I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Laurie vandenHurk’s reflection Mindfulness of everyday life – caring for children. Quote: Thich Nhat Hanh, “If you touch one thing with deep awareness you touch everything.” (1.) “Look out,” said the sign, so Jasper stopped to look out at the view. I stopped too. As I waited for Jasper, I felt a call to wake up and look out, to come out of my interior funk/fog and be present, mindful and fully embodied in the moment. Last

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Janeen Adil’s reflection and poem on home. Home. In any language, it’s among the most evocative of words. My own memories and associations of home are deeply positive; for others, alas, they are breathtakingly sad. In either case, the word has a universal pull. I see that tug at the heartstrings, for what home was or could be or should be, as leading us all into a contemplation of our yearnings. While home will naturally look different

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Mary Camille Thomas’s reflection “Beholding God’s Sanctuary.” My Grandma Sammie knew many psalms by heart and could quote them chapter and verse. Maybe she’s the one who inspired me one day almost twenty years ago to learn Psalm 63, or maybe I was drawn to the exquisite yearning in its opening: O God, you are my God. I seek you, I thirst for you, my flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where no

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 and Centering Prayer leader Therese Taylor-Stinson’s reflection Silence and the Oppressed. This article was originally published on NextChurch.net and is reprinted with permission from the author. People of color have engaged in contemplation since the beginning of time, though the term used in a broad sense for spiritual practice is relatively new. The Desert Ammas and Abbas were people of color from the Middle East who fled to the deserts to escape the empire