Thoughts From Annie

Dear Friends, I hope that you are enjoying this beautiful and mild fall as much as I have been. Last weekend, my dear younger sister came to visit with her husband and her four small children. It was a lovely visit, although one day was dreary and rainy, so I had the bright idea to…

Dear Friends, I am sitting in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains looking out into the trees and watching the setting sun. It’s so incredibly quiet here. I’m sure you’ve felt this before, this sense of restoration that can happen in nature, and especially when we rest in nature. When I spend even one…

Dear Friends, When my kids were young, I loved September. The weather would start cooling off, school supplies would be purchased, and it felt like time to start over with a clean slate. This year, however, September feels different. This year, we have two graduating daughters leaving home for college and gap experiences, and one…

Dear Friends, I just returned from a week at Plum Village in southern France, where my main teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh (known as “Thay” or teacher), lives and teaches. Plum Village offers retreats for people, like me, who want to stay in a mindfulness community, listen to Thay talk, and practice eating, walking, working, and…

Dear Friends, I hope that you are enjoying the slow pace of summer and the longer days… I really love when it stays light until 9pm, so I have more time to be outside with friends and family. This month I heard a talk by the former FDA commissioner, David Kessler. He was speaking about…

Dear Friends, Many of you know that I recently returned from a silent retreat in the beautiful mountains of Marin County, California. The center where I sat this retreat, Spirit Rock, is absolutely beautiful, both the facilities and the natural surroundings. It is operated by the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) founded in part by Jack…

Dear Friends, I really love May. When I grew up in Michigan, May was really the first month of spring. And in Washington, May is a beautiful month. It’s not too hot, not too cold, usually not too rainy, usually not too dry — like the momma bear’s oatmeal, it’s just right. In May, we…

Happy spring to all of you. I hope that you are having a chance to enjoy the beautiful warm sunny weather. I certainly am. This morning, during my sitting meditation, I had an interesting train of thoughts. The first thought was that my husband was away on business… this led to the thought about what…

Dear Friends, Recently I have been paying more attention to my belly. Not just doing plank pose to try to firm it up, but also practicing softening it. It may seem like a radical idea to think about softening our bellies, especially in the era of six-pack abs, but I don’t think it’s contradictory to…

Dear Friends, This past week I participated in Commitment to Practice with my meditation group. We met last Sunday, guided by our teacher, Mitchell Ratner, to meditate, journal, and share about how we wanted to commit to our mindfulness practices during the upcoming week. We came up with general ideas, and then more concrete suggestions…