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

Madhu Bazaz Wangu

Thursday, March 5, 2026

Posted on March 4, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Spirituality, Well Being
6 Comments

Myths and Misconceptions about Meditation  Mindfulness is relaxation. Relaxation may be one of the outcomes of our practice but it seeks  attention andawareness. The goal of the mindfulness meditation (Vipassana) is insight into our true nature. We practice and transform our ordinary day life into an extraordinary life.  Meditation puts you in a trance. No, it is not hypnosis. When we meditate we are very much under our own control. The attention and awareness are simply stepping-stones on the route to heightened awareness which cultivates mindfulness. Meditation is Mysterious. Meditation deals with levels of consciousness that are deeper than conceptual thought. Such things can be understood without words or logic such as walking, swimming and biking. We learn them by practicing. Similarly we experience meditation by practicing. Meditation is an adventure every time we practice because we can never predict exactly what will come up during any particular session. Each...

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Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Posted on March 2, 2026
in Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Originality, Spirituality
4 Comments

Protective Home Kami, 1977, Oil on Canvass The following post was partly inspired by Bhante Gunaratana’s book Meditation in Plain English, Wisdom Publications, 2011. The meditation we practice here is called Vipassana or Insight meditation. Vipassana is exercise in attention and awareness. When we practice it, we must toss out everything in our mind except awareness of sitting still and breathing. This is not easy to do. We keep practicing diligently and one day our conscious thought, the ego, moves like a cloud and lets the sun of awareness shine. The pure awareness hides behind our ego which is nothing but our judgement, evaluation and criticism of people and events. Such mental images hide awareness.  Continuous focus on the breath at the tip of your nose, (or chest or belly) takes you deeper and deeper and makes you aware...

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Thursday, February 26, 2026

Posted on February 25, 2026
in Attention and Awareness, Creativity, Flourishing, Originality, Well Being
4 Comments

Snowscape, 1977, Oil on Canvas In the book titled, The Happiness Project: Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun, the bestselling author Gretchen Rubin writes that she had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places – a city bus.  “The days are long, but the years are short,” she thought. “Time is passing, and I’m not focusing enough on the things that really matter.” (Money doesn’t buy happiness!) In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her own happiness. Reading her musings, I remembered how many decades ago it occurred to me that I could not change the world but I could only change myself. But how? I reread the world wisdom books,...

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Tuesday, February 22, 2026

Posted on February 24, 2026
in #Awareness, #Neuroscience and Meditation, Attention and Awareness, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
4 Comments

Winter Landscape Just as plants have the capacity to bring scented flowers to life, just as black rock can crystalize into a glittering diamond, and just as an egg can grow to become a captivating peacock, you too can transcend into your Authentic Self. When you are fully present in the now, when you are embodied, and grounded, you are at your truest self. Let the intelligence of your body, your mind and your heart inform you, awaken you, and guide your day. How can you actualize this? How can you become your Authentic Self? How can you connect with and experience your inner body? By being self-aware and attentive of your surroundings with the practices of journaling and meditation.   These practices remove the masks and self-protective shields you tend to cover yourselves...

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Thursday, February 18, 2026

Posted on February 18, 2026
in #Awareness, Attention and Awareness, Imagination, Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds
2 Comments

Still Life with Samovar from Kashmir 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. We become more mindful. 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...

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Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Posted on February 16, 2026
in #Awareness, Attention and Awareness, Creativity, Imagination
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 12, 2026

Posted on February 11, 2026
in #Awareness, Attention and Awareness, Awareness, Journaling
2 Comments

Notes on Faculties of Attention and Awareness Attention We 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.     Awareness Like attention, awareness also gets its energy from conscious power. As you pay attention to...

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Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Posted on February 9, 2026
in Imagination, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality, Well Being
4 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. Mindfulness is the complete attention on the task at hand, and the state of total awareness of what is going on in our mind and around us. Attention and awareness results from the daily practice of meditation. Mindfulness Meditation is also the name of a meditation and is one of the meditations we practice such as Body Scan, Loving Kindness, Guided meditations and so on.   You have practiced focusing attention on your breath. In doing so, you watch your own mind in the present moment. You witness yourself. This is similar to looking at your own reflection in a life-size mirror. The way you become aware of your...

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Thursday, February 5, 2026

Posted on February 5, 2026
in Journaling, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Originality, Spirituality
4 Comments

Personal Power/Spiritual Spot My earliest attempts at writing freely on the pages of a notebook were during the time of extreme trauma. That led me deeper into journaling. Within the span of eighteen months, my youngest brother was killed in an automobile accident, soon after that my grieving mother passed away and my father followed her, his soulmate, within a few months.  This all happened during the months which were supposed to be celebratory for the family, especially for my husband and me. But we were in mourning when I gave birth to our second child. Her presence and my daily pouring out of emotions in words kept me sane and brought me back to my senses from the doldrums.  Journaling was the source of emotional relief and healing. Tending to our beautiful...

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Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Posted on February 2, 2026
in Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Well Being
2 Comments

How does it feel to sit at your Spiritual Power Spot in your home? Peace? Calm? Some other feeling or sensation? Do you journal and practice silent meditation for 5 to 15 minutes at this spot?  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 when 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 this notebook. Journaling requires trust in yourself and believing that the practice you are following...

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