Madhu B. Wangu, Author at Madhu Bazaz Wangu - Page 5 of 52
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Author:Madhu B. Wangu

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Posted on February 17, 2025
in Journaling, Reading
6 Comments

Paying attention and being aware of what is happening outside is important but not as important as being attentive and self-aware of our inner landscape. Such an attitude leads you to a better understanding of yourself.   Physical changes and impermanence are perpetual. When life’s transient nature registers in our mind we hear the whispers of the primordial questions, “Is that all there is?” “Is there anything permanent?” “What is authentic about my life?” “What is that which truly makes me happy?” In our younger years we pay attention to only our outer appearance, what we see reflected in the mirror. Our awareness is directed outward upon things, people, and places. With age, if we are fortunate, we turn inward towards the things that give meaning to our life, help us find a...

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Thursday, February 13, 2025

Posted on February 12, 2025
in Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds
0 Comments

We are not naturally mindful. But mindfulness can be cultivated and developed through the deliberate use of attention and awareness. Eventually with practice, the two faculties merge to become one. This results in an expansion and strengthening of our conscious power. With the daily ritual of deliberate breathing exercises and journaling, you are training your mind to pay attention to the thing in hand as well as to “stand back” and become aware of it. When this happens, it changes everything about the way you think, speak and act. You get glimpses of your Authentic Self. What you trust, what you truly value and believe in. You begin to pay attention to the intuitive ideas that cross your mind. Your creative flow is effortless and insightful. All this reflects in the quiet...

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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Posted on February 10, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
2 Comments

Some notes on Attention and Awareness. ATTENTIONWe are born with limited conscious power. But there is a way we can expand and strengthen it. Fortunately we are already practicing the two of these breathing exercises (which will eventually train us for meditation) and journaling. The job of attention is to focus on one object at a time outside of the general field of consciousness. It is energized by our conscious power. For instance, as you breathe, you pay attention to the sensations of air going in and out of the nostrils; as you journal, you pay attention to the words you are writing; and finally when you read you step into a literary dream the book creates.   AWARENESSLike attention, awareness also gets its energy from conscious power. As you pay attention to the...

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Thursday, February 6, 2025

Posted on February 5, 2025
in Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds
6 Comments

The word “meditation” is often confused with “mindfulness.” Meditation is the discipline of sitting still in a particular posture in silence and solitude with focus on the breath. (You will learn more about it in Month 3.) Mindfulness is a state of total awareness of the mind that results from the daily practice of meditation. Mindfulness Meditation is also name of a meditation and is one of many meditations people practice such as Body Scan, Loving Kindness, Guided meditations and so on.   You have practiced focusing your attention on your breath. In so doing, you watch your own mind in the present moment. You witness yourself from a short distance. This is similar to looking at your own reflection in a life-size mirror. The way you study your face, your torso, the...

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Tuesday, January 4, 2025

Posted on February 3, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
3 Comments

My earliest attempts at journaling during the time of extreme trauma led me deeper into journaling. Within the span of eighteen months, my youngest brother was killed in an automobile accident, soon after that my mother passed away and my father followed her within a few months. This was the time when I also gave birth to our second child. She along with daily pouring out of emotions in words kept me sane and brought me back to my senses when I was in doldrums. Journaling was the source of emotional relief and healing. The practice transformed my life. I simply poured out my distress and despondence, pain and sadness on the pages. It didn’t matter what I wrote, only that I did. The very process of journaling kept me calm...

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Wednesday, January 30, 2025

Posted on January 29, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
4 Comments

The starting point of discovering who you are,Your gifts your talents, your dreams, is being comfortable with yourself.Spend time alone. Write in a journal.                              (Robin Sharma) It has been a month since we started this practice. When you sit at your Spiritual Power Spot does a calm come over you?  At times when I’m faced with a “shitty” emotional problem I let go of the brick wall of expectations that my inner critic builds. If that doesn’t work (and here’s where my journal comes to my rescue), at the top of the page of my notebook I write, “What should I do? How can I solve this problem?” Instead of carrying  my grievances and complaints around I vent them in my journal as no one else seems to be as intimate as my journal. Journaling requires...

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Tuesday, 28 January, 2025

Posted on January 27, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds
4 Comments

Self-doubt is one of the major emotions we go through. There are days when we feel overwhelmed and sluggish without any tangible reason. What can you do? Let a rainstorm of words from the heavy dark clouds of emotions and passing thoughts fall on the pages of your notebook. Trust that by the end of two to three pages it will shed light on things you were only partly aware of and it will present possible solutions to your listlessness. I started doing serious journaling in my early fifties after I changed my professions from teaching to becoming a freelance writer. It felt so good, I wondered why I had not started journaling sooner. Not only was I able to free my mind of distress but my heart also felt lightened.  Writing...

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Thursday, January 23, 2025

Posted on January 22, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Writing
4 Comments

What you pour on the blank pages of your journal can be compared with autumn leaves. The mountain of dried leaves of your mental trash is all biodegradable. It decomposes into mulch. You sow few seeds and they sprout in fresh green saplings. It often happens, that upon rereading your journal after some time, you gain greater insight into the things that happened. Personal events gather universal significance. You realize such exchanges and events, good or bad, are human. You’re pleasantly surprised at where one year’s journaling has led you.  When I don’t journal for a while a restlessness gnaws at me. My mind feels muddled and overwhelmed with mosaic of petty thoughts and feelings. And when I do journal, it helps me heal my wounds, clear my mind. It affects the...

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Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Posted on January 20, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds
4 Comments

INSPIRATIONThe eminent social psychologist, James Pennebaker in his book, Opening Up by Writing Down, writes that not fully expressing negative emotions, suffering in silence and keeping secrets—swallowing or pushing them down—affects your heart, mind and body for the rest of your life. By hiding your fears, anger, and hurt from the world, you hide from yourself. In order to replace the mask of social “goodness” and “niceness” with authenticity you must first recognize the anger, hurt or fear buried deep inside you. The recognition must be followed by acceptance of your negative emotions. Some of us may require therapy or hypnosis to cleanse the system but most of us can do this by writing them down. If you like, write a letter to the one who emotionally hurt you or pushed you to...

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Thursday, 16 January, 2025

Posted on January 15, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds
4 Comments

It feels so good to empty all that anguish in your trustworthy friend, you journal. This writing exercise has two advantages. One, it lightens your heart and clears your mind. Two, when you reread it after one year or five, it feels different. You notice how it has lost its power over you. It turns into ash yet saves some energetic embers of ideas for you to use. What you pour on the blank pages of your journal can be compared with autumn leaves. The mountain of dried leaves of your mental trash is all biodegradable. It decomposes into mulch with a few seeds which sprout later. It often happens, that upon rereading your journal you gain greater insight into the things that had happened the previous year or many years...

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