Spirituality Archives - Page 2 of 8 - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
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Spirituality

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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Thursday, March 5, 2026

Posted on March 4, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Spirituality, Well Being
6 Comments

Myths and Misconceptions 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 into our true nature. We practice and transform our ordinary day 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...

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Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Posted on March 2, 2026
in Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Originality, Spirituality
4 Comments

Protective Home Kami, 1977, Oil on Canvass The following post was partly inspired by Bhante Gunaratana’s book Meditation in Plain English, Wisdom Publications, 2011. The meditation we practice here is called Vipassana or Insight meditation. Vipassana is exercise in attention and awareness. When we practice it, we must toss out everything in our mind except awareness of sitting still and breathing. This is not easy to do. We keep practicing diligently and one day our conscious thought, the ego, moves like a cloud and lets the sun of awareness shine. The pure awareness hides behind our ego which is nothing but our judgement, evaluation and criticism of people and events. Such mental images hide awareness.  Continuous focus on the breath at the tip of your nose, (or chest or belly) takes you deeper and deeper and makes you aware...

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Tuesday, February 22, 2026

Posted on February 24, 2026
in #Awareness, #Neuroscience and Meditation, Attention and Awareness, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
4 Comments

Winter Landscape Just as plants have the capacity to bring scented flowers to life, just as black rock can crystalize into a glittering diamond, and just as an egg can grow to become a captivating peacock, you too can transcend into your Authentic Self. When you are fully present in the now, when you are embodied, and grounded, you are at your truest self. Let the intelligence of your body, your mind and your heart inform you, awaken you, and guide your day. How can you actualize this? How can you become your Authentic Self? How can you connect with and experience your inner body? By being self-aware and attentive of your surroundings with the practices of journaling and meditation.   These practices remove the masks and self-protective shields you tend to cover yourselves...

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Thursday, February 12, 2026

Posted on February 11, 2026
in #Awareness, Attention and Awareness, Awareness, Journaling
2 Comments

Notes on Faculties of Attention and Awareness Attention We are born with limited conscious power. But there is a way we can expand and strengthen it. Fortunately we are already practicing the two of these breathing exercises (which will eventually train us for meditation) and journaling.  The job of attention is to focus on one object at a time outside of the general field of consciousness. It is energized by our conscious power. For instance, as you breathe, you pay attention to the sensations of air going in and out of the nostrils; as you journal, you pay attention to the words you are writing; and finally when you read you step into a literary dream the book creates.     Awareness Like attention, awareness also gets its energy from conscious power. As you pay attention to...

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Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Posted on February 9, 2026
in Imagination, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality, Well Being
4 Comments

The word “meditation” is often confused with “mindfulness.” Meditation is the discipline of sitting still in a particular posture in silence and solitude with focus on the breath. Mindfulness is the complete attention on the task at hand, and the state of total awareness of what is going on in our mind and around us. Attention and awareness results from the daily practice of meditation. Mindfulness Meditation is also the name of a meditation and is one of the meditations we practice such as Body Scan, Loving Kindness, Guided meditations and so on.   You have practiced focusing attention on your breath. In doing so, you watch your own mind in the present moment. You witness yourself. This is similar to looking at your own reflection in a life-size mirror. The way you become aware of your...

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