What Can an Autumn Garden Teach Us About Interbeing?

Interbeing in Nature Autumn is probably the busiest season of the year in my garden. It begins as something of a nuisance. Plants that looked beautiful only weeks ago have collapsed into a soggy mess. Perennial shrubs have become untidy and need cutting back. Trees need pruning. Leaves are falling everywhere. There is an enormous Read More

How Mindful Walking Led Me to Haiku

Mindful Walking and Haiku I began writing short poems in the Japanese tradition of haiku during the Covid years, when I was recovering from prostate cancer. It was a difficult period of my life, but also a strangely reflective one. Perhaps age had something to do with it. Perhaps illness did too. I found myself Read More

How Can I Be Mindful When Everything Is Happening At Once?

Reflection On Mindfulness and Distractions The first of my three seats is beside the largest lake on my morning walking route. It is not particularly peaceful in the conventional sense. There is almost always something happening: trees rustling, leaves falling, birds calling, water birds squawking, coots diving and ripples spreading across the surface. Sometimes a Read More

Does Water Calm the Mind?

Reflection on Water Calming the Mind My morning walk takes me through fields of wheat and barley before entering a wooded nature reserve dotted with small lakes. I often stop beside the water to rest and have begun to notice something. My mind becomes quieter here. As mindfulness finds its way more naturally into my Read More

Stillness Haiku | Impermanence in Nature

Reflection On Impermanence in Nature The recent spell of warm, dry weather has made my morning walks especially enjoyable to explore impermanence in nature as part of my Buddhist Practice. Clear skies, warm sunshine and the chance to chat with neighbours walking their dogs are also pleasures I never take for granted. But there is Read More