It’s always inspiring and uplifting to come across some really original talent and in Cosmo Sheldrake – a 25 year old British musician there’s both a plenty.Cosmo is a truly passionate performer, innovative, accessible and crazily eccentric in a very English way.
I couldn’t resist sharing both of these- the vocals and percussion are as wonderful as the quirky videos.
Brillant.
There’s plenty online at the moment to encourage the pursuit of perfection for the coming year, with ways to lose pounds, ways to gain £s, guarantees of future love, success and happiness all flashing beguilingly. Amongst these pedlars of snake oil, a few genuinely inspirational offerings invite closer attention:
Caught By The River – an online magazine champions the distinctly non digital pursuits of thinking, walking, fishing, looking.Of Birdsong and Beer. It is one of the few distractions I allow to drop into my inbox uncensored.
In the latest offering the brilliant Ian Preece reflects on the year gone by and gives his unconventional tips on how to live well in the twelve months to come – the one that spoke to me in my chaotic morning house has to be number 2:
Money/homework/lost Oyster cards/lost college passes/broken phones: don’t get into a row first thing. Shut up, make the porridge, stand looking out of the window for squirrels, put the kettle on, put a record on.
You can read the rest of his refreshingly offroad advice here
Finally on a more serious note, on each New and Full moon, Luang Por Munindo a senior Buddhist Monk sends out (by email) a verse of the Buddha’s teaching with a short few lines of comment to stimulate reflection.
As a beautiful flower without fragrance
is disappointing,
so are wise words
without right action.
Dhammapada v. 51
…the most profound speech disappoints when not well-matched by our actions. How we actually behave toward each other really matters
The busy urgency of real life has kept me away from the blog for the last little while but I’m hoping that 2017 will allow for some more writing and perhaps more importantly a chance to put these wise words into action.
You can subscribe to these lunar reflections and read more of Ajahn Munindo’s writing here
With Only One Life 
Glad to see you back, Hannah. I missed these posts of yours.
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Ahhhh – thanks Patrick, I’m glad to be back, going to dig out the camera again and carve some time out for this little online space. How are you doing – how is your writing. I have some proper catching up to do….
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