Category Archives: Message From John
MINDFULNESS WELL GROUNDED
Dear Friends
I recently had a couple of friends visit me that have spent their life collecting beautiful Buddha statues and artifacts. They told me that the great detail and care that has gone into making these beautiful objects expresses deep love and respect for the Buddha and his Dhamma Teachings. This greatly inspires them to a life of Wisdom and Peace while also bringing great joy.
This appreciation and skilful use of a Buddha image certainly resonates with me and...
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PERFECT-PROFOUND PEACE
Dear Friends
Happy New Year 2021.
Welcome to this New Year – the here and the now of where we have arrived.
Given that 2020 was a year like no other for most of the world; this New Year 2021 offers up hope of transcending the challenges of what has been.
It becomes important to pause – ponder, consider and contemplate what and where we are directing our attention.
We all know that, ‘where the attention goes – the energy flows!’
The beginning of a...
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GRATEFULNESS IN NATURE
Dear Friends
This year, our year 2020 is almost ended; even though on reflection it has been in the process of ending since its beginning; that the ending was inherent in its beginning since its beginning was a result of the last year ending. And as this year ends, a New Year will arise and move through the same process and passage of time and change for the length of a year!
On reflection this process of change is the nature...
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Summertime Newsletter 2020
Dear Friends
Welcome to Summer.
Summer is a special season for us here in the Southern Hemisphere, as it is a season that transcends the Old and the New Year.
We begin the year with Summer, and we end the year with Summer.
As an out-door loving nation and culture, we move through the year and into the long warm days of Summer which take us out into the outdoors and nature for our end of year and New Year Holiday Season.
This year, ...
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MINDFULNESS BRINGS
Dear Friends
Small things, seen, felt, known and practiced can make a huge difference in our self, in others, in our life and in our world.
Mindfulness, this quality of attentive awareness and knowing, is one such thing.
Mindfulness practiced both in Meditation and daily life, can bring us to what the Buddha spoke about as the Ultimate Happiness – Nibbana.
Mindfulness is the practice and path from stress and suffering to our ultimate ease and satisfaction.
Please find some inspiration in my collection...
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SIMPLY KNOWING
Dear Friends
Our life can appear incredibly complex and confusing at times; often more of the time than less of the time!
Much of this relates to how we conceive, perceive and then receive our ongoing experience.
If we bring attention back to our fundamental sensory experience without the ongoing mental comment, commentary, critique, concern and complaint; we may find a Simple Peace from Simply Knowing! Here lies the insight into the Reality and Truth of existence beyond the mentalising and stressing...
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MIND ALIGNED
Dear Friends
Sometimes a few words can go a long way in motivating us to maintain our Mindfulness and Meditation Practice.
We all need inspiration and encouragement at times, especially when we might be missing our usual support group and network that we would otherwise meet up with on a regular basis.
The challenging times of COVID-19 remind us to stay connected and close to what is most important and not be attracted and distracted into ways that take us off in...
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I FOLLOWED FORWARD
Dear Friends
This weekend just passed with the full moon of October, marked the ending of the Vassa (Rains) Retreat.
The three months Retreat period from the full moon of July to the full moon of October, has been a time of special practice designated by the Buddha, for over 2,500 years ago.
Each year Buddhist Monastics and lay practitioners make use of this special period, to enhance their practice of Mindfulness, Meditation and Insight Wisdom.
For myself and a group of people,...
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Springtime Newsletter 2020
Dear Friends
FIND A FOREST
We have arrived in Spring, a most wonderful season of the year that resonates and expresses so much of nature.
While the issues of men, women and humankind can be confusing and distressing; nature can express something perennial in its own cycles and seasons of ebb and flow.
This last season of Winter has been challenging for many, particularly psycho-emotionally in wintering through change and uncertainty.
However, Spring offers forth the blossoms and blessings of hope in the fruition...
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ATTENDING TO ATTENTIVENESS
Dear Friends
Sadly, much of our direct and correct experience of life is missed due to our lack of Mindful Attention. Not only do we miss out on what is happening always and only now, but we also miss out seeing the truth of things through the cause-effect relationship particularly with regards to the mental making of the sense of self. The mind’s continual mental comments and self -commentary of critique, concern and complaint; creates the illusion of a self-somebody...
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