Lynn J Kelly provides another provocative post and this time she addresses the constant change in our lives. Some might even say “Change” is their middle name.
Hope this wisdom reminder is helpful to you today.
Taking ourselves less seriously and others more seriously has its benefits and side effects.
Lynn J Kelly offers another provocative piece on mindfulness and our relationships. Hope you find this helpful in your life role assessment.
A couple of years ago, I became deaf in one ear. It was bizarre and lasted for six weeks before improvement began. With the help of modern medicine and mindfulness I fully regained my hearing.
The procedure that led to improvement involved shots into my ear which required me not to twitch or move in any way as the needle was inserted. I did not look forward to the weekly shots, but I knew I needed to endure them in order to have any hope of my hearing returning to normal.
I share this, fortunately temporary, condition because mindfulness helped me enter the doctor’s office and accept the procedure that was coming. Through breath awareness and recalling the Five Remembrances, I was able to still my body and accept the medical procedure.
Below is a link to Lynn J Kelly’s blog where she shares what she has learned about pain management and mindfulness. I think you’ll find it interesting.
Lynn J. Kelly references Cheri Huber to explain how Mindfulness helps us during these crazy times.
May their words bring us comfort and guidance.
Lynn J Kelly shares her appreciation for mindful walking and the guidance offered by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in her blog post linked below. I have also found this practice especially helpful in times of high stress or overwhelming feelings. Moving slowly can be especially calming when your body needs to “walk off” whatever pain is being experienced in the moment.
May we walk mindfully for ourselves and for those who are not able to walk at this time.
Lynn J Kelly shares another insightful blog post on how we can be mindful throughout the day in all our postures. Check it out at the link below.
Lynn J Kelly offers another helpful blogpost on how and why we might meditate. I encourage you to check out her link below for all of her mindfulness offerings.
Here’s a quick explanation of people to avoid: the taker, the talker, the flatterer, and the reckless from Lynn J Kelly. See picture above and link below. Thank you, Lynn.
We all need refuge from overwhelming times. Some people hide behind watching TV, overeating or overdrinking, or spending time with people doing things that may hurt us in the long term.
Today, Lynn J Kelly, an Australian American practicing Buddhist, offers another option that may be of some interest to you. See her blogpost below:
Posted on October 5, 2025 by lynnjkelly
One “becomes a Buddhist” by sincerely taking refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. This is only meaningful if we have some sense of what that means. When we are afraid or unhappy, where do we go? Most of us take refuge in the ordinary comforts of our lives – music, on-line entertainment, TV, food, reading, friends or family, or some activity that we find absorbing. From the Pali canon:
They go to many a refuge,
Those who have been struck by fear;
They go to mountains and forests,
To parks and trees and shrines.
(Dhammapada 188, translated by John Kelly)
However, these refuges only offer temporary relief.
When we take refuge in the triple gem (Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha), we are saying that when things get rough, we look to:
Many of us started looking into the Buddha’s path with only a vague hope that it might help us become less confused. We naturally want to minimize suffering for ourselves and others, but how to go about that can be mysterious.
Committing to the Buddha’s path takes time. It generally requires some motivation (suffering?) and some inspiration, through reading or hearing about the Buddha’s teachings. But it’s only by taking up and trying out the Buddha’s instructions in our own lives that we develop faith – faith in the possibility of awakening, faith that the Buddha himself and many others have tasted the freedom he points to. For example, the teachings on how generosity and ethical behavior affect our mind state, if put into practice, will quickly produce results in our experience.
The thought of meditating can be a stumbling block for new practitioners. Remember that nothing special is meant to happen. We could think of it simply as a short period of unplugging from our normal inputs. We find a way to set worries aside and relax for 20 minutes or so, usually by training the attention on the breath or some other neutral object. If we accept whatever energy is in our body and mind, as it is in the present moment, we may find that it changes and is gradually replaced with a relatively steadier mind state. In this way, step by step, we learn to live fully in the present, whatever it contains.
Below are highlights from another beautiful reminder from Lynn J Kelly:
Posted on August 10, 2025 by lynnjkelly
Because of our emphasis on individualism rather than community, gratitude is easily overlooked as an important element of a satisfying life.
A life without gratitude is a joyless life. If we don’t have anything to be grateful about, our life is a dreary plane. …
Many of us have had fortunate lives, but although we have been born in fortunate places we can tend to take a lot for granted. We have privileges and benefits, and a much better life than a good portion of people in the world can ever hope to expect. There’s a lot to be grateful for … (from https://dhammatalks.net/Books3/Ajahn_Sumedho_Gratitude_to_Parents.htm)
In addition, practicing gratitude is a direct cure for self-obsession. Are we ready to give up the idea that we are the most important person in the world? If we spend some time every day appreciating others in our lives, it loosens the chains of self-importance.
Within Buddhist thinking on virtue, there are things we ought to refrain from doing, and things we ought to deliberately do. We refrain from harming other sentient beings; we support the safety and growth of other lives. This training is the basis for Buddhist ethics and cannot be skipped over. As with generosity and gratitude, understanding them is insufficient as a foundation for practice. To grow in the Dhamma, we need to continuously nourish and strengthen these skillful qualities in ourselves.
Life Matters 