Well Being Archives - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
303
archive,category,category-well-being,category-303,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
 

Well Being

Thursday, June 4, 2026

Posted on June 3, 2026
in #Reading Poetry, Attention and Awareness, Creativity, Imagination, Oral Stories, Well Being
2 Comments

As a college student, I admired poets and those who enjoyed reading poems, but rarely did I read poetry myself. Later in life, my younger daughter, Zoon gifted me Pablo Neruda’s Odes to Common Things. I read and reread the poems, and loved each one of those jewels, simple yet stunning.  To understand the structure and methods of writing poetry, I read Edward Hirsch’s How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry and Molly Peacock’s How to Read a Poem and Start a Poetry Circle. Several years went by without my reading another poem. Writing one had not even occurred to me. Between 2007-2011 my website blogs were commentaries on several sacred text, all written in verse including Taoist, Tao-te Ching, Buddhist Dhammapada and Hindu Bhagavad Gita. Each week I copied one chapter from one sacred book from...

Read More

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Posted on June 1, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Flourishing, Last Quarter of Our Lives, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Well Being
3 Comments

In-between, Ashby Ponds, 2026 Who doesn’t want to sharpen their mind at any time in their lives, especially during the final phase stage? We now know that the brain can be enriched, made faster, fitter and sharper at any age by practicing, that is doing something over and over again. We also know a sharper mind is more resilient which improves when we go through challenging experiences. Each day counts.  Body and brain are deeply connected. What is good for the body is good for the brain. Here are eight practices brain needs. You may be already exercising some of these. So one by one try to add the ones you are not: 1. Sleep for seven to nine hours a night2. Eat three nutritious meals a day3. Walk/Exercise four to five times...

Read More

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Posted on May 18, 2026
in #Neuroscience and Meditation, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Well Being
2 Comments

Ashby Ponds under Full Moon Neuroscientist Richard Davidson began his groundbreaking research with Tibetan monks in the early 2000s following a direct challenge from the Dalai Lama in the 1990s to apply scientific tools to study positive emotions. He is still actively conducting these studies today. The following notes are from his research detailed in the book, ALTERED TRAITS:  There are five main types of brainwaves that register on EEG (Electroencephalogram): Delta that occur during deep sleep; Theta during drowsiness; Alpha when we relax or are awake with eyes closed; Beta when we are alert, actively thinking or concentrating. Finally, Gamma, which are fastest brain waves that fire in harmony during moments of insight. To get some sense of how gamma rays feel, imagine biting into a ripe juicy sweet peach. Suddenly your senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and sound mesh into a single delectable experience. That’s...

Read More

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Posted on May 13, 2026
in #Authentic Self, #Awareness, #Neuroscience and Meditation, Flourishing, Imagination, Spirituality, Well Being
0 Comments

Red Roses, Ashby Ponds, May 2026 The Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s insight that both science and spirituality share common goals to “pursue truth and serve humanity” is shared by avant-garde neuroscientists as well. A mind free from disturbance alleviates stress and suffering, a goal shared by science and meditative paths alike. Apart from contemplative calm and composure there is more practical potential within each and every one of us. Such a life is best described as flourishing or a life of Utter Wellness.  Aristotle proposed the goal of life as the “Right Mean,” a quality between extremes such as risk-taking and cowardice, between self-indulgence and ascetic denial. He also stated that we are not virtuous by nature but we can become so by self-monitoring. Self-monitoring means the practice of noting our thoughts and acts in silence and...

Read More

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Posted on April 30, 2026
in Imagination, Reading Books, Travel, Well Being
2 Comments

When you read, words turn into images in your mind and thought process begins that awakens senses and feelings. Two-dimensional pages conjure three-dimensional realities. You become absorbed in the sensory experience of an unfamiliar world. Mentally out of your body you temporarily live subliminally the book’s protagonist’s life. Events seem real as you shed tears, smile, laugh, or feel heartache. Hours fly by as you experience pleasure or pain or loads of other emotions from an artistic distance.  At times it so happens that a sudden call, a noise, a smell catapults you out of your imaginary orbit and back to your armchair. How you wish that had not happened! Reading can be that fantastic. And so much more. “Much more” for me is when absorbed reading persuades me to actualize...

Read More

Thursday, April 23, 2026

Posted on April 22, 2026
in #Story Telling, Awareness, Reading, Reading Books, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Well Being
4 Comments

Waiting, Oil paints on canvas board, 1975 Singing the praises of reading, Horace Mann (1796-1859) early 19th century American public education reformist, widely known as “The Father of American Education,” advised, “Resolve to edge in a little reading every day even if but a single sentence.”  Erasmus, 15th century scholar and humanist wrote, “Before you sleep, read something that is exquisite and worth remembering.” “When you walk in the mist, you get wet,” says the thirteenth-century Zen master Dogen. He means that you absorb the stuff you take in and the environment that surrounds you.   Reading lets you step out of your cloistered life and dwell in the midst of masters. By the process of unconscious assimilation, good books enter your mind. Reading improves vocabulary, reasoning, concentration,empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence. Read new books and read old books....

Read More

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
6 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...

Read More

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Posted on March 25, 2026
in #Neuroscience and Meditation, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Well Being
4 Comments

Magnolias, Ashby Ponds, March 2026 A half-century of neuroscientific research has concluded that meditation is as important to your mental well-being as exercise is to the physical health. If you exercise regularly, you build stronger muscles, denser bones, and increased stamina. If you meditate daily, your attention span, memory, and patience increase. You learn to manage negative emotions and situations more efficiently and strengthen sense of calm, resilience, and relationships.  The moment we are born, the breath is with us and the moment it leaves, we die. Wherever we go, our breath goes with us. It is our anchor. It is perfect the way it is. We need not speed it up, force it, push it away or control it. Simply pay attention to its natural rhythm, letting it continue its work without...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More