This content shows Simple View
A Wellbeing Centre for the 21st Century is up and running on the high street In Letchworth Garden City (population 48,000) in Hertfordshire, UK. On the opposite side of the road to the Centres, you will see a lovely park. Letchworth is a beautiful garden city. Continue reading
The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot (1888 – 1965). Regarded as perhaps the finest poem in the English language in the 20th century, the poet won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Born in the USA, he lived in Britain from the age of 25 until his death in London aged 76. Continue reading
Ludovic (Fontaine) in Paris kindly invited me to contribute to his series of interviews called NeverMind. We had a recorded Zoom meeting. He asked me a range of questions on mindfulness, samatha-vipasana (calm and insight meditations), emptiness and other themes. Continue reading
While giving a teaching in Germany, I saw a flask besides one of the meditators. I turned to the person to ask what the words say on the front of flask.
The words said OM FUCKING SHANTI. Continue reading
The teacher/parent functions as the agent for the teaching. The love and passion of the teacher on a subject communicates to children and young adults.
Teachers/parents need to be adventurous and creative in each class or at home to awaken interest, curiosity and love for literature whether a picture book, a book with graphics, a textbook, novel, essay, poem, verse, fiction or non-fiction.
A love of books, old and new, and a love of fine reading, can remain a lifelong passion telling us much about ourselves and life, itself.
Twelve Suggestions for Children on Mindfulness of Books, Mindfulness of Reading
1. Invite the youngster to hold the book and look at it, feel its weight. Ask the child questions about the feel of the book
2. If possible, take the children to explore the wonder of the local public library
3. Share your love of reading
4. Show the children lots of different books, old and new
5. Ask a child to read aloud a page, then ask another child to read a page or a few lines for each child
6. Ask the children to draw a picture of something that stands out in the book or write or share in a few words about the reading.
7. What is the feeling tone if the words are read out quickly.
8. What is the feeling tone if the words are read out slowly?
9. What truth is a story telling us.
10. Can the children develop together a story that could become a book?
11. Why do we often like to go back to a book we have already read.
12. Lots of people like reading in bed. Why is that?