NSW  Kingscliff  0400 022 048 Show Map

NSW   Farrants Hill 0400 022 048 Show Map

Email info@wellawareness.com.au

Blog Post

Stay Mindful as we get busy and stressed in the lead-up to holidays and Christmas

As we move towards this busy time of year, if we are Mindful, Calm and Aware, we can wind down rather than wind up and make the most of our holiday/Christmas break as a shared experience with family and friends.

Mindfulness, Meditation and Ways of Wisdom are the key.

 

We enjoyed a wonderful workshop at Farrant’s Hill last weekend.
The first of many more in 2016 …….

 

Related Posts

Vassa Retreat for 2024 – ends.

Dear Friends   The Eight-Fold Path, Is the most honourable way. The Four Noble Truths, The most honourable utterance. Freedom...

Welcome To Spring

Dear Friends, Welcome to Spring! Certainly a season of the year that many people look forward...

Vassa Retreat 2024

Dear Friends, The Vassa Retreat period for 2024 began on Sunday 21st July. Many of you have...

Welcome to Winter

Dear Friends, Welcome to Winter 2024. When Winter comes to us, it is a reminder that...

Next Meditation Retreat Sunday 19th May 2024 & John’s Birthday

Dear Friends, Trusting this note finds you well. The last couple of months have been special...

Happy New Year 2024 – Message from John B.

New Year 2024  A healthy mind is the greatest gain, Contentment is the greatest wealth, A...

Summer Newsletter 2023

‘Meditations & Reflection – Lessons & Learnings from the Year’   Dear Friends, Another year in our Life...

Vassa Retreat 2023 Ends

Dear Friends, Trusting this note finds you well. This Sunday just passed was the Full Moon...

Spring Newsletter 2023

Dear Friends, Welcome to Spring! Yes, another Spring, yet always a new Spring, never quite like...

Winter Newsletter 2023

Dear Friends Welcome to Winter 2023. Whilst Winter comes around each year, and certainly we have...

Autumn Newsletter 2023

Dear Friends Welcome to Autumn 2023 Whilst we all love some Summers warmth and the end...

Welcome to the New Year 2023

Dear Friends Welcome to our New Year 2023. I do hope that this past year of...

Summer Newsletter 2022

Dear Friends SUMMER CAME TO OUR SHORE Trusting that this note finds you well as we...

I LOOKED TO THE TREES

Dear Friends I recently attended a gathering of the 24th Annual Big Scrub Rainforest Day...

OUR DAILY RECKONING

Dear Friends One of the most precious things that we have is this very Life! Given...

A WAY TO WALK AND WANDER

Dear Friends Mindfulness Meditation, in the context of Buddhist Practice (CITTA BHAVANA – Mind-Heart Development)...

Spring Newsletter 2022

Dear Friends Welcome to Spring 2022. Certainly, with the passing of minutes, hours, days, weeks and...

TAKE A SEAT AT THE CENTRE OF YOUR LIFE

Dear Friends At this time in the World, Buddhist Monastics – monk and nuns have...

MORE IN OUR NATURE

Dear Friends We now find ourselves Mid -Winter as we work our way through this...

Welcome to Winter 2022

Dear Friends Welcome to Winter 2022. Another Season arrives into our Life, which also means that...

Welcome to Autumn 2022

Dear Friends, Whilst Autumn appeared to arrive early this year; my e-Newsletter is a month...

NEW YEAR NEWSLETTER 2022

Dear Friends Welcome to our New Year 2022 and the middle of Summer. Summer is...

AN ATTITUDE OF GREAT GRATITUDE

Dear Friends Welcome to our New Year 2022. What makes a year New, Fresh and Alive,...

HIGHLIGHT THE ALL

Dear Friends What do we tend to give attention to, focus on, make important or...

Summer Newsletter 2021

SUMMER ARRIVES Dear Friends Welcome to Summer! The Season of Summer is special around the world. For...

UNBINDING AND UNWINDING

Dear Friends As we move towards the end of the year, we often feel that...

LET MINDFULNESS BECOME YOU

Dear Friends So often our mind becomes identified with and then identified as – our...

LET MINDFULNESS REMIND US

Dear Friends It can be helpful to remind ourselves that there is never not a...

Spring Newsletter 2021

SPRING COMES Dear Friends The beginning of a new Season reminds us that time is passing. This...

MEASURE MEANING AND MAKE

Dear Friends Our life certainly can feel more worthwhile when it has meaning. Difficult situations and...

TROUBLING TIMES

Dear Friends We live in troubling times, but how frequently do we feel troubled? Sometimes the...

