The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all things without trying to. It is content with the low places that people disdain. Thus it is like the Tao. In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In…
Imagine you wake up with a second chance: The blue jay hawks his pretty wares and the oak still stands, spreading glorious shade. If you don’t look back, the future never happens. How good to rise in sunlight, in the prodigal smell of biscuits – eggs and sausage on the grill. The whole sky is…
The latest sticky note on my computer screen reads : ‘remember to be kind in feedback’. Do you ever fire back an email to someone only to read it back and realise you missed the etiquette of a polite ‘hello’ ‘how are you?’ I do. I’m hoping it’s just a symptom of a busy work-focused…
In July I will be attending the Mindfulness Based Living Course (MBLC) Level 2 Teacher Training Retreat and I have found out that as part of that training I will be delivering a ten-minute talk on settling the mind. I thought I would share my thoughts here about what I have learned so far from…
The word tenderness is the closest translation to the Tibetan word TSEWA. Tsewa addresses self and others. Pema Chodron says it expresses itself as kindness, compassion, vicarious joy, generosity, tolerance, mental clarity, courage, resilience, unshakable cheerfulness and in many other internal ways. Tsewa is about expressing and experiencing our own tender hearts. This week I…
This week the Default-Mode Network that is my wandering mind, or undercurrent, has mainly amused itself by waiting for a strange blood clot to kill me after having the Oxford Vaccine on the 4th of April. Despite my ability to focus well on work, and to practice mindfulness – my mind is perpetually reminding me,…
What if there is no need to change? No need to transform yourself Into someone who is more compassionate, more present, more loving, or wise? How would this affect all the places in your life where you are endlessly trying to be better, or different? What if the task is simply to unfold To become…
Every time I have ‘too much to do ’ I have to really take myself for a walk, and there’s always resistance. I’ve learned to lean into the resistances, if only I can get myself away from my desk and out the door, or on to the cushion. I seem to be glued to the…
Jacky is away this week on the MBLC Teacher Training Retreat, which I have to say, I am relieved I’m not doing right now! And so it gives me an opportunity to cover for Jacky on the Weekly Challenge. This week – something a bit different – Mindfulness in my Dreams — how my dreamworld…