This Writing Life

Arriving at the entry gates to Arches National Park in the Utah mid-east one gets a sense of grandeur even before its true nature reveals itself. The entrance is kind of akin to entering the Batcave, as the park sports a grand but concealing entry. But even still, I had arrived a little already overawed, having spent time over the past month in some extraordinary national parks: Sequoia, Yosemite, Olympic and only days prior, the other worldly and wondrous wilderness of Yellowstone National Park. And so a part of me was expecting to be slightly numb to, or perhaps fatigued by, the specialness of Arches. Nevertheless, I was still enthusiastic, as I often am when embarking on my own personal undiscovered frontiers. Where this enthusiasm derives its energy is somewhat elusive to me, but I am delightedly grateful for it. Arches is home to thousands of natural red-hued sandstone arches and many other formations that hover about governing this desert landscape. As I meandered my way through ...

Mantras have been around for thousands of years and are thought to have originated in the ancient Indian Sanskrit Vedas, the spiritual texts of Hinduism. Mantras were incantations believed to have magical, religious or spiritual powers to influence the gods. They underwent a revival and popularisation in Western culture during the human potential movement that gained momentum post-World War II. Many of us use mantras today, both spiritually and cognitively. I once heard the definition of mantras explained as ‘mind-mapping’. This resonates with me, for this is what they do for me: they guide me to places in my mind that I have an inkling that I wish to go, important places, places of greater wellbeing, for which at the time the pathway can be just out of reach. It’s an adjustment of perspective and experience, away from my monkey mind (no offence intended monkeys who might be reading this). They lead me back to my core self, the divine within. Mantras are particularly useful when I’m l...