NEVER A MOMENT NOT HAPPENING

Dear Friends We now find our selves Mid-Winter and Mid-Way through this year. Whilst Winter might...

MAKE GOOD THIS DAY

Dear Friends Trusting this note finds you well and warm as Winter makes her way...

Winter Newsletter 2021

‘A healthy mind is the greatest gain. Contentment is the greatest wealth. A trust-worth friend is...

WISDOM TEACHINGS ALWAYS FRESH AND ANEW

Dear Friends This week finds us with the Full Moon on May, which is celebrated...

NO WHERE TO BE

Dear Friends We have all come across the statement – ‘it is what it is!’ This...

THINGS THAT KEEP US RIGHT

Dear Friends What inspires and motivates us to stay on the Right Path, the Way...

SEEKING TRACTION FOR LASTING SATISFACATION

Dear Friends Particular times of the year are dedicated to various pursuits, purposes or perspectives....

WTH GRACE AND CARE

Dear Friends Our year is filled with four seasons, each of which has its particular...

Autumn Newsletter 2021

Dear Friends This is the first main Newsletter for our New Year 2021. Given that I...

MINDFULNESS WELL GROUNDED

Dear Friends I recently had a couple of friends visit me that have spent their...

PERFECT-PROFOUND PEACE

Dear Friends Happy New Year 2021. Welcome to this New Year – the here and the...

GRATEFULNESS IN NATURE

Dear Friends This year, our year 2020 is almost ended; even though on reflection it...

Summertime Newsletter 2020

Dear Friends Welcome to Summer. Summer is a special season for us here in the Southern...

MINDFULNESS BRINGS

Dear Friends Small things, seen, felt, known and practiced can make a huge difference in...

Flowing
SIMPLY KNOWING

Dear Friends Our life can appear incredibly complex and confusing at times; often more of...

MIND ALIGNED

Dear Friends Sometimes a few words can go a long way in motivating us to...

I FOLLOWED FORWARD

Dear Friends This weekend just passed with the full moon of October, marked the ending...

Springtime Newsletter 2020

Dear Friends FIND A FOREST We have arrived in Spring, a most wonderful season of the...

ATTENDING TO ATTENTIVENESS

Dear Friends Sadly, much of our direct and correct experience of life is missed due...

Venerable Pannyavaro offering his Teaching and Guidance throughout the Vassa Retreat Day
Mid-Winter E- News Letter

Dear Friends Trusting this message finds you well and warm at this time of Mid-Winter. Our...

STILLNESS, SILENCE AND SPACIOUSNESS – THE THREE ‘NON-THINGS’

Dear Friends All that is thought, sensed and savoured is only possible because of what...

EQUANIMITY IS THE WAY

Dear Friends Of all the qualities and traits that can help us through the highs,...

THE FOUR POSTURES OF NOW

Dear Friends Have you noticed, that where ever we are and when ever we are;...

Sunset from Ratanagiri
WHERE SACRED SILENCE IS!

Dear Friends What does it take to both see the need to change and actually...

Winter Newsletter 2020

Dear Friends Welcome to Winter 2020 – trusting this WELL-AWARE-NESS newsletter finds you both well...

LOOK AND LET-GO!

Dear Friends Most of our stress, angst and unease is created and caused by our...

EXCELLENT ATTENTION AND EXQUISITE AWARENESS

Dear Friends Sometimes we find ourselves attracted and distracted into the externals of our life;...

Appreciate Gladness
APPRECIATIVE GLADNESS

Dear Friends It is so easy to get caught in thoughts, mental states and a...

LET US BE MINDFUL

Dear Friends During times of change and challenge it can be important, even imperative, to...

Autumn Newsletter 2020

Dear Friends I trust and hope this this message finds you well and mindfully managing,...

DOES OUR MOTHER-NATURE

Dear Friends It does not take too much insight to see that we are all...

FOREST DWELLERS – WITHOUT AND WITHIN

Dear Friends As we be with and bear through, ride with and abide with the...

TURNING POINT – CHANGING POINT

Dear Friends, Challenging times challenge us to change and be the best that we can...

REAL HOME

Dear Friends,   Amidst the choices and challenges of changing times; where do we find a...

MINDFUL MOMENT

Dear Friends, One of the wonderful insights into the reality of our life is that...

LIVE – LEARN – LOVE

Dear Friends What is Life about? What is this Life of ours about? As a young person...

MINDFUL MIND

Dear Friends What can we make of Mindfulness and what can Mindfulness make of us? There...

