One of biggest challenges faced by newcomers to meditation is getting into the habit of meditating. We may start with the best intentions. After going to a meditation seminar, reading a book, or listening to an inspiring speaker we may decide: this is it! I’m convinced by the many benefits. I want to make meditation part of my life. But...
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One of the biggest challenges faced by people wanting to meditate is a very simple one: where do I start? When during my busy day should I do it? How can I make the time? And now that I’m sitting in a quiet room, what meditation practice should I use? My book, Why Mindfulness is Better than Chocolate, has a...
Why Mindfulness is Better than Chocolate – read the first chapter here
I am delighted to be sharing the first chapter of my book, Why Mindfulness is Better than Chocolate right here! For readers in USA, Canada and UK, the book is called just Mindfulness is Better than Chocolate. It has a different cover, but the same mouth-watering content! CHAPTER ONE All of human unhappiness is due to the inability to sit...
The Great Gatsby and The Dalai Lama’s Cat
In a previous blog I mentioned some of the references in The Dalai Lama’s Cat to one of my all time favourite novels, The Great Gatsby (see: http://davidmichie.com/blog/2013/12/03/the-dalai-lamas-dog/) In this blog I’d like to share a little snippet about the exchanges between the Dalai Lama’s Cat (HHC) and Mambo, her love interest. Mambo is a tabby cat from ‘the wrong...
Why I began to meditate – and how I discovered it was working
Why would a busy PR person working in central London decide that meditating is a good idea? And how might he discover that it was having beneficial effects? In this three minute video I reveal all! ************ I hope you found this useful! Here’s a few things you can do: Sign up for my newsletter. You’ll hear from me...
What Pussy Riot can teach us about compassion
One of my favourite words in Buddhism is ‘realisation.’ It’s used a fair bit – ‘May you have many realisations’ – but it was a few years before I discovered what it meant. My teacher explained, with his usual elegant practicality, that a realisation is ‘when your understanding of a subject deepens to the point that it changes your...
One New Year’s Resolution is enough!
As we approach that time of the year when New Year Resolutions are talked about, I’d like to share an insight from one of my favourite books, Willpower, Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney. To summarise, while willpower is a quality we can – and arguably should – all develop more of, on a day...
The Dalai Lama’s Cat and The Out of Africa connection
Part of The Dalai Lama’s Cat dedication reads: In loving memory of our own little Rinpoche, Princess Wussik of the Sapphire Throne. She brought us joy; we loved her well. Readers of the Dalai Lama’s Cat books will already have formed a good idea of His Holiness’s Cat’s distinctive, quirky and adorable personality – based entirely on our own...
The Dalai Lama’s Dog
As readers of The Dalai Lama’s Cat will know, I am a big fan of the author F. Scott Fitzgerald – and more specifically his novel The Great Gatsby. There are a number of allusions to this in The Dalai Lama’s Cat – so much so that one blogger entitled his review ‘The Great Catsby,’ which I found very amusing. ...
The Art of Purring: Read the Prologue and Chapter One
I am pleased to be sharing the prologue and first chapter of The Art of Purring. Prologue Oh good, you’re finally here, though you’ve taken your time about it, if you don’t mind my saying so! You see, dear reader, I have a message for you. Not an everyday message and certainly not one from an ordinary person. What’s...
David Michie on ‘The Art of Purring’
I’ve recorded a video about The Art of Purring: how I came to write it, what other authors inspired me and some of the themes in the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk1hs4slgaw (4.45 minutes) If you’d like to receive future blogs and vlogs from me, please click the ‘Follow’ button on the bottom right hand of your screen now. I promise I won’t...
Happiness, food and The Art of Purring
How important is willpower to your happiness? And does food have anything to do with it? Most of us would agree that it requires willpower to graduate from school, learn a skill, or practice anything till you get really good at it. Self-fulfilment is unlikely to just happen spontaneously. It is more likely to arise as a side effect...
