As I practice mindfulness, compassion and insight meditation more and more I recognise more and more how I create my own reality. If I wake up with the expectation that the day should be one way and it turns out a different way, I can easily create a reality that is unpleasant for me and…
Having just attended the funeral of my dear friend, being in the process of changing my life quite drastically and talking with Heather about the huge changes in her life, I find myself on a train to London feeling rather reflective. At the weekend I was also stunned by the news of the sudden death…
This last weekend I have been teaching weekend three of our Mindfulness Level 1: Being Present course. This weekend we focus on preference and acceptance. One of the big things that comes up over this weekend is a habitual pattern that many of us have that we are not good enough. This habit can be…
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…
Last week I had a lesson in mindful listening. It was half term. I noticed that it transformed the usual places I inhabit and the activities I do from one of relative calm and spaciousness, to one of noise and busyness. I observed the chatter of children of all ages, some happy, some not so…
This weekend I had a day trip to London on the train from Lockerbie to visit the Mind Body Soul experience at Alexandra Palace. It was an interesting day, with the train filled with thoughtful, serious and at times jolly looking people on their way to London for the People’s Vote march. Many with children…
I am excited that we now have confirmation for our 10th anniversary celebration of the Mindfulness Association. Ten years seems like a long time but seems to have passed in an instant. I vividly remember my first retreat teaching with Rob Nairn and Choden on Holy Isle in June 2009. For me this was a…
This last weekend I have been with the second year Mindfulness MSc students on their first weekend of insight training. It was an awesome weekend with insights coming thick and fast. It struck me how this approach really works in enabling us to become free of our individual and complex set of habitual patterns that limit…
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…