Hi everyone. Yesterday I came home from getting the flu jab and found the most wonderful surprise, which had me sitting there doing my happy dance >>> 🙂 Welcome to the Wednesday edition of the Cafe and Bookstore Author Updates …
Hi everyone! Today, I have launched my newest book, Jewel in the Mud (Zen Musings). It is available for pre-order on Amazon now, and will be released in Kindle and Paperback on January 19th. I am so excited about this …
Hearing no Words Children have a knack for hearing what we don’t say. They rely little on our actual utterances. In the same way, people might hear our words, but for sure, they will feel our attitude. So, …
Thief in the Night This may seem obvious, but many kinds of stealing exist that we might not even think about, not just the common ones such as money or property, but also time, peace of mind, hope, trust, …
Monday Musings Forty-seven: The Thief in the Night Read more »
An Eye For An Eye In the current climate of world troubles and terror attacks, it seems apt to say a few words on revenge and attempting to control others. Violence is never the answer. As the Buddha …
Square Peg For each of us, there comes a time in life when we need to let go of the unnecessary drama. For each of us, there comes a moment when we see how we’ve bent ourselves into a …
Pride and Prejudice Two kinds of pride exist. One has positive connotations while the other takes on a more negative aspect. The first pride both comes from and reinforces selflessness. Based on a person’s achievements and qualities, it reflects …
Dark Intent ‘A Truth that’s told with bad intent Beats all the Lies you can invent.’ William Blake (Auguries of Innocence) While researching for a magazine article I wrote recently, I came across the above poem by William Blake. …
The Curve that Sets Everything Straight It’s so important to smile. What we do with our face has a direct effect on what our bodies do with us. The chemicals and emotions with which they fill us. A smile …
Monday Musings Forty-two: The Curve that Sets Everything Straight Read more »
Gatekeepers We’ve all heard the saying, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.’ How true or not this proves, comes down to the listener. It might surprise you to hear that it has …
Too Tired Hello, everyone. With today’s post going up a little late because I just couldn’t get to it, I thought how apt it would be to write about the tricks our brains and bodies can play on us. …
The Blame Game From early childhood, we receive conditioning that teaches us to look to others to see how we’re doing. To gauge how good or bad a person we are. While this has its place and uses, we …
Two Loves Today being right before Valentine’s Day, I wanted to talk a bit about love. In my experience, two kinds of love exist: selfish love and selfless love. The selfish kind grasps and demands and tries to force …
No Regrets How many times in your life have you done or said something that you regret? On the flip side, how many times have you regretted avoiding needed action or speech? Even the bad days have something to …
Shut up. Just … shut up. Often, when going through a tough time, all we need is to talk it out. To share with someone. What we don’t need—much of the time—is advice, and certainly not judgement. The …
Monday Musings Thirty-six: Shut up. Just … shut up Read more »
The Tangled Webs We Weave Quite often, we are our own worst enemy and harshest critic, especially when things go wrong. To add insult to injury, it would be a rare thing for us to judge others in the …
Monday Musings Thirty-five: The Tangled Webs We Weave Read more »
Be the First Any spiritual practice worth its salt will advise us to choose the path of humility. Why, then, have I entitled today’s musing ‘Be the First’? It is more than possible to take the lead without taking …
Remember Me How many times have you read somewhere that it’s good to give? Good to listen. Good to trust. While I wouldn’t go against any of that, I would put in a ‘but’. I would insert a cautionary …
Let the Adventure Begin Hello, everyone. Happy New Year! What does the start of a new year mean to you? What are your hopes and wishes? This year, I hope that you make mistakes. Now, why would I wish …
Monday Musings Thirty-two: Let the Adventure Begin Read more »
Lighting a Lamp Well, today is Boxing Day, and Christmas is done for another year. I hope you all had a peaceful day yesterday with not too much drama. If not, then my thoughts and best wishes are with …
The Best Gifts Cannot be Bought As today’s post will be the last one before Christmas, what better time to talk about giving? For many of us, frenzied Christmas shopping and wrapping have filled recent days and weeks. For …
Monday Musings Thirty: The Best Gifts Cannot be Bought Read more »
Your Life Purpose Have you ever found yourself wondering what it’s all about? Asking why you’re alive? What your purpose is? Well, the good news is that you’re far from alone. Most of us have found ourselves in this exact …
As easy as 1—2—3 Each morning, we are born again. We can’t start the next chapter in our lives if we keep re-reading the last one. What matters most is what we do today. For certain, worrying about what has …
Keep it Simple I don’t know about you, but for me, life has all-too-frequently felt like an uphill struggle. In my younger years, I took things far too seriously. And, while I had big ambition, I had small confidence. …
Ten Things to Forget Today’s Monday Musings marks half a year. Wow—where’d the time go? For those of you who’ve been with me from the beginning, thank you. For all of you who have just joined in the fun, …
Monday Musings Part Twenty-six: Ten Things to Forget Read more »
Boomerang Most of us desire a happy, smooth existence, right? Some of us, of course, chase the thrill, but even that is on our terms. We might go and climb Everest or swim the English channel in deepest, darkest, iciest …
One Step In our previous Musings, we have looked at many topics. What they all come down to is letting go and moving on from a place of acceptance and stillness. A place of not putting ourselves (our conditioning) …
Forgiveness Isn’t What You Think In my younger days, I used to believe that forgiving a person helped them more than it helped me. Not so. When we hold onto anger and blame, we hurt ourselves far more than …
Monday Musings Part Twenty-three: Forgiveness Isn’t What You Think Read more »
Herd Animal Human beings are herd animals and, for this reason, can find it difficult to go against the crowd. To step out on your own can feel daunting at best. It can also liberate you. Today’s musing also ties …
Painting Pain All of us tell ourselves stories about what confronts us. We paint pictures in our heads of how we think things are. Then we compare this to the picture we’ve already painted about how we think it’s …