Towers without visitors We think of a folly as a false start. A hiccup. A problem. But the word has a deeper meaning. Its origins are related to the construction of ornamental buildings which have no practical purpose. Rich Englishmen built ornate towers, in remote gardens, often as a source… Read More »On Personal Development: Meditation, Side Projects, and Digital Follies
Do you enjoy a good plot twist? Exciting. Enthralling. Entertaining. Most people love a good paradigm shift in their media every once in a while. Like watching the final scene from Planet of the Apes when the destructive potential of humanity is revealed to the protagonist. (Spoiler alert) He finds… Read More »On information overload: Practicing mindfulness in a data driven world
Why philosophy books though? I’ve come to realise that the only paper books I hold onto these days are philosophy books. I have never been a voracious reader but for some reason I have accumulated nearly a library on things related to Zen. This includes the topics of Buddhism generally,… Read More »Best Zen philosophy books for beginners
Prayer’s place in the human psyche Saying one’s prayers and the act of praying in general is something that an increasing majority of people in the UK are giving up doing (if church attendance statistics are anything to go by). Even many church goers who attend for socio-cultural reasons may… Read More »Prayer compared to Meditation: Dealing better with Ourselves and Others
I am now thirty days into the fifty-day introductory daily meditation course on the Waking Up app and the results are fascinating. The app is the product of the neuroscientist, philosopher and public intellectual Sam Harris. Whilst I’m not really a fan of the ardent atheist line of his thinking,… Read More »An Ineffable Experience with the Waking Up Meditation App
We all have an internal ranking system where we put the happenings in our lives into hierarchies of importance to us, which includes rating the profundity of certain events. Specific and circumstantial happenings come to determine how we structure the narratives we use to present ourselves to the world. They… Read More »Early Parenting and the Importance of Coincidences
The Start of a Young Family Today marked one calendar month since the birth of my firstborn son. It’s been a ride so far, up and down, peaks and troughs, a blur of broken sleep and an overload of chores. The first two weeks were certainly the most challenging –… Read More »Entering Parenthood and a New Mindfulness
A guide to structuring a narrative to tell your own life story in a positive and empowering way.
There is a deep-rooted idea that human life is separate to nature. It is an idea that’s become popular in many modern ways of thinking. Human Beings left the savannah and jungles long ago. The sweep of time has brought many transitions, from hunting to farming to industrialization. Now, our… Read More »Nature versus Technology – Mindfulness, Acceptance, Peace
Mental Suffering Alleviating mental suffering is something we spend our entire lives working on. I have previously posted about drawing on ancient philosophies and ideas to write about good mental health practices and this post forms part of that arc. It is my contention here that the Buddhist ideas surrounding mental… Read More »Alleviating Mental Suffering (using ideas from Buddhism)
As you breathe in, be aware that you are breathing in. As you breathe out, notice that you are breathing out. – Thich Nhat Hanh Learning Mindful Breathing We exist in a world that is constantly in motion, change is perpetual. From when we are born until when we die our… Read More »Becoming Aware of your Breathing