Writing
Meaningful encouragement came in the form of an English teacher in secondary school of whom I was quite fond. The warmth was mutual, and this Jesuit priest gave me meaningful feedback on my essays during my somewhat turbulent teen years. To this day, I have some of the corrected manuscripts in my desk, these being the only school memorabilia in my possession. His encouragement left me with the conviction that real talent resided deep within me and could and would be brought to the surface, if sufficiently cultivated and expressed…
Summertime
This morning, my inner clock woke me at 4.30, in good time to meditate and have tea before heading out through the fields in an easterly direction, to meet the rising sun. I am fortunate to live in such semi-rural surroundings with broad horizons in all directions. The best days are those where I get to greet both the beginning and the end of the day. Dawn and dusk are my favourite times, to be enjoyed in the company of the birds, many of whom migrate back here from Africa for the summer months…
Non-Violence
Thich Nhat Hanh hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that: `Peace is an inside job´. It all begins with me. If we pause and observe for a moment how our thoughts bombard us incessantly, how the `inner critic´ judges our selves, others, and our circumstances, we cannot deny that most of us live in a state of all-out war, the battlefield situated between our ears. The good news is that this is where the leverage for world peace is to be found…
Appreciation
There can be no transformation without gratitude. For gratitude leads to appreciation, taking us from hubris to humility, and enabling us to move out of our heads into the present moment. The intent of the addictive practice in the first place was as an avoidance strategy to protect us from the present moment of the three or five-year-old, which would otherwise have been unbearable…
Certitude
Today it is a rambling, tranquil, wonderfully restored city of great natural beauty. My years spent there were the hectic years of establishing a career, starting a family, and taking up my place in the world. I had not much time in those days to sally through the quiet streets or cycle along the river to the neighbouring towns, but I did take every opportunity I got. A love affair had begun…
Acceptance
I railed against the system, not yet realising that the only person I could change was me. Brutal youth tells us that we can change the world by changing others, by simply applying enough pressure. It took a while for the reality to sink in, a reality so eloquently expressed by Gandhi when he said: `Be the change you want to see in the world.´
Photography
Like my seven brothers, I was keen and spent much of my time there on the river; sometimes for twelve hours or more on days after a night’s rain, eagerly practising the craft taught me in childhood by my father, who learnt it from his, etc. To my consternation, I was not as good, by far, as some other members of the family, and often felt under pressure to prove myself in the strange ways of unwritten family codes…
Attachment
With lots of initial suffering, self-sabotage, grace, hard work, courage, and the help of others, my life has gradually been unfolding as a life of `engaged non-attachment´. It is a very purposeful, peaceful way to live, generally without pressure, internal or external…
Mystery
Then there was the experience of mystery, especially in the realm of nature. The hatching of a butterfly from its pupae at this time of year, the slow transformation of tadpoles, losing their tails and gaining the legs of young frogs, the musical flow of a river as interpreted and conveyed to me by my father, a man very attuned to the effervescence of nature. These, and more, caught my attention and even enchanted me. I felt part of the mystery itself…
Resilience
Since my early forties, I have learned to identify this saboteur even before it kicks into action. I can even anticipate it, as in the example of deciding to breathe consciously while meditating. After even one minute, during which my mind has strayed far from my original intention, the judge inside me is yelling: `You can’t even do that right!´ and follows on with the statement that `all this mindfulness work is simply beyond me, a total waste of time.´
