meeting the menopause

Dare to Fear

I find it equally frustrating and amusing – my mind’s habitual pattern of imagining in the future. Having a conference to organise isn’t helping. Last minute arrangements, coordinating speakers, planning my sessions. The merchandise has arrived and hopefully the conference booklets will be ready in time. I am there in the future anxious about all…

mindfully-invisible

Mindfully Invisible

I seem quite far removed from a ‘mindfully invisible’ nature experience last weekend whilst writing this in a coffee house at Stockholm airport. However, writing whilst travelling seems to be a common theme for mine and Heather’s blogs. So last weekend, despite being quite tired, my friend and I decided to take a short walk…

masters retreat on Holy Isle

Masters retreat on Holy Isle

I am on the beautiful Holy Isle this week delivering the year end retreat for the first years of the University of Aberdeen’s MSc in Studies in Mindfulness. There can be no better place on the planet to practice mindfulness! It is a pilgrimage to get here. A wonderful journey, at each stage meeting up…

on the train again

On the train again…

I have been struggling this week to write my blog. More often than not the words fall out of me and the blog writes itself. I have an alarm on my phone that sounds on Sunday at 9am and I drop the question in ‘What to write about this week?’ It goes off again at…

being on holiday

Being on Holiday

I am in the sky, on an aeroplane, on my way for a week’s holiday in Zante. My friend Claire is staying there for a month and asked me to join her for a week. The decision was easy! We flew from Liverpool. It is an early flight. So I drove down from Scotland the…

lost in a vortex

Lost in a Vortex

Life is good.  And yet, I seem to allow myself to suffer.  The cause of my suffering? My mind of course! I notice I have been quite serious lately. A bit weighed down with my negative thought patterns. The resistance in this feels like sticky dark treacle clouding my mind – clinging to negative thoughts. …

Is-this-the-real-life

Is this the real life?

As I was driving to the station this morning mulling on my blog, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody started to play on my playlist, with the starting lyrics: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality”. This resonated with an experience I had this weekend. I was walking…

homeward-bound

Homeward Bound

It is my last day in India. We have empowerments this morning with Tai Situpa Rinpoche and then our teachings for this year are ended. This afternoon we have a massage booked and then online check in, packing and hotel check out. I feel immensely fortunate to have received the teachings and to have spent…