Author Archives: John Barter
Upcoming Mindfulness Meditation Events
Dear Friends,
We have been blessed with much rain over the last couple of weeks of our New Year 2020, particularly in areas that have been scorched by the recent bush fires. The rain has also helped renew life to flora and fauna that suffered due to the drought conditions.
However the great deluge of rain here on the Tweed Coast caused the cancellation of our Half Day Meditation Retreat on Sunday the 9th of February. Given that many roads in...
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THE MINDFUL MOMENT
Dear Friends
Life does have its gain and loss; its pleasure and pain; its satisfaction and sorrow; its blessings and its blights.
Yet the real sadness is when we miss our Life by not being present for it. We can appreciate that Life is but a collection of ongoing present moments, which are not always pleasant and pleasing, wonderful or exciting. Most of the flowing moments of our Life are quite ordinary; yet they are our Life!
What makes our Life or...
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ALL HAPPENING!
Dear Friends
Have you ever noticed that ‘it’s all happening!’
Whether we like it or want it, whatever is happening – is just happening.
We live Life, which is this ongoing process of being, existing, happening.
The more attentive and mindful we are to the process of the happening which is both our life and our self, we have more options and opportunities to be involved in the designing and development of this happening; for Calm, for Clarity, for Insight, for Freedom!
My verse...
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ITS NOT ABOUT
Dear Friends
As we move into our New Year – there can be great inspiration, aspiration and intention, to get, make and maintain many great and good things. Whilst this is wonderful it can lead to disappointment and maybe even miss the point. Might we start with the intention and practice of simply being Mindful to what is happing in us and around us – with basic ‘Bare Attention’ to what IS as it is?
This is a great place to...
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MINDFULLY MAKING THE MINDFUL MEAL
Dear Friends
Welcome to our life’s New Year of 2020.
The fact that we have arrived into the New Year means that the last year has gone; that period of time is no longer; like a meal that has been taken, eaten, consumed and is now finished!
So too, this New Year will also be consumed and in time be no more.
However, what becomes important is not that a year, a month, a week, a day, hour – minute – moment is...
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SLOW DOWN TO QUICKEN
Dear Friends
Well-done; we have reached the end of the year and now just a few days before the New Year begins.
This can be an important time to relax and retreat so that we might revive and energise as the New Year begins. We can use this time to Slow Down, develop Inner Calm, see things more clearly through Insight and know Real Peace.
My verse below points to this possibility as Mindfulness practice.
Have a wonderful Year End and New Year...
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FOR THE TIME BEING
Dear Friends – we often and so easily take words and expressions for granted.
Sometimes a little look at what the words mean, even seeing or sourcing a meaning behind the words can be both an interesting and worthwhile pursuit.
Enjoy my reflections in the verse below.
Regards
John B.
FOR THE TIME BEING
This time, that time;
Some time, at times;
We may have, might have;
Should have, could have;
Used the term, the phrase, the expression;
That eloquently says or states;
‘For the time being!’
Yet, have we ever stopped,...
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Summertime Newsletter 2019
Dear Friends,
Welcome to Summer, a wonderful season that connects the end of our year with the New Year 2020. Summer can bring about a mood of relaxation and recreation especially as the year ends with a period of holiday and festivities over Christmas and New Years Day. Whilst the ending of the year can be a busy time, we need to remind ourselves to slowly ‘wind-down’ and not get ‘wound-up!’
The best way to ‘wind-down’ and not get ‘wound-up’ is...
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NO-SENSE OR NONSENSE
Dear Friends
We seek to find and make meaning even where or when no meaning is implied or is to be applied!
A sentence, statement or a something, may appear as a paradox but may not be a contradiction.
Sometimes the Buddha’s Wisdom Teachings might appear to us like this. However, such Teachings simply may be pointing to the way beyond words; to that domain of mind free from concepts, conceiving and the creation of the conceit of the self!
The ‘Bare Attention’...
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OF WRACK AND RUIN
Dear Friends
As the wisdom of the Buddha points out, we often mistake the Unreal for the Real and see the Real as the Unreal. We can also mistake the Untrue for the Truth and see the Truth as Untrue!
Why is this so?
Maybe because in our lack of Mindful Awareness, we are distracted; our minds clarity is distorted and our mental capacity is diminished!
It can be no wonder then that we become distressed and upset and fall into suffering...
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