Upcoming Mindfulness Meditation Events

Dear Friends, We have been blessed with much rain over the last couple of weeks...

THE MINDFUL MOMENT

Dear Friends Life does have its gain and loss; its pleasure and pain; its satisfaction...

ALL HAPPENING!

Dear Friends Have you ever noticed that ‘it’s all happening!’ Whether we like it or want...

ITS NOT ABOUT

Dear Friends As we move into our New Year – there can be great inspiration,...

MINDFULLY MAKING THE MINDFUL MEAL

Dear Friends Welcome to our life’s New Year of 2020. The fact that we have arrived...

SLOW DOWN TO QUICKEN

Dear Friends Well-done; we have reached the end of the year and now just a...

FOR THE TIME BEING

Dear Friends – we often and so easily take words and expressions for granted. Sometimes...

Summertime Newsletter 2019

Dear Friends, Welcome to Summer, a wonderful season that connects the end of our year...

NO-SENSE OR NONSENSE

Dear Friends We seek to find and make meaning even where or when no meaning...

OF WRACK AND RUIN

Dear Friends As the wisdom of the Buddha points out, we often mistake the...

THE PRACTICE IS UNBECOMING

Dear Friends In our world of worldly gain and getting, achieving and attaining; the practice...

IN PRAISE OF POETRY

Dear Friends Many of us may not be particularly interested in Poetry, to write it...

RIGHT BEFORE US!

Dear Friends So often we put ‘our self’ before others and things that may actually...

NIBBANA IS THE END OF TIME

Dear Friends Have we ever had a moment of no-time, a time out of or...

THE ONE PRACTICE

Dear Friends, in our world of increasing complexity and contradictions, it may become challenging...

OF SILENCE, SPACIOUSNESS AND STILLNESS

Dear Friends We so often get caught up in the objects of attention and forget...

RUN TO THE PRESENT

Dear Friends Do we find ourselves always on the run? What are we running from and...

Drawn Into Life, Activity Rather Than Object

Dear Friends We do not need to be too much of a psychologist or scientist...

MINDFULNESS IS THE WAY!

Dear Friends Our Mindfulness collects mental energy and connects mental awareness to the ongoing flow...

Mindful Experience – Pure and Simple

Dear Friends Much of the stress, struggle, stain and suffering of our life relates to...

THE PRACTICE OF MINDFULNESS

Dear Friends I recently spent 10 days on a Mindfulness Meditation – Vipassana Retreat, held...

LISTEN UP AND LISTEN DOWN

Dear Friends We so often become attracted and distracted by the superficial surround sounds both...

FLEE TO FIND, FEEL, SEE AND BE!

Dear Friends Sometimes we need to remind ourselves to run, race and even flee from...

Gone Forth

Dear Friends This week has held the Full Moon of July and is celebrated as...

BEAUTY WAS – IS – AND AWAYS WILL BE!

BEAUTY WAS – IS – AND AWAYS WILL BE! Dear Friends Beauty is a particular perception...

Find a Friend in Nature

FIND A FRIEND IN NATURE Dear Friends, while winter may find us spending more time...

Being Beyond the ways of The World

BEING BEYOND THE WAYS OF THE WORLD Dear Friends, the Ways of the World are...

Tomorrow Reborn as Today

TOMORROW REBORN AS TODAY Dear Friends – we get taught to pay attention to the...

No One To Matter

NO ONE TO MATTER Dear Friends Life seems so vast and amazing with all of its...

Mind and Meaning Making

MIND AND MEANING MAKING Dear Friends It’s amazing how much meaning we make of a collection...

Go to the Trees

GO TO THE TREES Dear Friends There are many suitable and sustaining refuges that we can...

Life is Limitation

LIFE IS LIMITATION Dear Friends In the context of receiving and relating to a particular Spiritual...

Not all of the same sense!

Dear Friends How do we sense what we sense and what sense do we make...

Live With, For and As

Dear Friends – our life abounds with continually alarming information about distressing events and...

COME AROUND AND COME DOWN

Dear Friends Sometimes we need to remind our selves as to where it is at,...

On My Way Home

Dear Friends We are meaning making beings! One of the most important tasks of our ‘self’,...

Knowing the Unknown

Dear Friends We live our life in the realm of change and uncertainty. Whilst this includes...

STEP OUT OF VIEW

Dear Friends It is so easy and so often that we become caught in and caught...

Always and Forever – Ever Leaving and Arriving

Dear Friends How long do we ever spend in one place? So often we may be...

‘Coming to our Senses’ The Art of Receptive Knowing

Dear Friends This Sunday we held another Half Day Meditation Retreat here at Ratanagiri on...

