It's Not All Beer and Skittles

Last night I threw my legs up on the couch, spent. Dancing, wine, singing half known lyrics loudly, with gusto – perhaps too much gusto. Pouring out everything, everything that had come before. Sweating and then wandering out into the darkness and the sharp night air to marvel at the stars and the full, full moon returning then, again for more.

Meditation: It's Not What You Think

Meditation is an ancient practice that is becoming increasingly popular.

 

Here I answer the “Who, What, Why’s” of meditating for those who may be considering beginning a practice, and those who simply want a reminder as to the value of their existing meditation practice.

{Happy} New Year

It's the first morning of 2016.

2015 has been a bit of a weird one for me.  I won't say it was a disaster.  Not completely catastrophic.

Because I like to keep things in perspective.

Photo Albums

What do you do with your photos?

We're old school at our place, we still print them out and put them in albums.

Compassion. Start With Yourself. #1000Speak

When I was a kid I hated that saying that you had to love yourself in order to love anyone else.

I don't know why, the idea of self love just never sat right with me.  It seemed weird.  Arrogant.  Conceited.  Or something.

Could You Ever Eat A Turtle?

Sometimes it's hard to admit the weird shit that goes on in my brain.  But here goes. Stay with me, 'kay?

Backwards {10 Inspiring Organisations Doing Great Things}

Sometimes I think we are living backwards.  Chasing after all the wrong things.

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by everything I hear on the news.

Mostly I feel helpless to do anything about anything.  And that's a really crap feeling.

Mindful In May

 I was lucky enough to be offered a ticket to the Mindful In May Launch last Wednesday night.  That's what happens when you count someone as awesome as Kate James among your closest friends.

Giving In

Last week a friend and favourite blogger of mine wrote about the chaos of her kids bedtime routine.

I really liked this post by The Mother Load Australia, because I related.  Hells yes.

Look For The Light

I love this TEDx talk by Karen Walrond of Chookooloonks. 

It's not new, but it's always relevant because of it's simple but sweet metaphor.

My Luxurious Complaints

So my daughter is earning pocket money now.  She's five, starting school next year so I thought it was time.  Time for her to learn about money, it's worth and the effort it takes to earn it.  Also the pleasure in working hard and saving for something you want and buying it with your own money.

Not My Best Week

Not my best week this week.  Nope.  Not my best.

Lots of yelling.  Lots of anger and frustration.  It's really hard to write that down. 

Because it's kind of shaming.  Very humbling.  To admit how horrible I am.

Practicing Gratitude Part 2

Last week I wrote about cultivating gratitude.

The idea of cultivation being that it takes work, it takes energy, it seems sometimes counter to instinct.

But I fear I wasn't frank enough.  I was clear that it's an effort, right?

Wheel of Life

So reincarnation has always been a bit of a sticking point between me and Buddhism.

Not that I know that much about it, but whenever it comes up I've always felt a bit...skeptical?

So mostly I've just kind of ignored it.

Hand's On

Happy Father's Day Gen X Dad's!

I hope you are all being told today what an amazing job you are doing by your grateful and devoted partners and children.

Because seriously?  Do we all know how lucky we are to have these partners?  To be parenting in these times?

Own Two Feet

It Isn't About The Shoes

I have a fundamental fear of raising overindulged little brats.  So being witness to tantrums that escalate from the totally mundane really gets me going.  It doesn't take much for my internal dialogue to start running a loop about how spoilt and entitled my children are becoming.

Desperately Seeking Clarity

This is me.

What the hell is going on in this country when it comes to Asylum Seekers?  

Please.  Can somebody explain it to me?  Because I have lost the thread of coherence.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

This week I was at the Melbourne Convention Centre to hear the Dalai Lama speak on Compassion The Foundation of Well Being.

Reverse Racism

So Waleed Aly wrote this great article about passive racism this week.

And it got me thinking, as Waleed Aly often does (curse him).  Because I find racism so abhorrent I am acutely aware of it.  And so when thinking about less obvious examples of racism I wondered whether I might be a reverse racist.

Gratitude Revolution

For not the first time in my exploration of Buddhist philosophy I was presented with the phrase "This does not mean being a doormat".

I'm not really sure what this means.

Buddhism calls for compassion and gratitude above all else.  This seems a worthy goal.  

But sometimes in practice it can lead to a feeling of self deprecation.

Can we cultivate compassion for a person or situation in which we are being treated badly?  Is that even appropriate?