I can sing to myself “Don’t worry, be happy”. In spite of this wise message I do worry. And the world, media and society supply me with reasons to worry. So I worry about wars and terrorist’s attacks; about losing life, losing family, losing home and losing health. I am informed diligently about all the […]
It is a truth universally acknowledged that “negative” feelings are not welcome in our lives. We would actually do anything to get rid of them and live happily without them. Unfortunately the buggers won’t listen to us and constantly come back. We fight and resist them, we pretend they are not there, and we wrap
I had planned a short, one day trip. I was looking forward to a new place, eating out, sleeping in a hotel and lounging around. A chain of circumstances deprived me of that day off. It came to nothing. There was not a big disaster or a drama, nevertheless I felt very disappointed, even angry
It has been a beautiful summer in Norway. The nature is rich and exuberant here. The intensity and variety of green colors is breath taking. And the weather is very changeable. There are no two days similar; it may rain and blow one day and be sunny and warm the following one. The season is
Mindfulness meditation is not a religion or a religious attribute. Practicing mindfulness meditation will not make of you a slave to a sect or destroy your life. Yes, meditation is used and talked of in many religions, but reading and writing, singing or playing an instrument is used as well. There are people who distrust
There are days without excitement-the ordinary days; no inspiration, no particular meetings, no prospect of fun. The everyday routine at work and at home; the tiding up, the food-making, bit of reading and telly watching-the everyday activities, the same people, the same tasks. Nothing happens; another normal and uninteresting day. When I take a
I have heard a beautiful Chilean song -”Gracias a la Vida”. The melody and the lyrics stay with me all the time now. “Thank you”-I should say it to the life more often. Instead I ignore the richness and beauty of the life and get disappointed or dissatisfied, because the life doesn’t bring to me what
We women need to be strong and brave. We have to be strong for our children, families and employers. We need to be strong to prove that we are not weak and uninteresting females, because a woman from the very definition is somebody who is weak, sentimental and a burden to the world. So we
People come to my meditation classes with an expectation of approaching some kind of mystical space, far away from their complicated and dissatisfying lives. And I sense disappointment when I start a class with a simple body awareness exercise. We don’t go anywhere, we don’t leave the body, contrary, we get closer to it; we
A desire is not a problem; a thought is not a problem; a feeling is not a problem. They appear naturally in us. They just happen, they come and go. We choose and select those that are important or interesting and we focus on them. We build our lives on those choices. Problem appears when
