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I've posted a guided "metta", or "lovingkindness", meditation led by Sylvia Boorstein during a conversation with Krista Tippett of On Being before a live audience in Detroit. I was drawn to how Boorstein framed the meditation as a blessing for oneself. Try the meditation and share your experience of lovingkindness.

http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-metta-meditation.html

I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 10+ years ago.  I've been in treatment for many years... battling the mood swings and anxiety that accompany this disease.  I've been focusing on Buddhist psychology and the practice of mindfulness... in an attempt to soften these mood symptoms and lead a fuller, richer life.  My therapist and I have been having an exchange about the benefits of mindfulness for the treatment of anxiety.  These are my thoughts and questions on the…

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Deliciousness. Vivid colours. Sharp smells. Fresh insight.

This is how we experience the world when we pause for long enough to engage with it.

Sliminess, too. Unease. The familiar sad pang of acknowledging impermanence. All this is part of life.

If we're not careful, we skip past so much. We…

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The end of the year is rushing towards me.

Christmas presents to buy. Relatives to visit. Projects to finish. 2011 is disappearing like sand through my fingers.

So what about the important things? You know, those things…

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This morning, the pale sky was draped with a grey sheet of clouds. They moved from left to right, as if someone was pulling them into a roll. 

Our cat Fatty snoozed on the chair next to me. My mind drifted to what I was going to write this morning - what I was going to tell you. You're writers. What would you…

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As I type, a seven-week old kitten is chewing my toe. Roshi and his sister Tsuki have been living with us for a week now, and they embody exactly the kind of 'coming alive' I'm talking about.

Everything is a toy to them. They are endlessly curious about the world, each other and us. They…

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I hate slugs.

 

I hate their ugly fat bodies. Their sludgy colours. Their…

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Hello, She-Writers. I’m Fiona Robyn and I’m very excited to be one of the tutors chosen to offer my course, ‘The Art of Paying Attention’, in partnership with She Writes.

I’m a founding partner of…

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"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." Laura Ingalls Wilder

I don't know where our beliefs begin - whether they are hard-wired into us from birth, or whether we invent them entirely. Most likely it's somewhere…

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On Saturday morning, I heard my neighbors chatting on their deck and smelled their good breakfast smells.  I felt a little envious of their laid-back approach to weekends, so instead of jumping into the work I had going, I decided to sit on the deck with a mug of tea and the local paper.  

 

But here's the thing:  Reading the local color, I discovered several...typos.  Before I knew it, I was lasering through articles, highlighting errors,…

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I was reading this interview with Ruth Denison & it reminded me of the blog post(s) I wanted to write on addiction.

Quotes from the article...

- There was always something out of the ordinary in my relationship to plants & nature…

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In my effort to calm the chaos of my mind, re-energize my life, and find balance in my universe, I have searched high and low for something to ground me. Something that can anchor me to terra firma, something that will prevent me from coming lose and flying away.

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30th Mar, 2010

Are You Paying Attention?

“I’ve been stretching and discovering new ways of paying attention: stopping for a family of chicks crossing the road, and waiting for that indecisive iguana to disappear into the bush ….. and then asking how does that apply to everything!” (my post on the Facebook stream yesterday)



I knew I was on the right track when I looked up “Attention” and was taken back to its root, ATTEND: to… Continue