Tag: mindfulness
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Thank you, no thank you…
Two of my oldest Canadian friends have been with me for the past week and it has been absolutely delightful. We have traversed the Wicklow hills, roamed the halls of Kilkenny castle, explored Dublin’s fair city and ventured to the most sun soaked spot we could find: Inch beach in county Kerry. It has been…
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The joy club…
Along with a couple of my friends, I belong to a joy club. It’s a club that exists in Shambhalic form (we may not always be able to see it, but it’s there). It also acts as a beacon of steadiness. What I mean by that is whenever I am making a decision on whether…
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Searching, only to be found
This past weekend, I was up in Ards, Donegal. I had a few days of meetings as the Joy farm readies itself to embark on a social farming venture. As well, we all woke for the Dawn Chorus as our declaration of peace. It was inspirational to see some of you rising at 4.45am to…
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Embracing both/and
Recently, my daughter has been sending me gorgeous photos of spring time in Vancouver. She moved over there last September and just missed the long summer days and ocean breezes of July and August. Instead, she walked headfirst into the misty skies and darkness that can be associated with a coastal winter. Truthfully, she would…
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Take your time…
Last week was my final days of university before the summer break. We were scheduled to be on campus for three days; however, with the blockades and protests of the rising cost of fuel in Ireland, we were moved online. This meant that I was able to turn off my alarm and turn in for…
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Sadness upon me…
Sadness has been upon me. I am not going to lie, last week was a tough one. There were various moments, hours and even a few full days where there was a heavy and almost lethargic melancholy upon me. At times, when I got pulled into my mind, it felt too much. However, when I…
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Energy follows focus…
There’s a phrase that the Buddhist teacher Rob Nairn uses when teaching mindfulness: energy follows focus. This simply refers to the concept that wherever it is that our attention has gone to, our energy follows. In terms of our meditation practice, when we become entangled in our thoughts, we feed energy into the habit of…
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In and around you…
This past weekend, I was in college learning various theoretical approaches to psychotherapy. More specifically, we were learning about the importance of embodiment and all about the benefits of slowing things down so that we might notice what is happening within our internal world. Now, I don’t want to skim over the worth of noticing…
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Dawn is coming…
There is no denying it. I can definitely feel the days starting to stretch and lengthen. With the building of this increase in light, there has been the slightest whisper of warmth that has started to gently seep in when that north wind is not looking. These are the days described by the great Mary…
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Rest come easy
I am just coming out of the most luxurious four days of rest. They were well deserved after what feels like 2026’s momentum of hit the ground running. I made sure to make no plans and to step back into a quality of ‘simply being’ in and around my home. The great Zen master, Thich…
My Silent Place 