Life-Story and Love-Story

Dear Friends Much of our mental ‘self-talk’ does become the role and script that we...

WE CAN BUT ONLY BE PHILOSOPHICAL

Dear Friends Reality is, but reality bites - sometimes when we least expect, want or...

Of Good and Greatness

Dear Friends With the beginning of the new year we often think about what we...

Heart, Mind is receptive knowing

HEART – MIND IS RECEPTIVE KNOWING It is so easy to take for granted how...

The Buddha’s Verse on Health, Wealth, Friendship and Happiness

Arōgyā paramā lābhā santuṭṭhi paramaṁ dhanaṁ vissāsa paramā ñāthi Nibbānaṁ paramaṁ sukhaṁ A healthy mind is the greatest gain, Contentment is the...

Living to Let-Go

LIVING TO LET-GO We often focus our time energy and attention on getting, gaining, having,...

‘PEACING’ THE PRESENT

‘PEACING’ THE PRESENT So much of the precious time and energy of our life is...

See, Know, Be, Free

SEE - KNOW – BE - FREE Have you ever wondered or asked yourself how...

When the Mind

WHEN THE MIND Love is a fundamental energetic connection that motivates and moves most creatures...

Sometimes Grey

Dear Friends We can not expect to always have bright and light sun filled days....

If Just One Of Us

Dear Friends Have you ever paused to ponder, consider and contemplate, what it is that...

Contemplation leads to liberation

Dear Friends  One of the blessings but also blights of being human is our ability...

Can we go quietly …..

Dear Friends Our life is a process of happenings, all involving beginnings and endings. How...

Life Limiting Factors

Dear Friends   Often, so much of our precious life energy is affected by certain psychological...

The Life Given Moment

Dear Friends Welcome to the warm of Spring. This new season brings forth the blossoming, blooming...

Real Home

Dear Friends Have you ever wondered about what is a home and what is our...

Point of peace …..

Dear Friends So often we miss the ‘point of peace’ which is always and only...

Sunset over Ratanagiri
Relax into uncertainty

RELAX INTO UNCERTAINTY Relax into uncertainty; For uncertainty is the fundamental foundation and underlying reality of our...

Transitional Zones

Dear Friends Maybe its time for some mind time, free from the roles and responsibilities...

Ultimate truth and freedom

Dear Friends Spiritual Practice is the mindful engagement of wisdom based perspectives and practices, purposed...

Ode to Trees

Dear friends Over the week I have been contemplating the wonder and the worth of...

Beautiful Friendship

We need to Connect, Communicate and Care. Why? Because, the ‘psychological-self’; The you and the me; The I...

Relax and Empty

RELAX AND EMPTY Relax and Empty from self-concern. Let Loose and Let Go of mental identification...

Now …. the right side

  We must close our eyes and invoke a new manner of seeing ...a wakefulness that...

Let’s get right now

LET’S GET RIGHT NOW! Don’t look for the Spiritual, Sacred or Divine. Don’t listen for the...

Heart inspired

HEART INSPIRED The source of my Love is not my Love. The source of your Love...

Mindful Morning with a Monk Ajahn Tiradhammo

MINDFUL MORNING WITH A MONK Ajahn Tiradhammo is a Canadian born Buddhist Monk of the...

Fully arriving in every step is the destination

Dear Friends Now in the fourth month of our year; why not take some time...

Make Meditation the Mindful Life

MAKE MEDITATION THE MINDFUL LIFE   Don’t be caught into self-doubt and deprecation, Sit down and practice...

The Three Way To Wisdom

THE THREE WAYS TO WISDOM Much of our activities and engagements in life are purposed...

For the Contemplatives, Without and Within

For the Contemplatives – Without and Within We need to rediscover and reclaim Spirituality for...

The Science of the Self – Three Levels

The whole experience of life, the experience of our life, is referenced from, back...

AUTUMN, FIND YOUR WAY TO THE MIDDLE WAY

Dear Friends Welcome to Autumn. As we know extremes are exciting! Extreme sports, extreme seasons, extreme places,...

Renovate our real home with meditative mind training

RENOVATE OUR REAL HOME WITH MEDITATIVE MIND TRAINING  Of all the varieties of practices and...

Sunset over Ratanagiri
The Freedom Gift of Forgiveness

We are all seeking Freedom in some form or another. One special form of Freedom...

Neutral Knowing

Have you ever noticed how easily it is for our mind to become caught...

Rains Retreat, Vassa 2017

This last week has marked the end of the Buddhist Monastic three months ‘Rains...

