“Parenthood”

Aside Gabrielle Gassin2 Comments

I was awoken at 1:52am to the sound of my earbuds dying. I had fallen asleep during my meditation at 10pm and slept, for once, soundly, until that annoying little noise disturbed my slumber. At 3am my sleep is broken again, this time by the distressed cries of my toddler: “Mama! Mama!” Lurching down the […]

Goat-scapades

Aside Gabrielle Gassin4 Comments

Yesterday, a Prado rolled down the gravel driveway which was white, originally, but looked as though it had been sprayed with red dirt. It had a trailer attached, and inside were three little goats. I was putting the little boy down for his nap when I heard my older child gasp and then obnoxiously open […]

Book Recommendations

Aside Gabrielle Gassin2 Comments

I’ve been reading. And at least I’ve been reading, whilst I haven’t been writing. For this reason, I’ve decided to share the books I’ve finished, because I only finish them when they’re worth my time. I can pick up a book and drop it (either instantly or within the week) because I know it’s not […]

On life:a reflective reflection

Gabrielle Gassin1 Comment

Sleep quietens the hive of action from the outside world. Once slept on, if the mind settles deeply enough to allow it, a problem is no longer seated at the height of unease and uncertainty, but seems more approachable and solvable. Such is the glory of a full night of rest. It is simply that – glorious, for brain and body to stop. Because at this moment in history, us young people are overwhelmed with doing life, working hard trying to look like we’re not struggling, not even a little bit, in fact not at all.

It is not now, as it always was. Of course, such is the passage of time; expectation and understanding of change is compulsory. Now, no longer is it suitable to simply find a girl, settle down, if you want you can marry. You can do these things, yes, but it doesn’t either abruptly or even slowly finish at that.

You have to grow, in any way possible.

Grow your body in the right way. Look after it and continue to learn how to nourish it, and then teach others how to fix their own, which they have probably lost control of themselves.

Pass on information in the hope for the altruistic success of those also on the path. Don’t hold one single job – do many things, most of the time and perpetuate learning and growth by learning and growing. Find things out, and lodge them somewhere accessible in the recesses of your grey matter. Share them too, because the wealth of one is the wealth of all.

Develop personally. Receive information, layer it onto your person and embody its code to keep improving yourself. Grow. Be better and strive for more, and don’t stop there – teach others the way how-to and what-with because what good is a life alone?

Keep your temper at bay. Practice methods to calm it, for uncontrolled rage is the enemy of mediation. Practice accepting your flaws but continue to try and outwit them. Learn some more. Keep your hair untangled, your skin unblemished and your attitude clean. Be outspoken – stand firm on your values and do not be stamped upon by compliance if all things are not aligned for you. Save your money, but not too much because you have to live now, now, now.

Take time to yourself, for looking after yourself improves your ability to look after others. Don’t overdo it though, because others must come before the self now and always, all the time, for ever and that’s why self care is necessary at all.

In your everyday be careful to be carefree, but not careless. You have to care some, yes, but with only exactly the right amount. Too much will be seen as obsessive and not enough classed as selfish or ignorant. It is a challenge to balance it all but what would life be if it wasn’t the top balancing act of a show played out by absolute amateurs?

Looking For Something

Gabrielle Gassin2 Comments

It’s becoming clear to me as I travel through life that a sense of satisfaction is transient for many of us. Framed in myriad ways by thousands who have come before, is the concept that we are all on a similar expedition; we are all Looking For Something.

Sometimes the desire to satisfy this at times, seemingly unquenchable thirst is entirely what drives a person: to set and complete daily habits, to work every day towards Goals. But what if you, the hunter, are in the forest with all the right gear…but you don’t know what your target is? There’s a recurrent feeling pervading our thirtysomething-year-old psyche: this notion that we are standing blindfolded, bodies clothed yes, but our fumbling hands are anxious, feeling around for something stable to calm a mind that is naked of fulfilment.

The search for meaning is perpetual; for when one thing fills us up and even spills over the edge of the cup, contentment is rife and satisfaction abundant. But slowly, it seems as if the cup has a sad little leak. With it, the bounty of meaningful joy seeps out, the question begins to niggle and eventually the voyage begins again. But hope isn’t lost, for the desire to go Looking For Something with Purpose will bring Purpose to the seeker, and hopefully too, those who follow in her wake.

Bare feet | a prompt

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Barefoot bliss is a state of being experienced only by some of our kind. As we all know, us humans walked the earth barefoot for millennia and were content to do so, before the invention of shoes. Nowadays, shoes play an absolutely pivotal role in several areas of society. Not only is footwear there to provide the feet with a barrier of safety from the nastiness of city pavement, it also enforces stereotypes of class, providing yet another system of segregating those who are essentially born equal.

Removing shoes from a scenario altogether conveys one of two messages: either your shoe-clothing is embarrassingly out of shape for the environment you’re entering, or you are rediscovering a lost connection with Mother Earth. The latter, when being observed by a shoed onlooker, would be accompanied by an assessment of clothing, hair and jewelry as to judge whether the “hippy” archetype fits the build. Generally this image is accepted.

Age is also a strong determinant of characterising a shoe-less person. The younger the culprit is, the more accepting we seem to be. Many parents encourage children to go without shoes: perhaps attempting to keep aflame that primitive desire we have as humans not to shod our feet in man-made materials like plastic and rubber. Children are closer to what we innately are; the biases and rules of culture are yet to infiltrate untainted minds – so this might feasibly explain such behaviour.

If one is exposed to a grown person, in public, wearing daily attire but without shoes, a silent and scathing critique would at first ensue, followed by a realisation that this person might actually be in grave danger – perhaps he or she removed their shoes to flee. No offer of help would follow this inaudible verdict, however, despite the self-made justification. Why else would a person be barefoot in public?

What a strange and interesting thing we have created by designing and producing covering for our feet.

Birds (in your head and on your screen) | a prompt

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If you’re in the realm of disposable income that allows you to spend in excess of three hundred dollars on a little piece of technology to assist in your meditation practice, you’d want to hear the birds that sing when you hit the bliss brain wave.

The ‘Muse‘ headset application plays the lovely sound of gentle, chirping birds, when your brain remains in a state of calm for long periods of time. It’s quite nice to use, really, and one feels a sense of real achievement when there are multiple birds listed on the review and tracking screen.

But this isn’t a sales pitch. The question potentially more fitting for those serious meditators – is this the sort of device that would be used by a Tibetan Monk? Trust our generation of humans to take an age old practice and modernise it by convincing people they should wear a special little headband to meditate, and then check over a fun little series of graphs and charts to see what progress was made. Our consumerism-driven society is alive and well in 2021, that’s for sure.

I’m informed that evidently, the name of this little game is ‘bio feedback’. For correcting and practicing the art of meditation, receive real-time feedback about how your brain is dancing whilst you sit still and breathe. Well, why not, I suppose. If you do have the sort of aforementioned cash to throw around on this little treasure, you’ve probably also got a lot of noise in your brain that a bit of assistance and good natured nudging could help to dislodge. Good natured, because you can choose either the beach or the rainforest to listen to during your practice. The thing monitors when your brain goes haywire: (did I lock the front door? Is that the baby crying? Is there enough bread for breakfast?) and plays increasingly stormy weather in order to jolt you back into the ether. Once you’re calm for an extended period, the birds start – and then theres no going back.

A luxurious purchase, for sure. Excessive, some might even say. But worth it? That’s for you to decide. Meanwhile, I’m going to borrow my husband’s to see what all the fuss is about.