daily meditation

The spring day
lingers
in the pools

haiku by Issa
Found in "today and today"

Since Year 4 poetry class I have always loved haiku. The simple rhythm three lines can create.

No rhyme, just flow. 5, 7, 5. Typically addressing a season, a reference to time in nature. Perhaps it was the beginning, that poetry class, of me and words. I'd rather write a letter than speak on the phone. With pen in hand I internalise and although there are times when it creates frustration...there is more joy than anger.

I calm when I watch the smooth, lyrical line of pen on paper.
You may calm with a needle and thread
Paintbrush and watercolour
Rolling pin and dough
Hammer and nail.

What is your daily meditation? What do you enjoy?

30 days of gratitude : 23

Being one of those ethereal types - a wanderer, a dreamer...constantly lifting lifting towards the sky, I find meditation a challenge. My mind is never still, it is never slowing.

One of the easiest and most affective forms of meditation is to count the breath backwards. I particularly like focussing my awareness on my navel - "navel rising 54, navel falling 54, navel rising 53, navel falling 53". If ever I can't sleep this practice gently lulls me into slumber. But sleep is not meditation. I know, I know.

And even though I agree whole-heartedly with Jack, I find that silence, thought and a cup of tea is also my meditation.

Today while Che slept I sat quietly at the table, sipping tea and letting my eyes wander around the gentle folds of these roses. One petal, two petal, soft petal, fallen petal. Each flower has a different shape and pattern and they reminded me of mandalas, those colourful, intricate artworks that so many yogis meditate on.


Gratitude today for stillness in meditation, for tea and rose mandalas. Thanks for the blooms Mum x