One of the challenges of developing a mindfulness practice can be found in those two words – ‘developing’ and ‘practice’. Most of us come to mindfulness because we want something to change, and so we tend to see it as a potential solution, and have an idea in mind of where we’d like to get […]
Being With Sadness
Posted on April 17, 2018 //
Sadness is as much a part of life as happiness. We may wish that wasn’t true, and it can be easy to believe that loss is what happens to other people. Until it happens to you. And then you’re flung into a new world that you have no training for, feeling totally lost and without […]
Clear Seeing And Discovering Freedom
Posted on October 3, 2017 //
Once Upon A Time (this is a blog about stories after all)… I was sitting in a peaceful meditation hall situated amidst beautiful countryside, alongside a group of other silent meditators. And into that stillness arose a white-hot bolt of pure anger. Where on earth did that come from?!? I’d learned to embrace many painful […]
The Hidden Beauty In Your Struggle
Posted on May 27, 2015 //
Have you ever had that sinking feeling? You know, the one when you felt like you were coping well with life, happy even, and then – bam! – here comes yet another struggle. You wonder ‘why me?, haven’t I had my share of problems already?’, and ‘what’s wrong with me that I can’t just get […]
How To Be Happy, Just As You Are
Posted on February 27, 2015 //
For an awfully long time, I believed that I could only be happy when I’d changed something about myself. For example, when I was more calm and confident, or when I stopped making mistakes and always got everything right. Only once I’d become that other person (I believed) could I stop feeling there was something […]
Why Mindfulness Needs Kindness
Posted on January 5, 2015 //
by Sheila Bayliss When I first started practising mindfulness, I hit a bit of a roadblock when it came to the part about letting unpleasant feelings be there. Not trying to change things that were unpleasant just felt plain wrong. You see, I was desperate to get rid of my anxiety. At the time I […]