Meditation and Mindfulness

Do you struggle to integrate a regular meditation practice into your daily life? Is your concept of meditation and mindfulness with the idea that you must be able to sit cross-legged for prolonged periods of time and instantly quieten your mind?

Let us do a bit of reframing around meditation so you can see how easy it is for you to integrate meditation into your daily life.

When you come to meditation with the intention of focusing on the breath and being more mindful, more present in your everyday life, then you will discover that you can meditate almost anywhere anytime and in a myriad of different ways- simply observing the breath whilst sitting in practice.

You can also be in meditative state whilst walking- walking meditation. You can walk barefoot on the sand and become mindful of the temperature and texture of the sand against your bare skin. Being in nature in silence and observing the intricate details of a flower, leaves on a tree, the veins in a rock, the sound of lapping water, a feather blowing in the wind or simply observing the clouds passing by.

When you touch one thing with deep awareness, you touch everything.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
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Do you believe in Miracles?

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. – Albert Einstein

Feature Window at Vagabond Café in Byron Bay, Australia.
Photo by Louise Crosby

Whether you believe in miracles or not, how would you define a miracle?

The Oxford Reference describes a miracle as “A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency. Recorded from Middle English, the word comes via Old French from Latin miraculum ‘object of wonder’, from mirari ‘to wonder’, from mirus ‘wonderful’.”

The word miracle has also been defined as “a remarkable event or development that brings very welcome consequences.”

Recently, whilst enjoying a chai at my favorite local café, Vagabond in Byron Bay, I observed myself staring and smiling at the writing on the wall above the window– “Expect Miracles.” Looking at those inspiring words I found myself contemplating the notion of miracles.

As a Buddhist, I have a faith and a belief that miracles can occur, however as I sat and contemplated the idea of miracles, I came to realize, that for me, the idea of a miracle can be something other than divine intervention – it could be a delightful synchronicity or a fortunate occurrence of serendipity.

“The concept of synchronicity began with Carl Jung in the Read more…