Tag: poetry
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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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Trust Emergence
There is a beautiful poem by John O’ Donohue called “Fluent”. It is not long. It’s simply: I would love to live Like a river flows, Carried by the surprise Of its own unfolding. I can still remember the first time I heard these lines. I was with a gang of fellow mindfulness practitioners on…
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Lost and found
For quite some time now, I have been inspired by a beautiful poem written by David Wagoner called “Lost”. This past week I discovered that Wagoner based his poem on a traditional teaching given by Indigenous elders in the Pacific Northwest (U.S.A.). The story goes that a child asks an elder what to do if…
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My Silent Place
I remember the first time that I read Wendell Berry’s poem “How to be a Poet”. Now, I am not a poet, at all. However, I do love poetry and words that remind me what it means to be human. That is exactly what, I feel, this poem does. It reminds me what it means…
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The Evolution of Hope
It’s been over a year since I have delivered a meditation session for the Sanctuary community. I had to step back as my husband became acutely unwell. And tragically, after seven months of struggle he passed away at the age of 53. When my husband, Graeme, first became sick, his doctors told me that they…
My Silent Place 