Spirituality Archives - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
261
archive,category,category-spirituality,category-261,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,select-theme-ver-2.1,vertical_menu_enabled, vertical_menu_width_290,side_menu_slide_from_right,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-6.9.0,vc_responsive
 

Spirituality

Thursday, November 27, 2025

Posted on November 26, 2025
in #Nature Lover, Being in Nature, Daily Reflections 2025, Spirituality, Travel, Well Being
0 Comments

I had not heard about national parks until we came to the United States. When we visited Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon National Park in 2013… I. Had. No. Idea! I was enthralled by how awe and delight enraptured me in the presence of the natural resplendence. I was born in the lap of the Himalayas, in the valley of Kashmir. I was two years old when we moved to New Delhi the overcrowded metroplex with high-rise buildings. But it was home. To get away from scorching summer heat in the capital city, my family would return to the valley for a month. We exhaled in the most pleasant weather in my birthplace about which the Mughal Emperor Jehangir soulfully exclaimed, “If there is paradise on Earth, it is here, it is...

Read More

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Posted on November 24, 2025
in #Reading Poetry, Being in Nature, Creativity, Spirituality
4 Comments

It is said, the common characteristics of individuals who live in mountains, near rivers or oceans, in the wilderness and love to spend time in nature overlap with the traits of those who call themselves spiritual. These traits are kindness, peacefulness, compassion, and contentment with what is. These folks do not criticize or judge. They have motivating and kind words for others, and operate with an intention of making the world a better place.  One may ask, why is this so? What has nature to do with spirituality? Spirituality relates to people’s emotions and beliefs rather than their thinking or physical self and surroundings. Upon closer analysis six spiritual themes emerge: feeling of connection with something more than oneself, inner vibrancy, presence, joy, gratitude, and compassion. The data shows that those...

Read More

Thursday, November 13, 2025

Posted on November 12, 2025
in #Masterpieces of World Art, Creativity, Spirituality
4 Comments

A photograph of a great work of art is a mere memory. In no way can it have the same impact as an in-person encounter with the original artwork. I experienced this when we visited the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy. I had seen the reproductions of Michelangelo’s marble statue of David but was clueless about how I would react to that masterpiece. A kilometer from the museum, in the Piazza della Signoria, stands a statue of David that I mistook to be the original. The resemblance was uncanny. I looked at it from all sides, appreciating the work, but I did not feel its power – the youthful beauty or the vigor written about in essays that I had read for its preparation.  Then we entered the museum where we were magnetized by many works of Michelangelo....

Read More

Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Posted on November 10, 2025
in #Reading Poetry, Awareness, Being in Nature, Sharper Brain after Retirement
2 Comments

Let’s focus on our wondrous senses this week. Do you think you exploit your body’s unlimited potential? That you pay100 percent attention to it? That you are aware how many possibilities it has for providing enjoyment even at our age?  The first step to awaken your body and mind is a 2-minute body scan, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head, first thing every morning while still lying in the bed. Be grateful to each body part and each sense for what it does. At this stage of life all our senses need help to continue functioning: eyewear, hearing aid, dentures, replaced knee or hip.  Perhaps most of everything else that mother nature provided you at your birth is in working condition. Whatever is not used to...

Read More

Thursday, November 6, 2025

Posted on November 6, 2025
in #Nature Lover, Awareness, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality, Travel
4 Comments

Awe, Wonder and Delight are sacred emotions that kindle spiritual delight, tenderness, and kindness. Ancient Hindu texts teach that within us there is an innate force of joyful wonder, but we must create outer circumstances for it to sprout and surface. This may happen when we face an adversity or when we are midst beauty of nature such as the rays of setting sun filtering through spring foliage making the shadows dance. Wonder is a heightened state of awareness that is triggered when something unexpected happens that disorients us yet delights. It is present in us all the time but remains dormant under something enters our consciousness to part the mental clouds. We have the power to turn each moment into a wondrous moment. There is no reason to wait for a...

Read More

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

Posted on November 3, 2025
in Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Old Age and Death, Spirituality
4 Comments

Death is inevitable then why am I here? For what purpose? What awaits me after death? Throughout our lives, behind all the business of growing old there is a mild restlessness. Yet, all are not fortunate to watch themselves grow old and enjoy the final decade or two of the final phases of our lives.  We slow down. We learn to spend time in silence and solitude. We meditate and journal to turn our deep desires inwards. And we discover that the source of meaning and fulfillment is right within us. We discover that we all have the same essence, the same awareness, the same Authentic Self deep in our consciousness.  One of the most important questions we ask is, what is my legacy? What would I leave behind? How may I contribute? A...

Read More

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Posted on October 29, 2025
in Awareness, Reading, Reading Books, Writing
4 Comments

You know well the benefits of writing alone behind closed door as well as meditating and writing with others at retreats and groups. You’ve come full circle back to where you started as a beginner on your way to an advanced writer. How much pleasure do you feel as you practice in your study, at your Sacred Power Spot? Through years that space has accumulated a presence due to your meditation, journaling, and deep reading practice. It emits a spiritual aura that you sense when you enter the room. No longer do you feel alone. You feel grounded in the source of your creativity, your AS. The walls of this space are lined with books which you know well. The story of your writing life echoes from the pages of these...

Read More

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Posted on October 27, 2025
in Daily Reflections 2025, Death and Dying, Last Quarter of Our Lives, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Old Age and Death, Spirituality
4 Comments

The text of today's post is addressed to the folks 65+ who live at Ashby Ponds. I've the feeling that most of you who read this blog may not be even 65 yet, but see no harm in your reading and remembering the thoughts I write about. So here it goes: Witnessing sickness, old age and death for the first time can be deeply unsettling—especially for someone who has never encountered these human conditions before. That’s exactly what happened to the prince Siddharatha Gautama, now known to the world as the Buddha.  From the time he was born, Siddhartha was sheltered from all human suffering. In the palace where he lived, physically and mentally disabled, sick and old people were not allowed to enter. He had never seen a dead person. One...

Read More

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Posted on October 20, 2025
in Awareness, Daily Reflections 2025, Spirituality
4 Comments

When I write “to go deep within and become one with my Authentic Self” in meditation, what do I mean? What I mean is that when all my mental sediments have settled down, when I have moved beyond thoughts, sensations, feelings, and when I am observing myself being aware of my inner world, when I am conscious of myself I am one with my AS. This means I’m aware of this present moment, and this, and this. Not thinking of past or future but just being aware of Awareness. This doesn’t happen naturally. But when we try over and over again to become conscious of our awareness and succeed to do so we sense the presence; we feel contentment, peace, and joy. This knowing is awakening and experiential. I was introduced...

Read More

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Posted on October 13, 2025
in Meditation, Online Mindful Writers Group, Spirituality
6 Comments

Except the photos of the Buddha images in-situ that I've been posting lately, the rest of the statues of the Buddhas are the one's Manoj and I collected through years during our travels in China, Japan, and India. There is time to write together and time to write alone. Having written alone, with a writing companion, and in a group I mostly write alone now, especially after moving into a retirement community. Some of the residents who are writers, prefer writing alone unless they are teaching writing. When I write I’m absorbed in my work. On my spiritual journey that includes morning meditation, journaling, and deep writing (and walking later in the day) I'm one with my Authentic Self within, the consciousness. This awareness watches me from moment to moment...

Read More