Jessica Davidson's Blog, page 56

Spread the love with the Pig of Happiness

This is actually a little bit disturbing… Filed under: Inspirations Tagged: Fun, Happiness, Humour, Inspiration, Joy, Spirituality

Photo Album: The Waymarkers of Ouseburn

On my walks around the local neighbourhood I often come across artworks and curious sculptures that make me want to learn more about the area. The Waymarkers were created by Lewis Robinson in 2002 to mark the main routes through the Ouseburn valley. They’re made from steel and glass, and each one celebrates a different […]

Fantasy Reading List: More Than This

More Than This is a mind-blowing YA science fiction novel by Patrick Ness that’s so good it’s hard to believe. This is one of my all-time favourite books and just thinking about it makes me want to read it again. “Whatever happened to you down there, whatever the world looks like now, that’s not how […]

Don’t serve your thoughts tea…

I need to be a little less hospitable towards my thoughts… and this is such a beautiful, gentle way to do it Filed under: Inspirations Tagged: Buddhism, Inspiration, Meditation, Mindfulness, Wisdom, Zen

Fantasy Reading List: Station Eleven

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel is about a travelling Shakespearean theatre company set in post-apocalyptic America. You could call it speculative fiction or literary sci-fi, although Mandel herself calls it “literary fiction that’s set partly in the future.” Whatever the category, it’s an extraordinary book; compelling and spellbinding. I couldn’t stop reading, and […]

Fearlessness in the face of a hot spoon

There’s a Buddhist story I like about overcoming the fear of death: a Zen monastery was under attack by an infamous warlord and his army. All the monks fled, except for the abbot who sat peacefully in front of the shrine. The warlord entered the courtyard and approached, pulling out his sword. He shouted at […]

Shadow Companions: Types of Demons

Earlier this week we looked at the process of feeding your demons, which is a way to make friends with your shadow. In this post we’ll dig deeper into the various types of demon you might find skulking in the darkness of your worst fears. But first, what is a demon? In this practice, demons […]

Feeding Your Demons Video: Lama Tsultrim Allione

Lama Tsultrim Allione gives us a bit of background on the practice of feeding your demons and how it works, a little on the founder, Machig Labdron, and how she made friends with the naga demons. But most useful of all, she then takes us through the five steps of the process of meeting and […]

Embracing Darkness: how to feed your demons

Recently I realised that I’d spent my whole life fighting against the darkness. But my demons won’t die, no matter how many times I bash them over the head. It’s exhausting. So I was open to trying anything that might help when I came across the practice of Feeding Your Demons in the book of […]

An Unexpected Gift: when a guided meditation went “wrong”

One night I was having trouble sleeping so I decided to do a guided meditation. It seemed simple enough: you meet a guide who gives you a gift and then shows you something you need to face. I thought it might distract me from the insomnia and shut my whirring mind off for a few […]