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

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Posted on August 5, 2026
in Last Quarter of Our Lives, Mindfulness and Travealing, Travel, Well Being
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The month of August is dedicated to “Mindfulness and Travel.” I’d like to begin with one of my experiences about how this country to which I arrived as an immigrant in 1974 became my home. So here it goes, A trip with my husband tracing the last leg of Lewis and Clark’s Expedition from the east to the west coast was an adventure of a lifetime for both of us, especially for me.  After reading two hefty volumes, Undaunted Courage and Journals of Lewis and Clark I was “called” to go on the similar journey like the one they experienced. We took a flight from Pittsburgh, PA to Portland, Oregon. From there we embarked on a boat that carried us upon the waters of the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The third American President, Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) had envisioned an...

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Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Posted on August 3, 2026
in #Nature Lover, #Stillness and Quietude, Awareness, Being in Nature, Flourishing, Mindfulness and Travealing, Travel
6 Comments

Month 8, “Mindfulness and Travel” is dedicated to traveling within the country and around the world. I’d like to share with you how I discovered awe and beauty in American National Parks.  While trekking in Sedona, Arizona my fleeting thoughts subsided amidst the fiery, awesome, sacred red rock mountains. Other worldly natural beauty felt like possessing some sacred power. I breathed in the sage-scented mesas and walked on orange-dusted pathways. The sun scorched my skin and frequently made me close my eyes. But my deeper Self awakened coalescing with surrounding spirituality. The magnificent Cathedral and Bell Rocks mesmerized. The cliffs, mesas, and fringes of juniper forests set against searing blue sky impressed. Taking our fill we continued our bus ride toward Grand Canyon, arriving at our cottage late at night. Next morning we rose early and realized...

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Thursday, July 30, 2026

Posted on July 29, 2026
in #Nature Lover, Mindfulness and Travealing, Travel, Well Being
2 Comments

Traveling within the country or internationally opens the closed windows of our mind. When we travel our vision becomes more expansive, our lives are enriched, and new connections make us realize that the gem of compassion, the lotus in our heart is in each and every one of us—irrespective of our race, religion, color or gender.  As seekers on spiritual path we need clear mind and open heart to see, connect and understand the people different from us.  When we travel Our vision becomes more expansive, our lives are enriched, and we make new connections. Before my husband retired I occasionally accompanied him on his business trips. A bit nervous about walking alone around in a new city, I would stay back in our hotel room to write. But the thought of adventuring...

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Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Posted on July 27, 2026
in #Nature Lover, Being in Nature, Creativity, Flourishing, Imagination, Mindfulness and Travealing, Travel
3 Comments

Ashby Ponds under Harvest Moonlight Walking after sunrise and before sunset is popular. But have you walked under a moonless night when the sky is inky black-blue and stars twinkle bright, or when the moon is full? If you have, you know how nighttime walks heighten our senses of hearing and smell, titillate our body and mind. In the dark, the sense of sight diminishes but hearing takes over. Focus on the breath, and the inner stillness feels stronger. Slow your pace, stop, tilt your head upward and gaze at expanse of stars. Wonderment! Awe! You have to walk under the majesty of the night sky to feel it’s serenity and magical spell. It clears the mind, it calms, it makes you forget petty problems that had earlier in the day made you...

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Thursday, 16 July 2026

Posted on July 16, 2026
in Being in Nature, Flourishing, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Walking
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Another Peacock Dance, New Delhi, India. Summer 2026 Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) firmly believed that people should regard themselves as part and parcel of nature rather than members of society. In nature one has absolute freedom and wildness. To his consternation he wrote, “only one or two persons in the course of my life understood the art of walking” or who had “a genius for sauntering.” Legs were not made to sit upon, he declared, but to stand or walk upon.  People walk in the highways and across parking lots, “I walk out into nature much the way the old prophets and poets, Manu, Moses, Homer and Chaucer walked in.” True sauntering takes place in the woods and meadows” and not in parking lots and on highways. “The moment my legs begin to...

