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Reflections

Category: Monk in the World Guest Post Series

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Felicia Murrell

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post from the community. Read on for Abbey Wisdom Council member Felicia Murrell’s reflection on the path of love. Loving is the ability to see the Beloved in everyone around us.   —RAM DASS, Vedanta (Hindu) There are all kinds of ways of being in the world. For me, that way is Love. More succinctly, it means that I aspire to walk the path of Love in such a way that the truth of who I know myself to be is in harmony with the way I live

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Kate Kennington Steer

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kate Kennington Steer’s reflection, poem, and artwork on the elements. I am currently spending a year exploring the elements in the company of the Kinship Photography Collective.  My practice group (a special mix of people who are able to meet on zoom during the day in the U.S. and Canada so I can join with them here in the U.K.) are exploring each element by paying attention to the land-based calendar of the Celtic Wheel.  Thanks to the cultural background

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Tom Delmore

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Tom Delmore’s poems Sparse hay does not a savior make and Ascension Thursday ~ Heal Thyself. These two poems come on the heels of retirement and a shift in writing. What is God calling me to in this craft? I began to see this as words jumped onto the page that seemed part of the poem but out of place, but not wrong. “A push the envelope moment” that sent shutters of not what I think but

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Liuan Huska

I’m delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Liuan Huska’s reflection A Holy Shitshow: Being Present to Sickness and Dying. This article is adapted from a post from Liuan’s Substack newsletter: Becoming Whole.  I’m not sure how else to describe the last few months. My mom has been in and out of the hospital five times with complications from stomach cancer. Our car has been in and out of the mechanic four times, not to mention the time my husband and neighbor fixed the catalytic converter at

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Karen Southall Watts

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Karen Southall Watts’s reflection Sturdy Shoes and an Open Mind. My practice is not new or unique. In fact, I suspect that long before the Transcendentalists began tramping about the woods of New England in the 1800s, humanity was well-versed in the spiritual connection of a nature walk. I know I am not the first to discover the thick quiet of a lonely copse of trees, or the brilliant joy of a rabbit or deer bounding across your path.

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Tarja Cajudo

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Tarja Cajudo’s reflection on the spirituality of being an elder sister, an Ate. I am an Ate (pronounced Ah-teh), the eldest sister. People who speak Tagalog use “Ate” as an honorific, a title in front of the names of our older female relatives. We always use it for an older girl or woman because Tagalog is a language that values age. Sometimes “Ate” replaces the elder sister’s name entirely. The Ate of a family is named through the irreplaceable relationship

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Polly Paton-Brown

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Wisdom Council member Polly Paton-Brown’s reflection“I wanna be where my feet are.” November 6th 2024 was a misty day in the part of the UK where I live. As I walked my dogs, everything in the landscape felt muted and still. I was so aware of my many friends in the US who were waking up to a changed reality. The fear and distress of so many came rolling off the internet in waves. As I walked a

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