Once, I ran from fear so fear controlled me. Until I learned to hold fear like a newborn. Listen to it, but not give in. Honor it, but not worship it. Fear could not stop me anymore. I walked with courage into the storm. I still have fear, but it does not have me. Once,…
Hi There, welcome back to my Mindful Futures blog! Over the weekend I took part in my first ever mindfulness course, the level one being present. I really enjoyed myself, admittedly more than I was expecting to. I think my dog also quite enjoyed it, she spent the first day sat by my side snoozing…
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,…
Fear and Butterflies 5 Minutes before peer group zoom teaching session where I will teach Recognising the Unsettled Mind – I realise I have an Unsettled Mind. Body jittery. Heart, announcing its presence and power by thumping. Hard. I can’t focus. Do I really want to do this? What have I let myself in for?…
I led the free daily sit on Friday evening and we did a practice using a mantra of ‘Body like a mountain, breath like the wind, heart of compassion like sunshine and mind like the sky’. At the end of the practice an interesting discussion ensued about anger and fear. A first participant shared their…
‘The only way to take care of the future is to be present now.’ This year has been a year of solitude and of connection for me. In January I moved into a remote cottage, on my own, after 20 years of living a happy family life. Then lockdown arrived in March. And I…
This week I have been swamped with work, or so I thought, and an uneasy feeling of creeping overwhelm has threatened to flood me. Lockdown had provided me with what felt like a dreamy safe haven, some of my freelance work had been on hold and I think I liked that a bit too much!…
Benedicto: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets’ towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a…
“Warriorship does not refer to making war on others, aggression is the source of our problems, not the solution… Chogyam Trungpa, The Sacred Path of the Warrior I just love the title of this book by Chogyam Trungpa gifted to me by a woman I met as I hitched my way to Italy in…