Summer Newsletter 2021
SUMMER ARRIVES
Dear Friends
Welcome to Summer!
The Season of Summer is special around the world. For those in the Northern Hemisphere, Summer brings a Mid-Year welcome relief from the grey clouded sky and stark cold that is Autumn and Winter.
Here in the Southern Hemisphere, Summer is the Season that connects the Old Year to the New Year. It is the reward of having got through the year and then venturing forth into the New Year with warmth and light.
The ending of the year can be an important time to slow down and relax into some holiday time. This can be a great opportunity to pause and ponder in Mindful Reflection on the year that had been!
What has this year been for me?
What have I learned through this year?
What would I like to learn from this year?
What do I need – to learn from this year?
Our life is simply the two factors of Time and Energy – both most precious resources that should not be wasted. The worth and the wealth of our life is the Wisdom gleaned through Conscious Consideration or Reflective Investigation. This can often be done following experiences through remembering and reflecting.
This year that is coming to an end 2021 – has been another significant year for us all. A year not without its particular challenges due to the ongoing experience of a World Pandemic, COVID-19.
Due to ongoing Restrictions and Limitations, Containment and Confinements, this year has been different from many that we have lived through.
However, like the making of a Diamond, that remarkably is the result of a piece of Black Coal undergoing extreme Heat, Pressure and Containment – resulting in the Diamond, so too something wonderful and precious can result from what we have been through!
Wisdom is the Diamond that is the result of the Psychological Heat, Pressure and Containment, that we have gone through.
May we find many Diamonds of Wisdom from our Learnings from this year – that can be a wealth to use and share with others in the years ahead!
I wish you a Mindful and Meaningful Summer – and a time of Peace and Joy as we end this year and move into the New Year 2022.
My Verse below is an offering on Summer and the Cycle of the Seasons of our Lives.
Kind Regards
John B.
SUMMER ARRIVES
Summer arrived in a timely way;
We knew that Spring, like youth;
Just could not stay.
Flora and Fauna came out to meet;
The increasing warmth
Of Summer’s heat.
A time of brilliant sun and light;
The days seem longer;
With less hours of night.
A time of activity spent outdoors;
A Season much beyond
Autumn and Winters quiet pause.
The yearly cycle has come and passed.
The Seasons remind us
That nothing lasts!
The Seasons, no man or woman can alter;
Nature has its certain cycle
Which none can faulter.
How many Summers lived and yet to come?
The knowledge of this;
Is known to none!
VASSA (RAINS) RETREAT 2021
Each year Buddhist Monks and Nuns together with Lay practitioners observe the 3 months rainy season retreat called the Vassa Retreat. Last year I organised a group of Meditators to uphold this 3 month period with a Non-Residential Retreat from July to October, with monthly meditation day sessions held at Bodhi Tree Forest Monastery and Retreat Centre. This year I organised the same program in keeping with this yearly practice and tradition, however we were only able to hold 2 of the 4 Meditation Day Retreat Sessions due to the COVID-19 Lockdowns. These 2 sessions in July and October held at Bodhi Tree Forest Monastery and Retreat Centre, were well attended with much appreciated teachings and guidance on Meditation practice from Venerable Pannyavaro. We look forward to the possibility of the Vassa Retreat 2022 occurring without the limitations of restrictions. Thank you to all those who took part in the Vassa Retreat 2021 we hope to see you again in 2022.
THURSDAY NIGHT MEDITATION GROUP – RECOMMENCING IN 2022
Thank you for your patience in waiting for our Meditation Group to recommence. When we stopped meeting due to the spacing issue for our drop-in group, I had no idea that we would wait this long to be able to reconnect. Our group will resume on Thursday 20th of January 2022 at 6:30 – 7:30pm (NSW Time) at Ratanagiri – 11 Double View Road, Farrants Hill, NSW 2484. If you are coming for the first time email on info@wellawareness.com.au or text me 0400 022 048. Please bring your own water bottle, pen and notebook. With the hour session we will have a 30 minute Meditation and then 30 minutes of Wisdom Reflections with questions. It will be wonderful again to meet up as a group and to continue our Meditation and Mindfulness practice, together with some Wisdom Reflections.
SESSIONS WITH JOHN
Psychology Sessions of Counselling, Coaching and Mentoring continue to be available with John both face-to-face and through Tele-Health (Skype, FaceTime, Phone) please email info@wellawareness.com.au or text me 0400 022 048 to make an appointment or go to www.wellawareness.com.au for information on Mindfulness and Wisdom Based services offered.
