We want 
A solution
An answer
A pill
A medicine
A magical being
To make suffering end

In order 
To be 
Skinnier 
Healthier
More wealthy
Successful
Lovable 
Make life easier

If only we could wave a magic wand
Or stick to the diet
Or do the affirmations
Or follow the right guru 
Or read the right books 
Or do the exercises
Or make the bad people go away

We desire 
Quick fixes
Instant solutions 
We wanted to be better yesterday
Last year 
Ten years ago
And still we’re waiting.

Meditation 
Doesn’t make you better
It doesn’t provide 
The silver bullet
To curing life’s ills
It is not the be all and end all 
To achieving happiness

But it does take the edge off 
Allows for moments of clarity
Moments of peace 
Moments of stillness 

It is free
You don’t need any special skills
You don’t need to be any kind of person
You don’t need to believe in anything or anyone

Just pay attention
Without judgement 
And repeat.



This post originally appeared at my Vivalu Meditation site. 

If someone had told me
Just two years ago
That I would be living in 
Fort Collins, Colorado
I would have said,
Where?! 
They say home is where the heart is
And yes, my love is here,
But this pretty little town
An hour north of Denver
Population approx 150,000,
Has, in less than two months,
Become home 

I love Old Town
With its multitude of fairy lights
And hipster stores
Selling Tibetan and locally-made crafts
And burgers and pizzas and 
Yoga mats 
I love the Bean Cycle and 
Wolverine Bookstore 
With its shelves of second-hand books
And coffee aroma 

I love City Park
With its rolling green hills
And large sparkling lake
Its waters now frozen and home to 
Impromptu ice hockey games
And ice fishing
And ice skating ducks 
In the summer 
When the water is liquid 
It is filled with paddle boats 
And swimmers 
And cries of joy from the adjacent water slide 

I love cycling to rehearsal 
Down wide streets with designated cycle lanes
And along the Poudre Trail 
Following the bends and turns of the river
Through parkland and forests 
Within a ten to fifteen minutes you are out of suburbia
And into the open expanse of 
Colorado with 
Mountains on the horizon
And nothing but sweeping brown vistas
All around you 
And everywhere you go
Ducks and geese fly in V’s up above
Black dots against heart-breakingly blue sky

The sky is always blue
With an average of 
300 days of sunshine a year 
Every time I catch the silhouette 
Of dark leafless trees against that blue
I gasp

I love the extremes in temperature
One day will see you shivering at -26C/-14F
And the next day will be 12C/53F and you wondered what it was like to feel cold. 
The way the air smells fresh and crisp after snow
And when it’s warm, the scent is tinged with manure from the surrounding farms. 
The way the wind whips down the streets
The way the snow falls
The way the sun shines. 

I love that Craigslist works
We have a lovely handmade coffee table 
And a keyboard
And babysitting gigs 
I love that people interact and connect 
I’ve built more of a community in two months
Than I ever did in two years in London
Every other person brews beer
Keeps bees 
Knits
Fort Collins is full of artists and students and hipsters 
I fit right in. 

I love our farmer’s market
And driving fifteen minutes out of town
To Jodar Farms to buy eggs
And pork and chicken for Aaron
I love the taste of local kale and spinach
And those eggs
With their bright yellow yolks 
And multi-coloured shells. 

I love being here
This unexpected place 
That once, didn’t even know existed
Colorado
From the Spanish, meaning, coloured red,
For now,
My home 

The end.