Blog | Mindfulness, Meditation, Journaling & Walking in Nature
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Writings and Readings Blog

Madhu Bazaz Wangu

Cherry Blossom, Ashby Ponds

Posted on August 9, 2023
in Journaling
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Mindfulness Matters and Refirement (Cont.) We had been in search for a comfortable house in beautiful surroundings with conveniences our age (we’re in our mid-seventies) requires. Our daughter helped us find this haven of a neighborhood called Ashby Ponds in Ashburn, Virginia. I wonder which Pennwriters Area is Loudon County, Virginia.  We have visited Ashby Ponds several times and once stayed for two nights to get a feel for the place. We loved everything about it. Spacious and sunny apartments. Meticulously maintained lawns with fountains and ponds. None of the building is more than four or five story high and most have a restaurant on the first floor. The food is tasty and nutritious. Of course I’d cook in our fully equipped kitchen but if there are days I rather not, I...

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Matters of Mindfulness and More

Posted on August 7, 2023
in Meditation, Online Mindful Writers Group
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Matters of Mindfulness, Mindful Writers Groups and More (Cont.) At the end of October, we are moving from Wexford, Pennsylvania to Ashburn, Virginia to be closer to our daughter. Never has mindfulness been more helpful to me than it is now. Moving to a new home from the one where you have lived for thirty years is believed to be a traumatic experience as traumatic as death of a loved one, divorce, major illness or job loss. The in-between period can overwhelm you, bring you down or depress you. But with mindfulness as my tool I’m going through such a negative experience with self-awareness and loving attention to the tasks at hand. And to my own surprise I feel no stress, regrets or nostalgia midst all this emotional disarray. Remember me, the one...

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From Mindful Path to Mindfulness

From Mindful Path to Mindful Writers Groups

Posted on August 1, 2023
in Journaling, Meditation, Online Mindful Writers Group, Reading, Writing
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From Mindful Path to Mindful Writers Groups (Cont.) One of ways in which invisible realities that our eyes can’t see, ears can’t hear and mind can’t comprehend are made visible, audible and comprehensive by creativity and imagination. I believe creativity is rooted in spirituality. Like creation of life, artworks seemingly conjure from nowhere and nothing. I am the one who writes or paints but the process itself is guided by an inner source from which new ideas bubble forth. At the same time, the universe assists by sending cues and clues. Once birthed, an artwork has a life of its own. To be able to create one must be completely devoted and dedicated to one’s art whatever it may be. As an author I have a morning routine that I have diligently...

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On A Mindful Path (Cont.)

Posted on July 29, 2023
in Meditation, Online Mindful Writers Group
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On A Mindful Path (Cont.) Not until I was in my mid 50’s did I felt a need to ask myself, is this all there is? The question had taken a permanent seat at the back of my mind since my voyage around the world. The things that had excited me once no longer did.  With the practice of Writing Meditation, the braided practice of journaling, meditation, deep reading, nonverbal activities and, of course writing, I was on my way to integrating my fragmented self. In time, the practice helped me connect to the spiritual space within, my inner guide, my true Self.  Many of you already know that our true self is the inner compass that dwells within us. It points us toward the right direction only after we harness with it...

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With a Buddhist Monk, Kyoto, Japan

On a Mindful Path

Posted on July 27, 2023
in Travel
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On a Mindful Path (Cont.)I decided to add nonverbal activities to my braided practice of journalism, meditation and deep reading. The daily practice of the four disciplines, with a nonverbal activity such as a walk, strengthened my writer’s voice. I felt more grounded and in the process was more attentive to what was going on around me.  I was attentive to the things and people that enhanced my days. Gradually and carefully I stopped doing things that seemed unimportant and distanced myself from the people who I thought kept me away from making progress on my mindful journey.  In time, I realized that I had awakened a voice within that I did not know had always been there. It was similar to a personal consultant who knew me more than I knew...

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Looking at my Reflection

Self Contemplation

Posted on July 25, 2023
in Journaling, Meditation
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From Carefree to a Mindful Path (Cont.) Creating collage-drawings gave me some closure. A new chapter of my life began. Experiencing birth and death simultaneously had morphed my sensibility. I started to meditate when I was teaching at the University of Pittsburgh and began writing daily in a journal after my 50th birthday. I’ve described what, why and how of these two disciplines in my latest work, Unblock Your Creative Flow: 12 Months of Mindfulness for Writers and Artists. (Published April 2023).  In time, I was able to link what was going on outside me with what was going inside. The daily practice helped me integrate my body, heart and mind with the spirit which I called my Authentic Self. I was on my path to become whole. Curiosity about human condition of...

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My Path to Mindfulness

Posted on July 22, 2023
in Journaling
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My Path to Mindfulness (Cont.) After the first death anniversaries of my loved ones, I composed two collages as an obeisance to my parents and a homage to my brother. The drawing/collage of my brother was more about his short life—an individual who loved to travel by ship, by plane, on his scooter, who made everyone he met happy, and who himself was carefree. After his accident I felt as if a brilliant section of the sun was severed off to light up the world wherever he had gone. I depicted my parents juxtaposed on the façade of a shrine, a curtain veiling them from me. Their essence in a realm where human senses do not function. After they passed away, I felt their essence had merged with the elements. When I...

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Mourning with my Mother

My Path to Mindfulness

Posted on July 20, 2023
in Meditation
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From Carefree to Mindful (Cont.) Mindless I never was. I was happy-go-lucky and carefree. Last child of my parents, I was pampered by them and later pandered to by my husband. Even after I became a mother to our adorable firstborn, my attitude didn’t change much.  Most people function well in their daily life without being self-aware. But such individuals are unable to live their peak mental level. But so many others become mindful. Why and how that happens has many reasons. Something jolts them out of their slumber.  In my case, it was triggered by the deaths of my near and dear ones. First my brother was killed in an automobile accident shocking us all. Each grieved in different ways but before we could give our sorrow a closure my heartbroken mother...

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What Are You?

Posted on July 18, 2023
in Meditation, Writing
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"This is one of your best books, if not the best," said my husband about my recent publication, "Unblock Your Creative Flow: 12 Months of Mindfulness for Writers and Artists." Then he added, “You were not always mindful! Were you?” Good that he had complimented me before asking this question. Seriously, I was not. The seed of mindfulness was sown when I was in my early 30’s. Since then I have learned to be mindful in spurts.  What was I before I became mindful, self-aware and attentive? Before I was mindful I lived a fragmented life, similar to Dorothy in the book Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Carefree Madhu’s body skipping on the yellow brick road, her mind, heart and boldness skipping along her as the scarecrow, the tinman and the...

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