Online Mindful Writers Group Archives - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
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Online Mindful Writers Group

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, February 27, 2025

Posted on February 26, 2025
in Daily Reflections 2025, Nonverbal Activities, Reading, Spirituality, Writing
4 Comments

In 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, 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.” 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 change myself. But how? I reread the world wisdom books, researched new scientific literature on meditation and mindfulness, and read tons of...

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Day 306, Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Posted on November 5, 2024
in Cooking, Nonverbal Activities
4 Comments

Reflections After breathing, the senses of taste and smell are elemental for living beings. Did you know these two senses are the oldest and essential for our survival? They play key roles in such basic processes as eating, avoiding danger and mating. Your nose knows even if your eyes are closed. When you are closer to sea, standing on freshly mowed grass, or next to wet mulch, you know what it is. But you cannot describe the smsell. You can only name the object that is giving away the smell hoping that what you say would resonate your experience in the mind of the other person. When we taste with attention, even the simplest of foods provide a universe of sensory experience. One bit of juicy apple, freshly baked bread, cool water...

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Day 304, Monday, November 4, 2024

Posted on November 3, 2024
in Being in Nature, Meditation, Nonverbal Activities
2 Comments

Inspiration Seeing There is sheer joy in seeing. Watch nature through the sun, the moon, the stars, the sky, the clouds, the ocean, the river, the waterfall, the lake, the flames, the crackling sparks. Whether you are a child or a ninety-year-old, you can never see anything better. How can one learn to use visual skills to the utmost? Start observing nature and art any day, any time. The details in painting, sculpture, architecture, and crafts will surprise you. Take in the sense of composition, color hues, gradations, and visual balance. See artworks viscerally. There is no logic to what you learn thus but you will begin to appreciate the world around you with new understanding. Whatever style or period of art charms you or touches your heart, keep looking at those works. Let them...

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Walk in Nature and Feel the Awe

Day 303, Sunday, November 3, 2024

Posted on November 2, 2024
in Online Mindful Writers Group
4 Comments

Good morning Friends! How familiar are you with the sensory world? Our five senses and the mind create meaning of the world that surrounds us. Yet we’re jaded to our sensuous power. Therefore the meanings we receive are dull as compared to their finest possibilities.What if we pay deeper attention to every sense while it is functioning fine? What if we don’t wait for something to go wrong? We begin to "see" instead of merely "looking." The words “look” and “see” are as different as “hearing” and “listening.” One is ordinary and the other mindful. So let's be mindful of what we see, hear, touch, smell and taste. There is seeing and, as Jon Kabat-Zinn writes, there is "being seen:" a caring person looking at you with kind and accepting...

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The image refers to the blossoming of Self after ten months of practicing Mindful Meditation and Journaling

Inspiration: Unblocking Your Creative Flow

Posted on October 31, 2024
in Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Online Mindful Writers Group
8 Comments

Day 301, Friday, November 1, 2024 Welcome dear Mindful Writers and Mindful Creators, This is quite an exciting morning for me as we begin a new phase on our ongoing creative and spiritual journey together. The goal remains the same only the Power Spot has moved. This month's (Month 11) topic is "Mindfulness, Awe, Wonder and Delight." from the book Unblock Your Creative Flow: 12 Months of Mindfulness for Writers and Artists. What a topic to begin with from our new home!We begin with today's Inspiration from Day 301; pp. 362 from the book mentioned above followed by the Journal Prompt and the Link to today's meditation. The time it takes to practice these is between 30-45 minutes. Enjoy the process! Inspiration Awe and wonderment are sacred emotions that kindle spiritual delight, tenderness,...

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Chicken, Lotus root slices in red sauce

5 Senses and Cooking

Posted on July 26, 2024
in Cooking, Nonverbal Activities
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Indian cooking lessons continue at Online Mindful Writers Group (OMWG): https://tinyurl.com/ycktmxwn Try Indian Cooking lessons at: OMWG: https: //tinyurl.com/ycktmxwn Did you know cooking is one of the few nonverbal hobbies that incorporates all our five senses. Seeing the colors of vegetables, grains, meats, spices Smells of freshly cut vegetables, ground, roasted and fried spices Sounds of food sizzling and liquids bubbling Touch when you wash, peel and slice the ingredients; when you eat with fingers And finally taste. . . oh, the taste! Cauliflower goes well with yogurt raita. Not only the five senses but your feelings affect the taste of any dish you prepare. For instance, if you are tired, angry, frustrated or envious and not in a mood to cook the food does not taste its best. Honestly, when I'm not feeling my normal self, I prefer...

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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
0 Comments

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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