Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds Archives - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
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Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Posted on April 21, 2025
in Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
4 Comments

Not too far back I read about a monastery. It said, in 1957 an entire monastery in Thailand was being relocated by a group of monks. One day while moving a giant clay Buddha, one of the monks noticed a large crack. On closer investigation, he saw golden reflection emanating from inside. The monk used a hammer and a chisel to chip away the clay exterior until an image made of solid gold was revealed. Art historians believe that centuries earlier, monks covered an image of the Buddha made in solid gold with clay to protect it from attack by the Burmese army. The news fascinated me because here was a perfect metaphor about life hidden in the discovery. Our Authentic Self (Consciousness, Presence, True Self) is the golden Buddha shining...

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Thursday, April 10, 2025

Posted on April 9, 2025
in Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Reading
2 Comments

Singing the praises of reading Horace Mann, the  American public education reformist advised, “Resolve to edge in a little reading every day even if but a single sentence.”  Erasmus, 15th century scholar and humanist wrote, “Before you sleep, read something that is exquisite and worth remembering.” “When you walk in the mist, you get wet,” says the thirteenth-century Zen master Dogen. He means that you absorb the stuff you take in and the environment that surrounds you.   Reading lets you step out of your cloistered life and dwell in the midst of masters. By the process of unconscious assimilation, good books enter your mind. Reading improves vocabulary, reasoning, concentration, empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence. Read new books and read old books. Read books written by living writers and those from earlier eras. Read everything you feel is relevant....

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Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Posted on March 31, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Nonverbal Activities, Spirituality
4 Comments

Some of you might be struggling with silent meditation practice. Here are a few suggestions for you to use. Hope this helps!  Establish a formal meditation time when and where you have minimal of distraction. It is crucial to sit regularly. Mornings are great, evenings are good too. Sit in the same place each time. You will associate that space with tranquility and therefore look forward to sitting.  The very act of sitting still in silence and solitude will settle your mental clutter and recharge your battery. Let the practice grow gradually and gently. Even ten minutes of silent meditation daily is very beneficial.  The purpose of Mindfulness Meditation is to transform your living experience. You now know  the difference between sensation, conscious thought, and emotion. You are learning how to meditate in the...

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Thursday, March 27, 2025

Posted on March 26, 2025
in Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
6 Comments

This is the last Inspiration on meditation as next week we begin a month of “Mindfulness and Reading for Pleasure.” However, we continue the practices of Meditation and Journaling to strengthen our mindfulness. Mindfulness helps us see things as they truly are, with wisdom and without prejudices or biases that spring from anger, hatred, jealousy, greed and delusion. Relationship Between Body and MindWithout mind body is blind and without body mind is disable. Like a log, body can do nothing by itself except grow, decay and die. The mind can do nothing without the support of the body. But both together, as we know, they have power to connect us with our Authentic Self and teach us to be 100% honest with ourselves.    In our day-to-day life, we face unpredictable obstacles or advantages....

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Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Posted on March 24, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds
4 Comments

A half-century of neuroscientific research has concluded that meditation is as important to your mental well-being as exercise is to the physical health. If you exercise regularly, you build stronger muscles, denser bones, and increased stamina. If you meditate daily, your attention span, memory, and patience increase. You learn to manage negative emotions and situations more efficiently and strengthen sense of calm, resilience, and interconnects with others.  The moment we were born, the breath was with us and the moment it leaves, we die. Wherever we go, our breath goes with us. It is our anchor. It is perfect the way it is. We need not speed it up, force it, grasp it, push it away or control it. Simply pay attention to its natural rhythm, letting it continue its work without...

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Thursday, March 20, 2025

Posted on March 19, 2025
in Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
2 Comments

By now you’ve discovered that meditation is simple but not easy. It is rather difficult to do. You ask yourself; then why do I practice it?  You practice it because a spirit of adventure dwells within us—a wondering and wandering spirit. But this spirit, the Authentic Self, that eventually awakens and communicates with us with an inner voice as gentle as air and as strong as a swan’s feather, does not reveal itself easily. We use meditation and journaling to dig deeper, excavate and connect with this fragile bond. On rare occasions you feel an unease coursing through your body. You think, I’m capable of so much more than what I am right now. Is there something I can do to get rid of this feeling?  You certainly can!  Such feelings emerge when your body, heart,...

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Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Posted on March 17, 2025
in Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
5 Comments

The thought that your year-long journey of mindfulness meditation and journaling practice will reveal to you your hidden aptitudes and possibilities thrills me. You have ten bountiful months remaining to fulfill your goals. External events will not actualize them. Only your inner resolve will bring about the changes you intend. Your intentions may not unfold exactly the way you imagine them but one thing is certain, by the end of the year mindfulness would have helped you grow happier, kinder and wiser.  To grow into a better person the following attitudes toward meditation are essential during your practice: Sit as though you have the whole day to meditate. Relax, breathe naturally, and let the breath be your teacher. Follow it wherever it leads you.  Suspend any opinions and judgements.  Don’t expect anything. Whatever comes let it...

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Thursday, March 12, 2025

Posted on March 12, 2025
in Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
4 Comments

“All our lives we are taught to look outwards,” says the Vipassana Meditation teacher S. N. Goenka. “We get accustomed to looking that way. But the only way to experience the ultimate truth is to look within.” Spirituality, Creativity and humanity are experienced simply by observing your own self. Paying attention to physical sensations, focusing on the knots in the belly, watching negative thoughts pass, by leads to self-understanding. Mindfulness holds our hand and points to our negative as well as positive emotions and thoughts. The practice teaches self-compassion and kindness toward others. It helps us to let go of mental clutter and connects us with our Authentic Self within. My introduction to meditation was in 1989 when our family moved from Pittsburgh to Massachusetts for four years. I was home alone,...

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Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Posted on March 10, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds
6 Comments

In the first month of this year we focused on “Mindfulness and Journaling.” You’re learning to converse with your Authentic Self. This Self knows you better than you know yourself. It never fails to lend its ear and points you toward the right direction. You may connect with it at any place, any time. It is your personal therapist, wise and kind.  The second month our focus was on, “Mindfulness, Attention and Awareness.” You are learning to differentiate between conceptual thought and deep awareness. We discussed how attention can be cultivated and how awareness rises when you stay embodied and live in the present. Attention on breath and being alive to the present moment is the beginning of the practice of mindfulness.  This month we are learning about, “Mindfulness and Meditation.” You are...

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Thursday, March 6, 2025

Posted on March 5, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds
4 Comments

Misconceptions and Myths 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 in our true nature. We practice and transform our everyday 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 moment...

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