I want to be like the maples, letting go so easily of their leaves in the slightest autumn breeze, surrendering every piece of themselves they no longer need, and embracing bareness like a new suit they can simply step into. But I’m more like the beech trees, which cling to the husks of their leaves…
And a woman spoke, saying, Tell us of Pain. And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at…
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…
A few years ago I found myself in hospital in a ward on my own, with wires attached to me. Nobody came to see me and the nurses avoided me. It was really strange but I think they knew something I didn’t. There I was – with nothing to do, and nowhere to go. Does…
It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees They’re putting up reindeer And singing songs of joy and peace Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on… (From Joni Mitchell, River) Joni Mitchell it seems has accompanied me and my ups and downs since I was introduced to her as…
Our hands imbibe like roots, so I place them on what is beautiful in this world. And I fold them in prayer, and they draw from the heavens light. by St Francis of Assisi interpreted by Daniel Ladinsky A few days ago I was sitting and practicing with a sadness I felt around how…
Mindfulness is my raft through difficult times. It supports me through turbulent waters and calm, it knows where to go and follows the ebb and flow of the tides. All I need to do is sit and feel how it moves with the flow to learn about letting go, giving into the being and going…
Sing, my tongue; sing, my hand; sing, my feet; my knee, my loins, my whole body. Indeed I am His choir. by St. Thomas Aquinas When I rest in body awareness, I allow the field of experience which is my body to speak to me. I hold the intention to listen with gentleness. This…
One of those strange phenomena of being human is that we get ill. This body sometimes gets tired, and it also succumbs to a wide variety of viruses and bugs thrown at it daily. This body also has the possibility of becoming sick with diseases that can take us by surprise. I would regard myself…