Category Archives: Daily Life

Daily Life, Out and About

Walking, Sifting and Sorting

1 Comment
Freshwater Bay in the morning.

Yesterday was a long day. Freshwater Bay at 9.30 am on a cold morning was not inviting at all especially as I was about to follow the coast, on foot, for twelve miles. Like my friends I’ve been reporting on recently I enjoyed a lively back and forth in my mind about continuing on with the plan. I continued on, for better or for worse.

The trail ahead towards Chale, 12 miles away!

Looking back towards Freshwater Bay with the white cliffs marking Tennyson Down beyond

Everywhere there is evidence of erosion. The land is falling into the sea and we humans are in retreat.

Sifting and sorting in the background while I’m here on the Isle of Wight for rest and renewal are questions and contemplations on a number of matters. At first they seemed to be unrelated, aspirations to do this, inner nudges to do that, the ordering and timing of a number of projects. I can’t say I’ve sat down purposefully and thought about all of this. However today after a very slow start, which was preceded by inner dialogue and confusion, matters have fallen into a workable, almost sensible, pattern. The journey continues.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Daily Life, Out and About, Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

Time for Celebrations

3 Comments

Next week a loyal reader of this blog is going to receive the Precepts at the Ten Precepts Retreat at Throssel. The retreat will start on Saturday. We have been in correspondence talking back and forth as she works through the inevitable

Shall I, or shall I not, cancel? Will I, or will I not, be able to go through with the commitment to formally become a Buddhist?

Her story is much the same as my friend and her steps towards surgery. I find them both inspiring in their willingness to lay themselves bare, to examine what’s there and keep going on into the unknown. Congratulations to them both!

By way of offering encouragement I wrote the following:

You do realize that the first ceremony of the retreat is the journey to the monastery and you are well on the way to completing the most testing ceremony of all.

Her reply:

I hadn’t thought of the journey to Throssel being the first “ceremony”, but now you have said it, it makes perfect sense. It’s funny how this practice gets to one, even though it is so subtle and you aren’t aware of it happening at the time. I have already told you of some of the things that have changed for me like the drinking, smoking, watching less TV and being more discriminatory about what I do watch – but the wonderful thing is that they have all happened without any conscious effort. (Because she wants to follow the Precepts, and is.)

Today is the anniversary of a significant step I took some years ago, which involves rededicating ones life to keeping the Precepts. After the coffee and desert pictured here I walked for a few hours to reach home base. Close to where I’m staying is an old woodland. The guidebook describes it as one of the Island’s most delectable spots. I reclined there for awhile against a tree and gazed up at the clear blue sky listening to the spring birds tweeting. Yes, time for celebrations.

This post is dedicated to yet another friend who is undergoing the ceremony of the journey to the monastery, literally and figuratively. Make that two friends.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Daily Life, Overcome Difficulties, Teachings

Small Steps Big Changes

1 Comment

A good friend has been readying herself to have hip replacement surgery. Here follows excerpts from our recent correspondence.

So I phoned today for my annual medical check-up, and as I put the receiver down, a little voice said, call your surgeon, to which I replied, Oh, I don’t think so, this is enough for one day to which the little voice replied, call your surgeon, to which I replied, well, I don’t have the number to which the little voice replied, look it up in the phone book. So I did and then reached for the phone, and hesitated, and you can guess what the little voice replied, so I reached again, and hesitated. And that little voice, in a rather exasperated tone, said how will you ever explain this to Mugo? so I (reluctantly) dialed and asked to speak to Dr. Watson’s nurse. A cheery voice said You got her! Oh well, no backing out now.

The nurse answered all my questions and the surgery coordinator will call me next week to talk about possible dates. And as if that wasn’t enough, after I hung up the phone I went into see my department head and we sat and talked about possible dates and what would work best for him. I was also able to talk to him about some of my anxieties at having the surgery done at all. When it was all over (the phone call and chat), I felt much better. It’s actually a big relief (to have started the ball rolling), and I am immensely grateful to you for your encouragement. Please consider this my first installment to my helpful mentor. Is mentor the word I want? Yes WordWeb has given me a definition that describes what you are, for me.

Here is part of my response:

I think your story is not uncommon when it comes to taking a major move in life. And let’s face it having major surgery is a major move in life. It just takes that first leap over the voices, familiar ones I know about too, for the next steps to roll out before one.

…and her response:

Thank you for your reply. It was very encouraging to hear you say that my story is probably not uncommon. I had never thought of that! (And after all those years of mothering and nursing!) I actually think writing what I wrote to you helped me along in my process. And by all means you are welcome to use whatever of it for your blog, I trust your sense of privacy. In addition your comments have given me the thought that perhaps I will try to write a little more about the voices we hear in our own minds.

I hope this posting speaks for itself.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Daily Life, Teachings

The Fourth Thought

Leave a comment

Just bumped into a chap in the cloister and we had a chat. He was leaving the New Year retreat early. Some might say he had failed because he didn’t make it through to the end. Not so, definitely not so.

I’ve just eaten three chocolates, he said holding up three fingers in front of his face. Three chocolates, I just saw them on offer in the common room and took three. He was triumphant. Err? You’ll have to fill me in a bit more on that one. He did. Apparently last time here he could hardly eat anything, it was a real struggle to sit and eat a meal. To actually put food in his mouth. Why’s that then? I asked. Oh, you know. Guilt and all of that stuff.

We parted. OK if I email you? Sure. Go to my Jade Mountains web site and you can email me from there. Same goes for anybody who wants to write me.

The fourth of the Five Thoughts is: we will eat lest we become lean and die. Few of us are eating to keep flesh on our bodies so obviously this has levels of meaning just like the preceding three. Our friend above, like so many people, go head to head with life and their troubles when faced with a plate of food. To eat or not. To eat life, or not.

Eating ones life, actively connecting with what’s there and eating without picking and choosing is practice. People dying inside for lack of nourishment is a very very sad sight. And so when people come here who struggle with life and who then connect with the practice and eat, well that is cause for joy.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Daily Life, Falls Between the Cracks

Moving Right Along

1 Comment
My mother died on this day, 11th December, 1995.
I learnt a new word this morning, Segue. It seemed unlikely I’d manage to accomplish the task of getting an order of stamps picked up in Hexham at such short notice. However the sequence of events leading to eventually getting them moved smoothly, sooo smoothly, one following upon another in a near miraculous way. Applauding the day aloud somebody said, Oh that’s segue, one thing following another smoothly.

In the process of looking up the word I discovered Websters On-Line Dictionary. Should I ever need to spell out this word in Semaphore, or British Sign Language, I’ll know where to look. What a gem!

I’d say the timing around mothers death was segue, if that is the correct way to use this word. Much about our relationship was segue.

This post is for Johnny, his brother, their aunt and their late mum. My mum too.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email