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Buddhism and Me.
Watching Monty Don’s Japanese Gardens This episode concentrates mainly on Zen Buddhism and zen gardens. I awkwardly refer to myself as ‘an atheist with Buddhist leanings’ and while zen is a difficult thing to get one’s mind around, I think it’s potentially life changing. Of course mindfulness has arisen from this, which has rocketed in popularity in the west - and with good reason too. I really should actually take time to practice this, and not just when my mood takes a dip.
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Sunday up the Mountain.
Lockdown has been a pain in the arse for routine and particularly the routine of running.
Around this time last year, I went from training for Connemara marathon, to a few laps of our garden, to - basically - becoming a couch potato. With the kids and home (I have four, three of whom are autistic) opportunities to get out and about were few and far between. I went through a stage of getting up at 6am to get out for a 5 km here and there, but that’s no fun.