Mindful Living Archives - Dandelion Doorways

Sunday Softening: The Quiet Art of Noticing

There is a quiet joy in spending time outdoors with nowhere in particular to be. When I slow down enough, I begin to notice the gentle things that are so easily overlooked—the way a breeze lifts the delicate tendrils rising from a cushion of moss, carrying tiny spores out into the world. A bee disappears…

What Endures: What Sam Neill Helped Me Remember

I thought I was mourning an actor. Instead, I found myself remembering the child who believed dinosaurs could inspire a lifetime of questions. The passing of Sam Neill hit me harder than I expected. I’ve mourned musicians before. There’s something uniquely heartbreaking about realizing you’ll never hear a new song in their voice again. But…

Sunday Softening: Unwinding The Day

As the weekend comes to a close, many of us begin carrying tomorrow before today has even ended. We replay conversations, make mental to-do lists, and hold onto the responsibility of the day long after they passed. This week’s Sunday Softening is an invitation to set those things down, even only for a little while,…

Why I Stopped Chasing Perfect Meditation

For years, I thought a good meditation meant a quiet mind, a perfectly straight posture, and leaving the cushion feeling peaceful. Some days all three happened. Most days they didn’t. My meditation practice began decades ago. I learned to meditate through reading books such as Thich Nhat Hanh’s “The Miracle of Mindfulness.” This wasn’t the…

You Don’t Need A Quiet Mind To Meditate

“I can’t meditate because I can’t stop my thoughts.” I hear this often. In fact, someone said it to me yesterday. During a conversation at a going-away party, someone told me she wished she could meditate more. “I just can’t do it,” she said. “I can’t get the thoughts to quiet down.” I smiled because…

The Robin, the Crow, and the Release

Learning to Let Go with an Open Heart -a lived moment of impermanence and non-attachment. The Nesting Story The robins had started building a nest in our breezeway earlier this spring. Their first attempt fell, and when they began a second one, I asked my husband to brace it with a piece of wood so…

Embracing Your Body’s Season: The Journey of Perimenopause

There are seasons the Earth moves through with quiet certainty — the slow tilt toward autumn, the softening of winter’s edge, the first warm breath of spring. None of these shifts happen all at once. They unfold in layers, in pauses, in subtle recalibrations that are easy to miss unless you’re paying attention. Perimenopause is…

Embracing the In-Between: The Power of Seasonal Pauses

There are moments each year when the world seems to hold its breath. Not quite the season we’re leaving, not yet the one we’re entering. A soft in‑between. A hinge. A threshold. A pause. This pause is subtle. It’s the way the light shifts — not dramatically, but with a quiet insistence that something is…

Migraine, Perception, and Creative Flow

Living Inside A Migraine When pain, perception, and medication reshape daily life I’ve been dealing with a migraine for nine days. This isn’t just a headache—it comes with aura, Alice in Wonderland syndrome, and persistent vertigo with nausea. My perception gets distorted, my thinking slows down, and basic tasks become difficult. The medication helps with…

Sunday Softening: Embrace Your Inner Still Point

Today’s Sunday Softening practice invites you to reconnect with your inner still point—a serene oasis of peace and tranquility that resides within you, always ready to be discovered. Embrace this moment to cultivate calm and find solace as you journey deeper into yourself. When we settle, the inner landscape changes. A subtle shift. A quiet…

Category: Mindful Living