One day it’s the clouds, one day the mountains. One day the latest bloom of roses—the pure monochromes, the dazzling hybrids—inspiration for the cathedral’s round windows. Every now and then there’s the splendor of thought: the singular idea and its brilliant retinue— words, cadence, point of view, little gold arrows flitting between the lines. And…
Kingfisher: the colour-giver, fire-bringer, flame-flicker, river’s quiver. Ink-black bill, orange throat, and a quick blue back-gleaming feather-stream. Neat and still it sits on the snag of a stick, until with… Gold-flare, wing-fan, whipcrack the kingfisher – zingfisher, singfisher- Flashes down too fast to follow, quick and quicker carves its hollow In the water, slings its…
Oh, to meet the Joy and Pain of Christmas with Compassion by Bill Paterson Suddenly Christmas is on the horizon again! Is it really a year since the last one? Interestingly, I’ve noticed a pattern of contrasting thoughts and emotions wrapped in this winter celebration. Yes, the darkness of winter will be punctured with light,…
It falls to me each month to send out the membership packs to all of our wonderful members who upgrade to or renew their full membership. I love this job and settle down with some music on in the background to sign the letters, write and sign the certificates, stick on stamps and add the…
This week I have found myself very busy, but also still tired after my stomach bug of last week. I was leading our Joyful Club weekend and retreat at Samye Ling in Scotland, going straight from there to a two and a half day meeting of the U.K. Network of Mindfulness Teacher Training Organisations in…
It is very exciting! Our Joyful Club membership weekend (6-8th July) and retreat (6-11th July) at Samye Ling Tibetan Centre is nearly here (For more details, click here). At the Mindfulness Association our heartfelt motivation is to nurture a community of mindfulness practitioners so that we can come together and support each other in our…
I am just on the ferry to the mainland from Holy Isle off the Isle of Arran on the way back from the Year 1 year end retreat of the MSc: Studies in Mindfulness. It is a collaboration between the Mindfulness Association and the University of Aberdeen and this is the end of our 8th…
Mindfulness Association Membership Weekend at Samye Ling 6-8 July 2018 and Membership Retreat 6-11 July 2018 At our Compassion in Action Membership weekend in 2016 at Samye Ling, Lama Yeshe Rinpoche invited us to join his joyful club. Inspired by this, we are running our 2018 Membership weekend on 6 to 8 July 2018 on…
I am still getting over the flu and although I feel tonnes better, I am overcome by lethargy in the afternoons, especially if I have the audacity to actually do something in the morning! I am not moaning. It is so unusual to have such a prolonged period of doing so little. Usually I am…