Finding happiness through silence

Sitting in a sunny garden I asked her, “What is happiness for you?” In a beat, eyes closing as if to recall an image, she answered “Azure.” Then added, “I swam in a warm, flat sea, without a care. ‘Azure’ is the word for the sky and sea at that moment.” It sounds idyllic doesn’t … Continue 

The Power of Silence

There’s a whole industry devoted to helping us fill those uncomfortable pauses in a conversation; books offering “A field guide to awkward silences”, YouTube videos listing “14 things awkward people do”, even a phone app offering “10 witty lines to learn by heart” so that we are never short of things to say during a … Continue 

Watch | Read | Listen

Watch: The Sound of Silence Are we plugged in to our music, the radio, social media all the time because we want to avoid the sound of discord around us? Dr. Gage Paine argues that silence can dissolve that discord and help us find peace.     Read: How to Cure Our Chronic Self-Righteousness “Love … Continue 

A Harvest of Peace

Autumn – it’s my favourite season. The evenings may be drawing in, and the temperature may be dropping, yet the world seems abundant with the fruits of the past year. Traditionally this is the time when we gather in the harvest; when we reap what we’ve sown, and watered, and fed over the preceding year. … Continue 

Watch | Read | Listen

Watch: Compassion and the true meaning of empathy by Joan Halifax. In this TED talk Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax speaks on compassion and empathy and how to open to the pain of the world with courage, strength, and wisdom. She works with people at the last stage of life, (in hospice and on death row), … Continue 

A visit to Boulder

Wednesday was departure day for me after a retreat at Shambhala Mountain Centre. Some 180 participants had spent time together in the slightly rarefied air at 8000 feet in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. With Laramie and Cheyenne evocatively within striking distance to the north, it was not hard to reconcile this hardy yet elegant landscape … Continue 

Psychoanalysis and Buddhism

Words have a magical power. They can bring either the greatest happiness or deepest despair; they can transfer knowledge from teacher to student; words enable the orator to sway his audience and dictate its decisions. Words are capable of arousing the strongest emotions and prompting all men’s actions. – Sigmund Freud I first started practicing … Continue 

Mindfulness and Shambhala

Mindfulness has become a big buzzword, as you’ve probably noticed unless you’ve been meditating in a Himalayan cave for the past couple of years.  My own experience of this sudden fad has been quite extraordinary, being asked to run sessions in the past year for Parliamentarians, bankers, university teachers, publishers, carers, and TfL staff among … Continue 

Photography and Awareness

I have been a photographer most of my life but only made it into a business 10 years ago after a heart attack left me unsure whether I was going to be able to continue as a furniture maker. As it was, I carried on making furniture until 2 years ago when I took the … Continue 

Running (And Not Running) with the Mind of Meditation

Why do you run? Why do you stop? What is feeling? These were some of the questions in the air during the recent Running with the Mind of Meditation course at Hawkwood College, near Stroud. Inspired by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche’s book of the same name, the weekend was an invitation to explore the moment-by-moment experience … Continue