Tag: Meditation

Quiet time

That precious start-of-the-day time.

Most mornings I surface between 6 and 7 am and like to take the dogs out for an early walk. I cut across the green and into the forest, following a short route which takes me back round past the cricket pitch, which at this time of the year has some protective poles round the wicket area.

Every day is different and the colour in the trees that fringe the common is always changing. Each tree is a different type and it is the shape on the horizon that I like to watch, picked out in silhouette form as the sun comes up from behind.

As I walk round at this quiet time my mind seems to have a clarity which enables me to focus on what I should be doing during the day.

Occasionally there will be a squirrel or bird high in the tress.


Common English buzzard

But for the last five years I have normally seen a buzzard, England’s largest bird. The colour of this bird make it hard to pick out against the background but it seems that his habit at this time of the day is to fly from post to post round the cricket pitch, and when I finally come near he will fly off into the trees.

Perhaps illogically but I have been somewhat concerned that this bird should always be on its own.  Recently, though, I have heard it calling, a noise I never heard before.  So you can imagine how pleased I was yesterday actually to see two birds. My buzzard has finally found a mate.

Then for me it is back home, shower, make a tray of tea for the family who are now with Mum in bed for ten minutes before they too get dressed and get ready for school.

What are we? Lucky people!

By Bob Derham

Poetry and dogs

Thanks to Daniel Caride for pointing us to this poem from an unknown author.

It is called Inner Peace.

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

You are probably the family dog!

Pharaoh, 3 months, asleep oblivious to the world!

Yes, we certainly have much to learn from dogs!

By Paul Handover

Single-handed sailing

A personal reflection on this rather strange way of travelling!

The recent Post about young Jessica Watson sailing alone around the world raised a few comments but also reminded me of my own experiences of solo sailing.

Some years ago, having successfully sold my own IT company, I warmed to the idea of being a full-time yachtie! A second-hand Tradewind 33 was discovered on the Island of Corfu.  (Now here’s a surprise!  I was just browsing the web looking for a picture of a Tradewind and came across my old yacht currently up for sale.  Her name is Songbird of Kent! Picture below.)

Songbird of Kent
Tradewind 33 - Songbird of Kent

Anyway, the deal was done and having sold my house in England I flew out to Corfu to collect Songbird of Kent. Inevitably it was a number of months before the boat was ready to head out into the Mediterranean but in early Spring 1988 it was time to explore the long coastlines of Greece and Turkey.

After a fantastic summer cruising from one idyllic anchorage to another mostly with friends or family on board, it was time to find a winter haven.  Many recommended Larnaca Marina in Cyprus.  Thus it was late in the summer of 1988 that I said goodbye to friends and set out on my own to cross from Antalya in Turkey to Cyprus and for Larnaca, on the SE side of the island.

That sea crossing, only a little over 200 nautical miles, was to become a regular solo experience at the start and end of each summer season. Impossible to do in a single day it was always a night at sea and rarely, if things didn’t go well with the weather, a couple of nights. I hated it! Maybe it was the sudden transition from coastal sailing to a deep water crossing, often going from having friends on board to being alone, but whatever it was I never enjoyed my time on my own and knew that long-distance solo sailing was never going to be my scene.

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What really matters – to you!

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves what is really important.

We went to a funeral last Monday. It was special in that a friend of ours had died and her husband had phoned to tell us.

They had emigrated to Spain 12 years before to become self sufficient in growing their own food, putting on workshops and working with ‘holistic management’ techniques. I have the feeling that it was quite tough as the climate was becoming more and more arid in the mountain area that had moved to.

She had decided to come home to Totnes (Devon, SW England) to die and had obviously planned the whole thing.
The service was lovely and relatives and friends had written poems and the vicar had been briefed on her life which was quite amazing. Born in Africa, boarding school in the UK, rose to be high up in a large company and then had decided with her husband to follow a completely different holistic route to self fulfilment.

The vicar had asked her how she wanted to prepare for her death and he she had answered that she wanted to saviour every moment whilst she was still alive and had asked him to recount this tale at the service.

A man who was being chased by a tiger and had fled up a tree to escape. He looked down to see the tiger pacing up and down, looking longingly up at him. After many hours, the man must have fallen to sleep and awoke as he found himself falling towards the tiger, waiting eagerly below. As he dropped, he noticed a beautiful fruit and grabbed at it focussing intently on every fine detail of it.

After the church service we retired to a nearby woodland where we all took it in turns to carry her wicker coffin up a hill, into the woods and after music and a blessing, we buried her.

It was a truly beautiful day and one that had echoes back through the millennium. It touched me deeply, not because of sadness but about putting things into perspective – what’s important and what isn’t.

By Jon Lavin

Positive mindsets.

Can a positive mindset achieve results? Yes, but only with positive actions.

On the 14th September I started this idea of thinking your way to success with this Post, Success is an Attitude.