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Tuesday, 14 July, 2026

Posted on July 13, 2026
in #Authentic Self, Awareness, Death and Dying, Flourishing, Nonverbal Activities, Old Age and Death, Walking
2 Comments

Walking through a well-maintained cemetery is a unique experience. Observing the headstones and monuments of those who have gone before us not only grounds us but also stirs a feeling of serenity that stirs contemplation. For the preliminary exams for my doctoral work, I was to collect the rubbings from the headstones from three New England cemeteries. My topic was symbols and rituals of death from four different cultures. India, China, Mexico and New England. I didn’t find these resting places of long-gone ancestors morbid or depressing. On the contrary, walking through these was calming and tranquil. After making drawings and collecting rubbings, I was inspired to take longer walks on the pathways that webbed the greenery. The moment we’re born, we begin our journey toward death. Each human life’s path might...

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Thursday, July 2 2026

Posted on July 1, 2026
in #Nature Lover, #Reading Poetry, Creativity, Flourishing, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Nonverbal Activities, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Well Being
4 Comments

Framework for Longevity Michael J. Castori What is the secret of Longevity?Invest in bonds Bond with loveParental marital filial people spiritualLove thy neighbor as thyselfNo greater love hath manThan he give up his life for another Bond with natureWith its broad range of animal plant and mineral lifeWith its sun moon stars land sea and airAnd all the creatures thereon and thereinWith its solitude music challenge reverence Bond with a positive mindsetAim high and you won’t hit lowIf things go your way don’t get too highIf things go against you don’t get too low Bond with an upbeat lifestyleEngage in spiritual intellectual social recreational pursuitsThat guarantee health strength and daily breadWoo the positive spurn the negative Bond with existenceAn existence that you deem worthy of your worshipDaily lift up some thought word and deedTo Him to...

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Posted on June 29, 2026
in #Reading Poetry, Being in Nature, Creativity, Flourishing, Imagination, Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Reading, Walking, Well Being, Writing
2 Comments

I hope the poems I read in the class this month have motivated you to read more poems. Here is a link to mindful poetry for you to explore: https://cih.ucsd.edu/mindfulness/mindful-poetry I thought you may want to know that by the age 85 and older, about a third of people have dementia. Prevention is the most powerful antidote to the illness. You can’t prevent something you cannot see and dementia is one such illness. It increases exponentially after age 65. The mental decline is linked to lifestyle: physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, social isolation, poor sleep, lack of mentally stimulating activities and misuse of alcohol. All opposites of the eight good habits we’ve been reading about and hopefully practicing.  Prevention should start early. Our Ashby Ponds community may be retired but it has not quit...

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Thursday, 18 June, 2026

Posted on June 17, 2026
in #Nature Lover, Being in Nature, Flourishing, Travel, Walking
4 Comments

Dear Readers, Here are two poems for you to enjoy. The first one is about my struggle to paint the red Sedona mountains and the other is Valarie CoX's excellent humorous poem about "Cookie Thief." Grandeur Revealed (Sedona) 2021Charcoal lines on a blank canvas,trying to evoke the images that dazzled me once. How do I recapture? Flame-red sentinel against the azure expanse,twisted trees, majestic canyons,sculptor’s statues or creator’s carvings? Grandeur magnetizes but the dread cements.I soak the bristles with sunlight,so heavy it is ready to drip.Where do I begin?  Close your eyes and see. Under crystal blue domewooly sunSage-scented mesas rising like flames orange dusted pathways, terrifying gorges.Intoxicating heatwaves inebriating me. I stretch the neck of my lilliputian bodyand feel miniscule I view the colossal against the crystal dome. Thirsty canvass absorbs dripping strokes sublime and dreadful coalesce.I color the edges orange red, highlight with gold streaks. Grandeur reveals...

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Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Posted on June 15, 2026
in Flourishing, Last Quarter of Our Lives, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Nonverbal Activities, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Well Being
4 Comments

Scented Roses, Ashby Ponds, June 2026 A few notes on sleeping well from Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s book, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age (2021). It is significant that we all know how to sleep better. Yes it is that important! Seven to nine hours of sleep, including the afternoon siesta is one of the most effective things we can do to reset our brain and body and increase quality life span. As we sleep the body replenishes itself. This affects every system, “From the brain to the heart, the immune system and all the inner workings of our metabolism. While we sleep the body heals tissues, strengthens memory and even sharpens brain.”Sufficient sleep keeps us attentive, sharp and creative. The brain has a “clean cycle” system for washing away metabolic...

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