The Fun Sides of Mindfulness
Celebrating your practise
This photo is beautiful, a shot of a prehistoric-looking fern that is exceptionally content in my damp woodland garden. It is highlighted by the sun shining onto it but also accentuated by the shadows around it.
It is the play of light and shadows that make this a favourite photo and possibly a book cover too. A new memoir about my life as a mindful gardener.
Life is like this photo, full of deep shadows and bright contrasting light. This week it has been so easy to fall into negative thinking about the climate crisis, the ecosystems of the planet, the living beings that our lives depend upon. It has been easy to fall into despair about the thousands and possibly millions of lives that are being and will be lost or ruined by recent political events and decisions in the all too near future. I am so glad that I live in the UK although I know we cannot be isolated either. There are so many potential despots on this planet.
Mindfulness teaches us to accept what is. Not to rant or rail about it. If we feel grief, to allow that for a while but not to get stuck in it for weeks, months or years. If we are truly in the present, that will fill us up with the new life of that day. I have found life rarely leaves me too many spare moments where I might slip into wallowing. I find myself…
