2023

Guided Meditation. Subtle Experiences of Happiness

Adapted and Edited from a recording. A Guided Meditation on the Subtle Experiences of Happiness. 1 October 2023. The Wise Lotus Centre, Letchworth Garden City, Herts, UK.

First the posture itself please remember the sitting posture, an opportunity to develop calm and clarity.

You can practice on the bus as you go to work, the train, in your car and in the coffee shop. You can develop mindfulness sitting at the kitchen table, at the desk in the office and on the bench in the park.

Every time there’s a sitting posture, there’s an opportunity, maybe for a minute or two, to be mindful, silent and meditative.

Read a sentence or paragraph slowly. Wait around a minute and then read the next sentence or paragraph.

Right now, Sit tall allowing the whole being to rest. Feel close to the body – the body of vibrations, sensations, know parts of the body as warm, cool or cold.

Photo: I took the picture in the desert on one of my many visits to Palestine.

Experience the pulse of life, changing vibrations, sensations, tingling, throbbing going on in the body.

Feel the expanse of the cells.

Your trust in presence will bring you closer to happiness.

You will experience the body rather than being in the spell of the body image.

There is quiet vitality of the experience of the cells resting in the silence, in stillness with only the sounds of my voice and the sound of traffic passing through the silence.

There is exposure to a quiet form of happiness knowing the sweetness of the whole body.

Allow the whole body to settle down,  so you know a sense of wellbeing, of balance and steadiness.

Find ways to explore and remember the postures in the daily life for application.

Instead of human doing, doing doing or human running after, you experience human being – just being in contact with the immediacy.

With closed eyes, experience the light under your eyelids.

If you eyes are open witness the diversity of colour. Stay receptive to colour and the movement of sound, so you know a quiet happiness.

Be mindful of the warmth of this morning. Be mindful of being in the company of people engaged in meditation practice.

Happiness comes from knowing human life can look at itself and life can change itself.

Happiness contributes to insights and understanding for the welfare of others, friends, family, neighbours, colleagues and more.

Expand your awareness to everyone and everything around you.

Sense an immeasurable expansion of existence. This expansion will give you a proper perspective on your story and your daily life issues.

A proper perspective frees up happiness.

Be available to the presence of life with the happiness that can emerge from the capacity to see clearly.

Authentic happiness comes from ethics, presence, mindfulness, meditation, reflection, calm, insights and emergence from your inner depth and the depth of others.

Guided Meditation. Subtle Experiences of Happiness Read More »

The Buddha’s Guide to Happiness. An adapted talk.

Sunday 1 October 2023, Wise Lotus Centre, Herts, UK
An edited and adapted talk during a daylong non-residential retreat.

We have a theme for the day. The Buddha’s Guide to Happiness.

The Buddha’s Guide to Happiness. An adapted talk. Read More »

50 Quirky Text Messages from a Grandfather to his Granddaughter living in the Loft in Totnes, Devon, England.

50 Quirky Text Messages from a Grandfather to his Granddaughter living in the Loft in Totnes, Devon, England. Read More »

How to have a nutritious and healthy daily diet? Eat Food. Dump Industrial Food

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Buddha’s Guide to Happiness. Day Retreat. Sunday 1 October 2023. Letchworth, Herts, UK

It only takes 26 minutes on the train from Kings Cross station, London to Letchworth Garden City. Then a five minute walk to the centre. 10 am to 3pm

We find it all too easy to dwell addictively on the problems of daily life – personal, social and global. These problems can really get us feeling low.

Our mind becomes so busy with daily life. bored or lonely that we forget all about our potential to experience happiness.

Then we sincerely believe that first I have to resolve all my stress, worries and anxieties and after that I can be happy. That’s a myth, a personal and social myth.

Between 10 am and 3 pm, we will explore happiness through guided meditations, reflections, sharing, small groups and short talks on the theme.

We will see there are numerous kinds of happiness.

Time to time I will draw from the teachings of Buddha

The Buddha offered much wise advice about knowing happiness.

Dukkha (Pali, word for suffering in the language of the Buddha) does not have the inherent power to stop sukkha (happiness) breaking through.

Upliftment of the human spirit reveals the power of transcendence.

We will explore the joys that keep our spirit alive.

We will reflect on examples in our life of the experience of upliftment in the face of apparent adversity.

The development of happiness and its nourishment contributes to putting our dukkha into a proper perspective making it easier to transform.

Do join. It is my wish that you leave the Wise Lotus Centre at 3 pm knowing that you are never far way from happiness and joy.

Registration payment goes directly to support the monthly running costs of the Centre.

Here is the registration link to join our Guide to Happiness.

https://www.thewiselotus.com/service-page/the-buddha-s-guide-to-happiness?category=a320482e-1766-4b55-85f2-2d4abd101e11&referral=service_list_widget

A former Buddhist monk, Christopher Titmuss, a senior Dharma teacher in the West, offers retreats, leads Zoom meetings and supports social/global change. His teachings focus on ethics, insight meditation (vipassana), the expansive heart and inquiry into emptiness/liberation. Poet, photographer, blogger and social critic, he is the author of 22 books. He is the founder of the Mindfulness Teacher Training Course. Christopher lives in Totnes, Devon, England. www.christophertitmuss.net

Buddha’s Guide to Happiness. Day Retreat. Sunday 1 October 2023. Letchworth, Herts, UK Read More »

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