Our Practicing Peace

Fundamentally and ultimately, if it is Peace that we are really seeking, our ‘way...

Blessing of the Buddha – Real Happiness and Peace

The ‘Blessing of the Buddha’ is the gift to us all, of his realisation...

The Ending of Time!

The whole of I, we, you and me; is but a ‘cognitive creation’. We think our self...

Is It Peace?

Is it Peace? Is it Peace that we seek? Fundamentally and Ultimately, at the end of...

Let’s get serious …..

Let’s Get Serious What are we serious about? How serious are we about Life, how serious...

John Barter Mindfulness CD
Make Meditation about Meditation ……

We need to make our meditation about meditation! Our meditation may include awareness of the...

John interviewed by Tweed Daily News

John was recently interviewed by Tweed Daily News at The Brain Mind and Memory...

Wisdom Talks 20 – The 4 Jhana (deeper meditative states)

In this episode of Wisdom Talks John Barter discusses the “The 4 Jhana” -...

Wisdom Talks 19 – The Power of Trust (Saddha)

In this episode of Wisdom Talks John Barter reflects on a teaching of the...

Wisdom Talks 18 – The 4 Stages of Enlightenment

In this episode of Wisdom Talks John Barter reflects on the ‘The 4 Stages...

Wisdom Talks 16 – The 4 Pairs of the Ways of the World

In this episode of Wisdom Talks John Barter explains how the world runs on...

Wisdom Talks 15 – The 4 Miracles

(more…)

Wisdom Talks 14 – The 4 V’s

  Are you wasting a lot of time, energy and relationships by not aligning with...

Wisdom Talks 13 – The 4 Elements

In this episode of Wisdom Talks John Barter reflects on ‘The 4 Elements’ that...

Wisdom Talks 12 – The 4 Paccaya

In this episode of Wisdom Talks John Barter reflects on the 4 Paccaya.  Translated...

Living Beyond Cancer

Coping with life after cancer can be hard. You may feel lost, alone or worried.   Harness...

Colouring In Not Just For Kids

Colouring In - It's great for managing stress. In the past six months, there’s been...

Comments from our last Urban Retreat and Weekly Meditation Group …..

On Saturday 27 June a one day workshop entitled 'Stress Less Live More Love...

Stress consumes so much of our precious Time & Energy …..

Stress consumes so much of our precious Time & Energy. If we could stress less...

Reflections on the passage and process of time passing ……

Reflections on the passage and process of time passing. And yet in reality - time...

Facebook – how does it make you feel?

With progress comes change, choice and challenge. Here the challenge is to adopt or...

Interview with John Barter – All Things Meditation

Interview transcript: Jen Ng from the University of Technology, Sydney, with Buddhist psychologist and Mindfulness...

Qi Gong at Well-Aware-Ness with Patrice Thomas Sunday 31st May

Join us in May for our monthly GENTLE EXERCISE (Qi Gong) and MEDITATION CLASS – A...

John’s Easter Message

Easter is a time of spiritual reflection, not just a holiday to eat chocolates! Easter,...

Friendship is both a life support and a support for life.

John's Message ....... FRIENDSHIP is both a life support and a support for life. To find...

John’s Message

Do you ever wonder why you’re not getting what you want? Trying to gain or...

Do you ever find yourself caught up in a mental mode or mood that feels very …… ‘ordinary’ ??????

John's thought for today - Do you ever find yourself caught up in a mental...

John-Barter-Video-Four-Brahma-Viharas
Video: Realising The Main Thing In Your Life – What Is It?

Saturday Urban Retreat on 7th March was a wonderful day of Mindfulness Meditation, sharing...

Combining Eastern Philosophy & Spiritual Traditions with Contemporary Psychology – that’s Ken Wilber

I am excited by Ken Wilber - who with great skill, combines Eastern Philosophy...

One Of My Favourite Teachings – A healthy mind is the greatest gain

A healthy mind is the greatest gain Contentment is the greatest wealth A trustworthy friend is...

Walking Meditation as a way to move around when sitting at a desk for long periods

Week 3 of the HSC - Help Stay Calm through the HSC Course covered...

Social Media and Electronic Devices the topic of discussion during Week 2 of the HSC Course

Our second week of our NEW HSC - Help Stay Calm during the HSC...

HSC – Course off to a good start

John Barter & Megan Miller co-presented at our first HSC Course this week. Students and...

Welcome to Our New Website

We've been working hard this year to develop a new website that will enable...

WELL-AWARE-NESS Rooms

Would you like to experience a peaceful, calm, therapeutic environment? Rooms available for group or...