Mindfulness Reflections

For the last mindfulness session of the year, Chris - one of my colleagues at British Council - and I, offered to bring samples of vegan dishes for participants to try out. The intention was just to share a few ideas for inspiration, given that during the previous week, doubt had been expressed as to whether or not vegan food contains everything a person needs to be healthy, as many doctors recommend eating meat for its protein. Another misperception is that vegan food is somehow different from normal food, that it's special or separate from the food everyone else eats. Here's another view of the feast: Below we have Chris's delicious ceviche, made with textured soy and served on tortilla flat crisps (tostadas). Chris also prepared tofu in two different ways, and brought some animal-free mole to pour on top. As a side note, one of the participants asked what this was. "Is it chicken?", she said, reflecting the depth of misunderstandi...

People with a vegan diet eat everything except animals and animal products. Whereas there may be many reasons to switch to veganism, in my case it took place after attending a retreat which helped me connect with that deep concern for all sentient beings that we all share. Having said that, it took me a while to learn what "vegan" food is and what isn't. So for those of you who may be wondering, vegans refrain from eating  beef ,  pork ,  chicken  or  fish . At the risk of pointing out the obvious (please read my next post for more on this), beef is the meat of a cow, pork is the meat of a pig, chickens and fish are easily recognisable as animals, and although popular marketing strategies would have you believe that they don't count or are not sentient beings, modern science tells us that they do feel pain much the same way us mammals do. What else comes from animals?  Dairy   products  -  milk ,  cream ,  cheese, yoghurt...

It is now the Year of the Dog and these are the parallel verses for 2018, care of the wonderful Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation . You might find it helpful to recite “Peace is the Breathing” as you breathe in, and “Joy is the Walking” as you breathe out  🙏 ❤️

In my last post I spoke about enjoying the little things. Today I decided to make some tomato soup. I'd bought most of the ingredients yesterday, a surprisingly pleasant experience, as I unhurriedly walked between the aisles of a spacious and practically empty supermarket. One I rarely go to for everyday shopping, by the way, given that they hardly ever stock all of my favourite items, making a second trip to the supermarket closer to home an inconvenient necessity more often than not. But yesterday I wanted to get a particular brand of balsamic vinegar I've only ever seen at the big place,  so I parked the car underground and decided to enjoy my shopping experience, no matter what. On the way from the parking lot to the shop entrance I made a mental note of two things: (1) I need to get some pictures taken to renew my passport, and (2) there's a very pretty pair of sandals at a shoe shop display I might consider buying for my first trip to the beach in seven years - y...

(Pre-Intermediate and above - second conditionals and comparatives) If I started thinking about all the changes I've gone through in my life, the list would simply never end . From the moment of birth until our very last breath (and no doubt, beyond birth and death as well), each one of us is part of a dynamic, evolving, unstable world, in which nothing ever remains the same. Of course, we'd like it to stay the same. Especially when things are going well. And we suffer when they change, because we somehow believe that they won't, even when all the evidence points towards impermanence. On the physical level, our cells are constantly renovating themselves and our bodies are changing right before our eyes. Every day we learn something new, make new connections, have revelations, analyse situations, create intentions. Our opinions change too, sometimes drastically. As do our emotions and thoughts. If someone asked me what the Top 5 Changes in my life over the last few ...

It has been my longest, deepest wish to live a helpful, productive, fruitful and constructive life and to find ways of channeling my energy, knowledge and set of skills towards whatever might be of service to myself (of course), but also to those around me, my community in general and even the world at large, including animals, plants and minerals. The question is: How can I help? We could even go so far as to say - in the words of my own teacher - that  "To Be or Not To be?" is NOT the question. In any event, for years the answer has eluded me. Whenever I've thought, "maybe this is it, this is how!", it's turned out not to be the case, and I've gone back to the default position of  getting my head down and doing my best at that moment. But always lurking in the background has been the question, "how can I truly be of help here?" Only recently has it come to my attention that I've half-started gathering resources and then...