Five Benefits of Daily Mindfulness Meditation

One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.

—Leonardo da Vinci

Mindfulness meditation is a simple and effective way to develop positive qualities such as increased awareness, focus, emotional resilience, creativity, and empathy. Research in the past decade has confirmed that regular mindfulness meditation for a few minutes every day causes significant benefits and improvement in the quality of life.

The five most important benefits of daily mindfulness practice are:

1. Increased awareness and equanimity

A few minutes of practice every day gives you the opportunity to review events in the recent past. This helps you to correct any mistakes you may have done and to avoid such mistakes in future. Thus, daily mindfulness practice gradually and progressively improves the quality of your thoughts, words, and actions.

2. Interdependence of mindfulness and daily life

During daily mindfulness practice, you start to realize how your recent thoughts, words, and deeds affect your

The Impact of Mindfulness

From meditation, wisdom arises;
Without meditation, wisdom wanes.
Knowing this twofold path of gain and loss,
Let one conduct oneself so that wisdom increases.
—The Buddha (Dhammapada 282)

Numerous research studies in the past ten years, especially in the field of neuroscience, have confirmed the positive impact of mindfulness. Many of these research findings are based on advances in brain imaging, such as functional MRI (fMRI), which is used to monitor brain activity during meditation.

One of the most exciting discoveries in neuroscience is that of neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to physically reorganize itself by developing new neural connections, even in the elderly. This means that actual physical changes in brain structure may underlie some of the benefits of mindfulness meditation. According to Richard Davidson, Director at the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, University of Winconsin-Madison, “The brain is an organ which is designed to change in response to experience and training.”

Missing Plane…Ode to Malaysia

Malaysia must remain resolute in searching for this missing plane. She must find it and the occupants.

All over the world, loving thoughts of citizens of other nations are with the people of Malaysia and Asia in this search.

Look for this plane Malaysia, find it and the occupants, passengers and crew, whether dead or alive.

As you do so, be assured that other nations of the world and their citizens are with you in this difficult time.

You must understand that tough times don’t last, but tough people do. Malaysia, please find this plane. This is an exhortation, not a command.

So Malaysia, you must show the world with the search for this missing plane that you are a country of tough citizens who never give up.

In spirit and brotherly love, Nigerians are with the families of Malaysians and citizens of other countries whose loved ones were on board this missing plane.

All is well

‘Just the Writer’: Five Things NEVER To Say to a Writer

Having been in the publishing industry for more than ten years, I’ve come across and worked with many people. Some have said things to me that I could never in a thousand years come up with in fiction. A common one, though, is that I am ‘just the writer’. I’ve learnt to laugh when people say this. However, if you are someone who doesn’t want to join the legions of terrible clients that writers have to work with (and sometimes work for), here are five things you should never say or do to a writer.

1. Don’t treat writers as though they’re dumb

“Are you OK?” I asked the man seated across from me. We had agreed to meet for coffee. He looked preoccupied and I was concerned for his welfare.
He took a deep breath and said, “I’m OK now. I’ve come back to my equibilirium.”
I struggled to keep a

The Corporate Dilemma

The dictionary defines a corporation as “an association of individuals, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members. Inherent in this definition is the clear suggestion that a corporation is a self-sustaining entity with all but “sacred” powers that are greater than the powers of the individuals who may govern or operate its functions. This, of course, places people in a very secondary position if not further down the scale of importance. Of late, the term oftentimes coined of the larger, conglomerate corporations with many smaller businesses associated with it is “too big to fail.” When they are troubled by certain kinds of issues that threaten their existence, the Federal Government can throw money at them as a bailout measure to insure that they continue to function. Of course this

Five Terrific Free Tools for Online Writers

If you are a freelance writer or blogger, here are five great online tools. Each of them will help you to make your writing process easier and more effective. Best of all, all of them are available at no cost whatsoever (though some of them have paid versions).

1. Ginger Grammar Checker

If you are not sure of your proof-checking and editing skills, here’s a tool you will love.

Ginger is a spelling and grammar checker that corrects typos, grammar and spelling mistakes. The Ginger Grammar Checker suggestions are superior to standard spell checkers because it helps you to differentiate between phonetically identical words.

Ginger’s free version gives users free access up to a certain weekly limit. Once the weekly limit is reached, Ginger still displays corrections for misspelled words but you have to manually enter the corrected word. On the following Monday, the weekly capacity is reloaded and you can enjoy Ginger’s corrections

How to Zerofy Your Email Inbox in Five Steps

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” ~ Carl Bard

How many messages do you have in your email inbox right now?

If you have more than 100, that’s not too bad.
If you have more than 1000, you have a problem.
If you have more than 10,000, you are in serious trouble!

In reality, it doesn’t matter if there are fewer than 100 emails nestling in your inbox. If they are on your mind, like the hidden roaches in your kitchen, you have a problem. It’s like Merlin Mann says, “It’s not how many messages are in your inbox–it’s how much of your own brain is in that inbox. Especially when you don’t want it to be.”

Confession: I have precisely 3437 messages in my inbox. And I’m sick of them. It’s little consolation that I’m

I Can’t Imagine

It wasn’t that long ago when I held his small little body in my arms.
His innocence and dependence on us to care for him was an overwhelming experience.
Suckling at his mother’s breast while gazing deeply into her eyes
Created a bond that brought tears into mine.
Watching him grow with all of his childhood objections to being watched and protected
In his search for independence and freedom,
Ignorant of the ways of the world and the threats that could take him from us
Gave way to the beautiful free spirit that was his.
His search for freedom and adventure began providing him the necessary experience of
Caring for himself and the need to take reasonable risks in his play
Instead of the wanton abandon he had portrayed earlier in his development.
As time wore on, as it should be, he began to move away from us

In addition, we

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