I want to follow that up with a few words on positive thinking or mindset.

All you have to do is a Google search about ‘a positive mindset’ and you will be flooded with free information.

Although this seems great at first, you have the unfortunate task of working out which information you can trust.  I don’t mean to say that you will be supplied with incorrect information, I do however have my concerns about complete information.

I have spoken to numerous people who cannot understand why failure hits them when they have tried to be so positive.  I have also spoken to successful people who have a very positive outlook on life.

I am firmly of the opinion that a positive mind is essential.  If your mind is burdened, the likelihood is that you will worry and all your mental energy will be consumed.  You will fail then to pick up from your surroundings what you should and will not see the opportunities that are everywhere.

However, if you have a positive mindset, you will be more likely to ‘see’ and appreciate your surroundings.  Further, think_you_canyou will be able to identify and appreciate opportunities.

In reality, all a positive mindset does therefore is allow you to see opportunities.  But seeing is not enough.  If you do nothing but see, you must accept failure.  You must examine carefully the opportunities that present themselves and act upon those that merit action.  It is the action that will lead you to success.

In conclusion it is positive thought and positive action will lead you to fulfil your goals and ambitions.

By Dapinder Bains

Success is an attitude.

You are, or become, what you think!

On the 12th August I published a Post about the Law of Attraction.

Let me turn to succeeding – from a entrepreneurial point of view, but equally applicable for  whatever is important to you.

In business, simply knowing about the basics in a little detail is not enough to achieve any degree of success.

Actually you need to have a deep understanding of what you are about to embark upon to ensure that you place yourself correctly in the market and sell to people who actually want your product.

The success therefore is in the detail.  As is said, the devil is in the detail.

It will take you time to gain this understanding and, in most instances, will cost you money, but if you lack the belief that you will achieve your goals, you will not have the enthusiasm to learn and we learn most from our mistakes.  To use a cliché again, you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs.

Perversely, if you have a very positive attitude without any desire to learn, you have even less chance of success.

The answer therefore has to be somewhere in-between.  It’s a fine balance and reaching it can be a challenge in itself.

It would be safe to say that most don’t ever achieve it.

A clear goal is critical in the process.  Having a clear goal helps you plan what you need to do to achieve that goal and lets you know when you have achieved it!

As is said, the only benefit of not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise!

Success therefore is a Mindset, but what exactly should your Mindset be?

By Dapinder Bains

Start the week with a wow, view second.

Astoundingly, beautiful land and sea-scape photography, by Patrick Smith.

One of the amazing things about the world-wide-web is the way that one can follow links and end up somewhere totally unexpected.  This is what happened when I happened across the Blog of Patrick Smith.  It was then a short trip to find his home page and then sit in awe at the magnificent beauty of Patrick’s photography.  This guy is a wonderful artist.

I sent Patrick an email asking for permission to re-publish one of his photographs and, to date, have not heard back.  If it hadn’t been for a comment on his Blog then this Post and the previous one would not have been published by me.

Patrick’s comment on his Blog was:

Some people on ——  are having quite a bit of fun with one of my photos. There is a link back to my photo on Flickr where it is getting thousands of views. Some people might get upset but it seems like they are having a good time not at my expense!What do you think about unauthorized use on a blog or ‘just for fun’ website?

Here are some other blog articles showing my work (with links to my websites) but without my permission. It is fine with me. (my emphasis)

It was a difficult call for me to take but, on balance, and taking into account Patrick’s Blog comment, it was decided to show just one of Patrick’s images because I think his work deserves the widest fanfare possible.

So I urge you to visit Patrick Smith Photography and support him in any way that you can.

Patrick may be found at his web site, via his Blog and on Flickr

Enjoy!

Patrick, if you read this and want the pic removed, just let me know!

By Paul Handover

Integrity starts in the soul

“Be master of mind rather than mastered by mind.”

This is one of, literally, hundreds of Zen quotes.  Of course Zen Buddhism does not have the exclusivity of quotes that stir the heart.  Every one of man’s great religions and followings is embroidered with beautiful quotations.  Here’s one, more or less at random, from Christianity.

‘Faith is to believe what we do not see;

and the reward of this faith

is to see what we believe.’

Whatever gives you solace, it is important to have something that allows you to be a little retrospective from time to time (and we are not talking alcohol or drugs here!).  Remember, you can’t give away what you don’t own!

So when this Blog, ZenHabits, caught my eye, it seemed worthy of mention and of adding to the Blog Roll.  We will see if this resonates with you, the reader.  Either way, do let me know via your comments.

By Paul Handover

Brahma Kumaris, an update

It has been brought to my attention by a concerned reader of this Blog that there may be some aspects of the above organisation that would be unacceptable to many of you.  Whether or not this is true is besides the point.  The previous postings and the link to that organisation’s web site have been deleted.  We will find an alternative way to offer you a small distraction from the busy day.

The feedback was very much appreciated.

By Paul Handover