A brief moment of reflection and gratitude. The blog started its sixth year this week. We recently passed 300,000 visits and over 1500 people who follow each day. As I have said before, I try to keep it simple – looking for words or ideas that help mindfulness meditation practice without me getting in the way too much, and hoping that they touch one or two readers in the same way as they help me. Thank you all so much for visiting. As Autumn deepens, we reflect and move on:
Here in Ireland the Gaelic word for October is Deireadh Fomhair, which means the “last harvesting” of what was planted earlier in the year. The weather system has changed these past few days, the leaves have started to fall in earnest, and it is clearer to see how Autumn signals a change in energy, a winding-down, as all of nature – and that includes us – prepares for the different tempo and darker days of winter. So we can use it as a season to find our balance between our past and our future, as our focus naturally turns more inward. We can use it as a time to look back on the work we have done this year, the way we have expended our energy. We can use it to take stock of what we are investing in and harvesting in our lives. Or we can use it to wind down and create space, recognizing the unwise busyness that only creates more anxiety in our minds, keeping us running a lot, but sometimes just making us feel more empty.
Western laziness consists of cramming our lives with compulsive activity,
so that there is no time at all to confront the real issues.
Sogyal Rinpoche
photo Jeff Borden
