Reflections

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Laurel Ralston’s reflection on swimming as contemplative practice. It wasn’t my idea to go swimming first thing in the morning. I was in the middle of my evening routine, such as it is, minding my own business, when the thought occurred to me, silent yet surprisingly loud: You should go to The Pond tomorrow. Find your bathing suit. You should go to The Pond tomorrow. I grew up in a house about ten minutes’ walk from a small but magical

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Amy Oden’s reflection “Christian Mindfulness Practice.” It started with the hunger I heard around me for more authentic, rooted, present lives. Seminary students and church folks, directees and retreat participants, all longing to be present in their actual lives instead of rushing from one thing to the next. They were hungry for lives less curated and edited and more authentic and real. I began to trace two thousand years of Christian mindfulness practice as a doorway into