Tag: joy

Sitting by the fire

Posted on by philipdodson

When we step away from everything and take a moment to pause, we realise just how much we miss on a day-to-day basis stuck in front of our screens, whether it’s our Mac or our smartphone, we are consumed by digital images, text and videos. We are adrift in an artificial world that is a simple extension of our own egoic mind, often seeking what we think we don’t have to be happy.

Take a moment by the lake, the sea, a river, in a park, in the garden, sit in front of the fire. Just listen, notice our breathing, notice smells, listen for sounds in the background. That background that contains the world, the real present moment world, is there always, it’s that we do not notice it.

Sitting by the fire is good for the soul, good for realising that life is a conscious moment now, that lasts forever. When we appreciate now our suffering subsides and our joy and peacefulness grows.

Gratitude jar

Posted on by philipdodson

We moved house just over 3 years ago and I decided to get a big jar to be our gratitude jar.

So we’d write on a post-it what we were feeling grateful for and then stuck it in the jar.

Naturally, there was a surge of enthusiasm for it, however, it died off and then we stopped adding to it and dust settled.

Today, I was having a sort out and decided to empty the jar and have a read through. Before I got more than 4 or 5 notes in, I was already choked and I realised just how important sharing gratitude and feeling grateful is.

Everyone is out at the moment, so I’ve stuck a selection of the notes on a piece of board and put it in the family room as a surprise for when everyone returns.

If we count what we have already and are simply grateful for that, then life is amazing and peaceful.