Inspired words

  • Making space

    Making space

    For as long as I can remember, I have always been chasing space. Space to read, space to paint, space to watch a sunset, space to meditate, space to write, space to sew, space to sit in a sunbeam streaming through the window. You get the drift. It’s not that I have never had the…

  • Keeping it simple

    Keeping it simple

    As many of you know, I am currently at my cabin in Northern Manitoba (Canada). There have been a few forest fires up here, to say the least. What’s more is that due to the vast size of the Boreal forest, the fires will be an ongoing concern for months to come. This means that…

  • Turning the ship

    Turning the ship

    My husband Graeme was a clever man. Both as an intellect and as a contemplative. While we both taught mindfulness, he used to claim that I was the ‘better’  mindfulness practitioner. In all reality, he was like an anchor for me. He had an uncanny way of putting things into perspective, whenever I became lost.…

  • My safe place

    My safe place

    There’s a meditation practice that I guide from time to time that is taken from the Mindfulness Association’s Level 2 course: Responding with Compassion. It’s an imagery practice called Safe Place. Pinning down its exact origins can be tricky. For instance, I know that it is a meditation that is also used in Compassion Focused…

  • Sympathetic joy

    Sympathetic joy

    It’s funny, I don’t talk about mindfulness that much with my inner circle of friends. Maybe they would say different but it’s rare that I espouse the benefits of mindfulness, or wave the flag. Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of friends who I work with or practice with in which I do talk…

  • Celebrating lost days

    Celebrating lost days

    A few days ago, I was taking a break amidst a busy ten day stretch of teaching and I had met a friend for a quick coffee catch up. As we shared the highlights of our schedules, I admitted sheepishly that right before things got busy for me, I had spent a couple of days…

  • Disturbing the peace

    Disturbing the peace

    A few days ago, I received a lesson from a duck. I was on my daily walk and I stopped to watch a number of mallards as they appeared to be peacefully swimming along the reeds of a slow moving river. They were casually foraging for food when I noticed this one duck repeatedly pecking…

  • The power of surrender

    The power of surrender

    Without being overly dramatic or unrealistic, I think it is fair to say that the province in Canada in which I come from is on fire. Well, 6 days ago there were 477,498.9 ha of Manitoban forest burning. Coupled with the hot weather and the winds that have been blowing on and off, this number has surely…

  • Mindfulness of Houseplants

    Mindfulness of Houseplants

    Recently, a friend was in my house commenting on how healthy my houseplants are looking. My jaw nearly hit the floor. I have never been known for the health of my houseplants. In fact, I have been known for bringing them into work so those colleagues of mine, who are fortunate enough to have a…

  • Just roll with it

    Just roll with it

    **I have been toying with whether to write about my night sweats for a few weeks now. It feels a bit too personal. However, I think that it might be quite helpful as it is relevant to my experience of living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). What’s more is that these somatic events provide…