Grateful for Waking Up App by Sam Harris, whose teachings and guided meditations help me live with greater clarity, peace, and awareness. In a generous gesture, they’ve provided 50 free three-month subscriptions to our Mindfulness Exercises community.
Waking Up is one of my favorite apps, offering profound insights and practical practices that support a deeper understanding of who we truly are. Whether you’re new to mindfulness or seeking to go deeper, it’s a valuable resource for exploring presence, cultivating calm, and connecting more fully with yourself and life. I highly recommend it.
What I’m Contemplating: The Many Versions of You
I came across a powerful reflection that has stayed with me:
You are a different person to everyone you meet. To some, you’re quiet. To others, you never stop talking. Some remember you for your kindness, others for the time you walked away. You are a villain in someone’s story, a hero in another’s. And to most, you’re just a passing thought.
The truth is, you don’t exist as one person, but as countless versions of yourself, shaped by fleeting moments and personal perceptions. You will never hear your own laughter the way someone else does. You will never see the way your absence lingers in a room you once filled.
To yourself, you are just you. But to others, you are a thousand different stories, none of which you will ever get to read.
This isn’t a call for anxiety, but for humility and grace. It reminds me that my story is not the only one, and that everyone is the main character of their own complex narrative.
What I’m Looking Forward To: Upcoming Workshops & Retreats
Our team is excited to invite you to our upcoming virtual events. Everyone is welcome to join us for deep practice and community.
Meditation Retreat with Sean Fargo – Oct. 10th
Writing & Meditation Workshop – Oct. 19th
Mindfulness of Thoughts – Oct. 30th
Planning a Personal Meditation Retreat – Nov. 6th
Inner Sanctuary: A Mini Retreat for Uncertain Times – Nov. 15th
The Heart of Mindfulness: Loving-Kindness – Dec. 4th
How to Create, Market, and Run a Retreat – Dec. 17th
What I’m Practicing: Receiving Life as a Gift
My current practice is to feel life as a valuable gift I didn’t create or earn.
When I remember this, even the smallest things become precious: the clean water from the faucet, the sound of my daughter’s laughter, the way the morning light shifts across the room.
From this place, I try to open my senses and my heart more fully to what’s already here. It’s a gentle reminder that life isn’t just something to rush through or control, but something to receive, moment by moment, with gratitude and wonder.
A Poem I Love: “The Orange” by Wendy Cope
This poem perfectly captures the essence of finding profound peace in ordinary moments.
The Orange
At lunchtime I bought a huge orangeThe size of it made us all laugh.I peeled it and shared it with Robert and DaveThey got quarters and I had a half.And that orange, it made me so happy,As ordinary things often doJust lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.This is peace and contentment. It’s new.The rest of the day was quite easy.I did all the jobs on my listAnd enjoyed them and had some time over.I love you. I’m glad I exist.
— Wendy Cope
May your week be filled with moments that make you glad you exist.
