I am just back from a weekend retreat. The retreat was actually a week long retreat, but we could only manage to be there for the weekend. It was still an incredibly valuable experience – and I use the word valuable with mindfulness. Over the last couple of months I have been exploring ways to … Read more
Most weeks on Twitter, when it gets to Friday afternoon or early evening I post a string of tweets with the hash-tag #3bestthings. It’s the three best things that have happened that week. This idea developed as I was looking at ways to appreciate what is happening in my life. It’s too easy to become … Read more
This is the second in a series of posts on Mindfulness written by Taravandana (you can read the first one here). For more information about Tarvandana please follow this link: There’s a lot of talk about Mindfulness at the moment, as the answer to stress, leadership capability, maximising engagement and improving performance. But what does … Read more
Sometimes we can feel as though we spend our entire lives looking for clues, looking for paths well trodden. If only we can work out the model that has worked for others who are successful, we should be able to use the same approach and come up with success. This type of thinking can make … Read more
This is a guest post from Taravandana as promised last week. Enjoy: So why am I spending this Sunday evening composing my first blog? Good question. I have been thinking about having a go for months but convinced myself that for one reason or another I wasn’t able to. Of course it’s just been unhelpful … Read more
It began with a promise from my partner, June. She had been on many retreats. I had only been to one weekend meditation retreat 12 years earlier. She wanted me to do a retreat with Lama Lhakpa Yeshe. I asked him if he would help. He offered a 24 hour retreat one-to-one. It took place … Read more
Over the last few months, thanks mainly to my partner, I have been introduced to a sangha. This group of people who are all finding their way towards an understanding of Buddhism is based in the Liverpool area. At the heart of the group is a Tibetan Lama called Lama Lhakhpa Yeshe. He has been living … Read more
Everybody keeps referencing mindfulness. It comes up when people are looking for ways to tackle stress. It gets a mention in personal development approaches. It’s some time since Jon Kabat-Zinn wrote about the power of mindfulness in his book “Full Catastrophe Living”. His work was based on solid evidence gathered over a number of years … Read more
Here I am, sitting on a train travelling back from London on a Friday afternoon, writing direct to computer. I’m thinking about some of the things that have pre-occupied me this week. There is so much chaos around for me at the moment. As an antidote to all the upheaval I am meditating regularly. I … Read more
As the years go by I get closer to calling myself a Buddhist. It is something which I aspire to, and something which I am not entirely confident that I am yet. That is because I do not have such a thing as a daily practise. But I do use the principles of Buddhism to … Read more