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,…
If you read my blog last week, you will know that I will shortly be moving house. Last week all was going ahead well, but since then there has been – another – spanner in the works. Despite how many times I tell myself that things will work out for the best in their own…
Over the last few weeks every day feels like groundhog day (Actually, I recommend this as a great movie with Bill Murray for cheering yourself up!). I wake up, turn the electric heater on, press the snooze button on my phone three times to give the room time to warm up, get up, put something…
Stay…stay…just stay. So whenever we wander off, we gently encourage ourselves to “stay” and settle down. Are we experiencing restlessness? Stay! Discursive mind? Stay! Aching knees and throbbing back? Stay! What’s for lunch? Stay! What am I doing here? Stay! I can’t stand this another minute! Stay! That is how we cultivate steadfastness. by Pema…
Do you think peace requires an end to war? Or tigers eating only vegetables? Does peace require an absence from your boss, your spouse, yourself? … Do you think peace will come some other place than here? Some other time than Now? In some other heart than yours? Peace is this moment without judgment. That…
Now we’re ready to look at something pretty special. It is a duck, riding the ocean a hundred feet beyond the surf. No it isn’t a gull. A gull always has a raucous touch about him. This is some sort of duck, and he cuddles in the swells. He isn’t cold, and he is thinking…
I had a visceral response to a thought this week as I sat peacefully watching the birds over my morning coffee. The stillness of my contemplative coffeetime created the perfect stage for mindfulness to witness my unfolding experience. But the silent soliloquy hit me like an unexpected punch in the stomach. As I try to…
As we face another few months of restrictions I have been reflecting on life since Covid began affecting our lives – some 6 months ago back in March. I became aware that the news of tighter restrictions as cases of Covid soar again, was causing me some angst and this was manifesting as a tiredness…
“I felt free and therefore I was free.” Jack Kerouac Jacky was off on her hols last week, in a camper van and wandering free. I was here left at the helm (anything could happen!), on the computer, feeling a bit miffed, and slightly, ever so slightly jealous. I love the open road. As…