Probably the most elusive intention for my serious character to cultivate, I would often forget to let a smile play across my lips. Or I would actively resist the possibility that a smile could coexist with the grim and fretful tensions that were also showing up in practice. Stay open to this even if it doesn’t feel natural yet. On the other hand, if your natural leaning is towards the joy in life then let this be a part of your practice and make it visible to yourself and others around you.

When I’m overwhelmed I experience an urge to disconnect and move away. This is a protective instinct, useful when I’m struggling to CONTAIN and safely TAKE CARE of whatever is coming up. If I can keep connected, I can be available as a human being and as a professional. It’s a dynamic balance to practice over time. 

Kindness is medicine in its own right! We need some for us and some for others and some for the entire planet.

In the early days I was so busy doing a “concentration practice” that I didn’t understand that meditation could be an “insight practice”. I was so focused on holding my mind so tightly (to stop it wandering off, ha ha!) that I didn’t recognise the need to loosen, to hold more lightly and to contact the space around me. You can grow a 3D sense of spaciousness all around you and be within it centred and grounded and breathing. This sets the scene for a more spacious open minded stance in my life.

So often my intellectual mind is dominant. It’s capability is evident, but it can so easily go into overdrive and override the more intuitive intelligence of which I am also capable. What if being connected to one’s body allows these two intelligences to collaborate? My body seems to know what is needed if I just tune into it. 

It can take a while for the water to run clear. Often when I’m stirred up my mind feels clouded and murky. Taking a mindful pause can allow a settling of the objects and silt of the mind letting me see more clearly what I am dealing with.

I am not always sure how to define presence but I can feel when it goes missing; like being “here” but “not here” all at the same time. It’s discernible when someone is fully present in our company. The mind is here, as well as the body, along with something of a vitality and interest.

I may not find it each time I practice, but in times of turmoil it helps to remember the possibility of calm continues exist even when it feels elusive. I think of it like rolling out the welcome mat to encourage the next visit.