Pic: Taken from the Hill of Uisneach, 1 Jan 2017.  Approaching the end of one year, we usually anticipate the beginning of another. Full of possiblity. We may compile our resolutions. We may set new intentions. We may renew old ones. Though the days are lengthening gradually, January can feel grey and dark for me. The process of setting intentions at this time of year offers me a way to create and see light that is also present. Yet every moment, every breath, is an opporunity to begin again. It really is. I love when I remember this mantra! In…

  Inspired by Tara Brach talk: Happy for No Reason, Part 2.   "When you go to a garden do you look at thorns or flowers? Spend more time with roses and jasmine" -Rumi Awareness is the intention of mindfulness practice. And working with what is there is also part of the moment and the practice. We know now of the 'darkside' of neuroplasticity: our biological negativity bias primes us to pay most attention to threat and danger. Unaware  we allow that bias to become the habit of mind. Awareness invites us to tune into those habitual patterns: we notice the mind's…

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/07/are-you-trying-to-escape/   How often have we cried out this lament about our fledgling mindfulness meditation practice? I know I have. I still get overwhelmed, get sucked back into autopilot habits of reactivity of overworking, overthinking and over critiquing. 'It's not working' - I can hear the whisper of judging mind in the background - and it quickly spirals to inner critic who laments  'I'm no good at this'. When we practice, we learn the intention of mindfulness is simply awareness. Accepting what is here without the need to change it. So today I welcome the 'it's not working' thinking since it may…