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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please mark your diaries with these dates .... Sunday 10th February Sunday 31st March ...

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

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 We often focus our time energy and attention on getting, gaining, having,...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NO ONE AND EVERYONE  Dear Friends, its indeed wonderful to connect and share with people...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 from self-concern. Let Loose and Let Go of mental identification...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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  Of all the varieties of practices and...

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

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

We all seek to be Happy, Healthy and Safe. We all fear the loss of...

Different but the Same How can this be? The idea of something being different but still...

MIND MAKING – CITTA BHAVANA Decide each day, How you would like to see, be and...

PEACE MEAL Peace is the feeling resulting from Freedom Freedom results from Letting – Go Letting –...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘PUJA’ is a lovely sounding word in the Pali language of traditional Buddhism. Puja means...

Dear Friends Trusting this message finds you well and mindfully engaged into this New Year. Certainly...

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

Dear Friends As we close the doors on the North Sydney Practice of WELL-AWARE-NESS tomorrow,...

Dear Friends Welcome to NOW where it all appears to be happening. All that has...

The management of stress becomes important and imperative for health, happiness and well-being. A very...

A healthy mind is the greatest gain. Contentment is the greatest wealth. Trustworthiness is the best...

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

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

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

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

(more…)

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

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

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

So we have all heard about or even experienced FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)...

Thank you to all of you who were able to come to  our Urban Retreat...

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

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

If we were to see all people - all beings - as expressions of...

Master Class Course Have you attended a number of workshops and been meditating for some...

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

When life pushes us over, we have the chance and choice to pause and...

Life is not simply about getting what we want, but knowing how to experience and...

John has received many messages from friends sharing their experiences during times of sickness,...

    Dear Friends Thank you so much for your messages of best wishes and regards. So much...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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