Last year, my goal was all about doing things that cultivated my happiness. Whilst writing my plan for 2018, which is all about wisdom, I found that my list of goals were entirely different. Instead of lots of tasks relating to going places and exploring new things, my objectives for nurturing wisdom are more low… Continue reading Nurturing Your Inner Wisdom
One night last year, I awoke from a spectacular dream. I had been playing blues on the harmonica in the spotlight on a small stage with an audience cheering me on. Upon awakening, I immediately decided that I needed to learn the harmonica and an hour later I had signed up to group lessons. Little… Continue reading Musical Meditation: The Blues Harmonica
This week, I completed an eight week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction [MBSR] course. For me, this marked a milestone in my mindfulness and meditation journey through the camaraderie of my fellow classmates. Today I explore how the MBSR course helped me, in the context of group learning. Practicing mindfulness by myself for many years has… Continue reading Reflections In The Mirrors of Mindfulness
Life has been pretty chaotic lately and I couldn’t help but thinking about a saying that goes along the lines of, ‘You should meditate for at least 20 minutes a day, unless you’re too busy…then you should meditate for an hour’. I felt so full of work and other stresses that it came as a… Continue reading Silencing the Inner Storm
We can think of mindfulness as a practice that brings only calm, happiness and joy. The reality of it, however, can be quite different. Whilst mindfulness does bring a sense of wellbeing to those practicing it, few mention the dark side of mindfulness. I am halfway through an MBSR course to deepen my experience of… Continue reading The Dark Side of Mindfulness
I have finished reading a delightful book by Vietnamese-born monk, Thich Nhat Hanh (also known as Thay), who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King in 1967. He currently resides in Plum Village, France. Present Moment, Wonderful Moment is the second book that I have read by Thay. Present Moment, Wonderful Moment… Continue reading Present Moment, Wonderful Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh: Book Review
I had booked myself onto a silent retreat last year and for many months had been looking forward to the event. As last year had been a difficult year, I craved quiet and alone time. But as 2017 awakened, so too did the ease and flow of life that I finally found myself feeling quite… Continue reading My Experience At A 3 Day Silent Retreat
‘Meditation is boring’. ‘I can’t stay awake’. ‘Are the 10 minutes over yet?’ These are the wonderful sounds of the beginner meditator. I have been there many times over and on a sleepy day I can still have issues of staying awake as the beautiful, calming effect of meditation sets in. But thankfully there’s a… Continue reading The Meditation Mix-Tape
Eight years ago, when I studied in China, my tutor (who incidentally had selected ‘Happy’ as her English name…she really was the happiest person I’d ever met) asked the class the following question, ‘If you could only choose one of the following, which would it be? Health, wealth or love?’ She asked us to raise… Continue reading Your Mental Health 5-A-Day