The Meditation You Can Do Anywhere: Chanting Your Way Back to Calm
Chanting meditation begins with something beautifully simple: placing your attention on the act of chanting itself. The chant becomes the anchor, the way the breath is in other forms of meditation. You focus on the sound, the rhythm, the movement of the mantra through your mind or your voice. And when your attention wanders — as it always will — you gently return to the chant. This is why chanting is such a powerful bridge into everyday mindfulness. If you can focus on a mantra, you can focus on washing dishes, folding laundry, walking, breathing, living. The object changes, but the practice remains the same. You can chant a mantra, sing it or recite it quietly, and best of all, you can recite it silently in your head at any time, and it stops your thoughts taking over and running wild. The Tibetans say that mantra is that which protects…
Can fiction help you learn how to deal with inner demons?
Outer demons A lot of fantasy books have demons in them, but they’re mostly outer demons rather than the inner demons that hassle modern people. We all need to know how to deal with inner demons, but when we think of demons in fiction, we usually think of outer demons, of which there are many kinds: Christian demons, as in the denizens of Hell, Wiccan demons as in those from a different dimension that can be trapped in magical circles and made to obey commands, Asian demons related to Buddhism and Hinduism, and various other demons associated with different cultures around the planet. Is there any culture that doesn’t have some kind of demonic entity associated with it? Modern Westerners in general don’t believe in demons. And if they consider demons to be any of those mentioned above, why should they? It’s hard for a modern person to believe that demons exist when they can’t see them with their…
Around the Blogs: 5 short articles that are well worth reading
I found a few articles on the web that I thought you might like to read. Check out: Seven Ways Reading Improves Your Life Stress Can Literally Shrink Your Brain. Buddha on the Art of Critical Thinking 11 Principles of Mindfulness 7 Tips for Those Who Say They Can’t Meditate.
Blog Tour: It’s more than just a story!
Pop over to Pretty in Fiction and read about the real magic in my Diamond Peak Series. It’s kind of an inspired piece, so it’s worth checking out. Thanks for hosting me Jesse.