Spirituality Archives - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
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Spirituality

Thursday, April 16, 2026

Posted on April 15, 2026
in Awareness, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Reading, Reading Books, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Well Being
0 Comments

Lady in a Sari, 1980, Oil on Canvas After reading the nightmarish poem, “A Dream” by Hermann Hesse in his book, The Glass Bead Game, I shuddered. A feeling of restlessness creeped in. The only way I could eliminate that feeling was to journal about it. I wrote what ended up being a short short story.  Here is a summary: I walk to the monastery on the hill and enter the building. Its walls are lined with books from ceiling to floor. The spines of the gilded lettered books glitter in the morning light. I pull out the one closest to me. The spine reads, Meaning of My Life. The leather cover tooled in gold promises a story still untold. What wisdom will the book reveal? I read the front folio aglow with words, “Learn to...

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Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Posted on April 13, 2026
in #Reading Poetry, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Reading Books, Spirituality
4 Comments

Inventor, Manoj Wangu, Colored Pencils, 2019 When, for no particular reason, someone in real life or even on television makes you cringe or stirs negative emotions in you become conscious of yourself, examine your thoughts at that moment and ask yourself, why am I reacting negatively against this person? Am I biased or prejudiced? Am I stereotyping him or her? And bear witness to your own answers. Now let’s move on to reading for pleasure, the topic for this month. Does reading make you happy, make you forget who you are or where you are? Reading is my passion—anything that has something to do with language—fiction and nonfiction books, stories, essays. In addition, to reading I’m devoted to writing. I write more than I read.  Dorothea Brande (Becoming a Writer, 1934) and Julia Cameron (The Artist’s...

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Thursday, April 9, 2026

Posted on April 8, 2026
in #Neuroscience and Meditation, #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
2 Comments

Turmoil and Tranquility, Acrylic on Canvas, 1979 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. Fifteen to twenty 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 feeling. You...

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Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Posted on April 6, 2026
in #Awareness, #Neuroscience and Meditation, #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Flourishing, Nonverbal Activities, Originality, Sharper Brain after Retirement
2 Comments

The Hopeful Immigrant, Our Friend 1978, Acrylic on Canvas What does neuroplasticity mean?  Neuroplasticity means that our brain structure changes in response to whatever training we practice. It goes on all the time. Drugs temporarily alter our brain. We feel differently until they are in our system. But meditation alters each and every nook of our brain and our body and impacts our day-to-day life.  4 Pillars of neuroplasticity are Awareness, Connection, Insight and Resilience1. AwarenessMetta (loving friendly) Awareness means knowing where your mind is and what it is doing, and bringing it back to the breath over and over again. 2. ConnectionHealthy social relationships. 3. InsightIntroducing oneself to Self and having positive self-image. It ranges from positive self-image to not ever introducing oneself to Self to extremely negative self-image. 4 ResilienceHaving the ability to recover from adversity. In order to...

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Thursday, April 2, 2026

Posted on April 1, 2026
in #Neuroscience and Meditation, #Stillness and Solitude, #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Being in Nature, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Travel
4 Comments

Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada In one Buddhist teaching the progress of the mind of a meditator, from being a novice to a skilled meditator, is equated with three bodies of water: waterfall, river and lake.WATERFALLThe mind of a beginner is like a waterfall. When you sit to meditate, your mind thunders with torrents of thoughts and feelings. You are oblivious to physical sensations. Even when torrents of thought tighten your muscles, you are clueless. You don’t know you are tense. Focus on your breath and try to get in touch with your physical sensations. Sit with your eyes closed for 15 minutes and then move on to journaling. Your awareness of what you are doing and who you are is a powerful grounding tool at this stage. Following the meditation,...

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Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Posted on March 30, 2026
in Attention and Awareness, Flourishing, Imagination, Journaling, Meditation, Originality, Spirituality
1 Comment

Daffodil Field, Ashby Ponds A gift! These words rarely come to mind when we wake up to a brand-new day. Instead, our mind is already occupied with memories and anticipations. The blank page of the day stands waiting to be filled with feelings of comfort, joy, and moments that are uniquely ours. But we are not present for it. What if you open your eyes in the morning and feel grateful for another new day. Wash your face, brush your teeth, drink a glass of water, and sit at your Sacred Power Spot. You meditate. Your journal. Then comes several minutes of deep reading – a poem or a short chapter from an anthology meaningful to you. By this time, your mind is bound to feel enriched with benevolence and peace. With positive energy, the...

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Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Posted on March 23, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Well Being
4 Comments

Early Spring at Ashby, March 2026 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% ourselves.   In our day-to-day life, we face unpredictable obstacles or advantages. Without mindfulness, instead of acting we react to negative emotions. We believe we have been treated unjustly. But when we learn to apply mindfulness, it teaches us to pause and investigate our own mind. In doing so we discover truths about the situations and unpleasant truths about ourselves. We realize that the root of...

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Thursday, 18 March, 2026

Posted on March 19, 2026
in #Nature Lover, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality, Well Being
2 Comments

Early Spring, Daffodils at Ashby Ponds So sorry friends! Though I'm a day late, hope you enjoy today's post. By now you’ve discovered that meditation is simple but not easy. It is difficult to do. You ask yourself; then why do I practice it?  We practice it because a spirit of adventure dwells within us—a wondering and wandering spirit. But this spirit, the Authentic Self (our true self, awareness or consciousness) when it stimulates, it communicates with us with an inner voice that is as gentle as air and as strong as a swan’s feather. Yet it does not easily reveal itself. We use meditation and journaling to dig deeper, excavate and connect with this fragile spiritual lifeline. On rare occasions you feel an unease coursing through your body. You think, I’m capable of so much...

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Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Posted on March 16, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Awareness, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
4 Comments

Early Spring at Ashby Ponds, February 2026 The thought that your year-long journey of meditation and journaling practice will reveal to you your hidden aptitudes and possibilities fill me with gratitude and excitement.  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 for meditation as though you have the whole day to meditate even though you plan to sit for ten or fifteen minutes. Relax your body, breathe...

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Thursday, March 12, 2026

Posted on March 11, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
4 Comments

Humanitarian-Scholar Father, Oil on canvas, 1978 “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, compassion and creativity 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 and self enhancement. Mindfulness holds our hand and points to our negative as well as positive emotions. 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.  My introduction to meditation was in 1989 when our family moved from Pittsburgh to Massachusetts. I was...

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