The Department of Meditation offers you the ageless wisdom and inimitable wit of our very own meditation guru, Constance Wilkinson, psychotherapist and card-carrying Buddhist.

Department of Meditation

by Constance Wilkinson, LMHC, MFA

Unconditional Engagement

Reader Jackie asks the Department of Meditation for advice: "I live in a small house with a busy family. At times I find it hard to meditate."

Dear Reader Jackie:

Many (if not most) people find it hard to meditate.

Many people find it hard to meditate at all, and most (if not all) meditators certainly find it hard at times. This is so regardless of specific conditions – whether living in a small house or a large one, with family or without family, with a busy family or an un-busy family or a proud couch-potato family; whether meditating in the whirlwind West or the mysterious East, whether home alone or practicing in a group, whether healthy or flu-ish, in a good mood or a horrid one.

But there certainly are conditions conducive to meditation, especially for people just beginning to develop this habit, and especially when doing more formal sitting meditation, as we've been discussing here.

Arguably, one can develop mindfulness in all circumstances, save for general anesthesia or the unexpected swoon, but sitting meditation requires some, well, actual sitting. Doing sitting meditation while next to a shrieking fire alarm is certainly do-able, but would really be missing the point.

So finding a relatively quiet place seems like a good notion. It need not be perfect; indeed, if it were perfect, one might become suspicious! But quiet enough, or quiet-ish, will do.

Reader Jackie has a busy family, no doubt making demands, as families (in my experience) tend to do. One strategy to overcome this obstacle might be: wait until they're asleep or away. If you go to bed five minutes later than everyone else, you'll create a five-minute PM meditation window. If you get up five minutes earlier than everyone else, you've made a five-minute AM meditation slot.

Continued

Morning Meditation, Photograph by Katie O'Sullivan

Winter Solstice

by Joan B. Flynn

It is in these days of longest dark
we plant the spark and go within
to nurture spirit, faith and flame.
We put a name to long desired dreams

and so it seems the hours crawl
yet through it all we have each
other – women, strong. We get
along and through, beside each
other, daughter, mother, friend.

And in the end when sun stays
longer in the sky than stars and moon
we reemerge from the cocoon that
has protected us and wrapped us warm.

The flame that started as the spark
that kindled slowly through the dark
burns bright – a shining beacon forward
backlight to our drumming, dancing.

So our sisterhood, advancing
gives us succor, paves the way
for each new journey up ahead.
It's said this time of introspection
heals and deepens every soul.

And so our role in next New Year
is reaching out and holding dear
each precious moment bright and clear.

If you would like us to consider your poetry for publication please email the Publisher.

A Message from Spirit

Channeled by Lynne Delaney

Hope brings Eternal Light

Hope is a pathway to Infinite Spirit and opens your heart up to Divine Guidance. It is an essential part of your soul's composition. Without it, there would be no light in times of uncertainty or despair.

Thus, you may fall into the abyss of darkness, depression and hopelessness. All of these negative forces only block your ability to see the Light of Infinite Spirit and the support that is there for you.

Hope is an elevated form of faith and trust together. When you have faith and trust with a strong desire for good and for positive outcomes, you have Hope on wings.

When you have no hope, open up your mind, body and spirit and let out all of your blocks in the form of fear, anger, resentment and rage. Just let it out and let it go.

This emotional outburst will open up your being to the glimmer of hope that is always there beside you.

Continued

The Center for Change
Constance Wilkinson, LMHC, MFA

mindfulness-based,
solution-focused psychotherapy
expressive arts
EMDR
clinical hypnosis

Brewster, MA
508-648-8105
triptych2@gmail.com

Cancer Q & A

with Kathy Kanavos

Ask Me Anything!

Kathy O'Keefe Kanavos addresses your concerns about Cancer

Continued

Kathleen O'Keefe-Kanavos was interviewed on the
Dr. Bernie Siegel Show
at Healthy Life.Net Radio

on January 3rd, 2012

Follow either of these links to listen to her interview about Healing Dreams:

HealthyLife.Net with
Bernie Seigel, MD

Direct Link to Kathy's Interview