather-stream. Neat and still it sits on the snag of a stick, until with… Gold-flare, wing-fan, whipcrack the kingfisher – zingfisher, singfisher- Flashes down too fast to follow, quick and quicker carves its hollow In the water, slings its…
For some reason an old song by the band Texas has suddenly and randomly kept playing in my head. I have no idea why. The lyric that is popping through is “And when I get that feeling I can no longer slide, I can no longer run And when I get that feeling I can…
I had another experience of impermanence this weekend. I was anticipating a weekend at home, but then I found out on Thursday afternoon that I might be needed to stand in for the first half of the Insight weekend three which was taking place at Samye Ling. This was confirmed after lunch on Friday, with…
I have experienced a fundamental change in my future life, due to circumstances beyond my control. I am leaving my home, which I expected to live in for many years to come. I will be living on my own, which is also unexpected. It all came as quite a shock, but with hindsight the signs…