there are two main approaches we can take. We can choose something that inspires us or we can choose something that challenges us.

Recreate this room as a mirror of the internal space you wish to cultivate.

Sit there in the darkness for a few minutes and let the day and its concerns drop away from you. Open yourself to the great mystery of the unknown, and enter the quietness of night with a restful spirit.

Illumination As you learn the art of contemplation

This indeed is the purpose of contemplation — to find connections, to build bridges and to come to realise that everything in life is connected to everything else.

This is the quality of gentleness. As you will learn, the art of contemplation is a gentle path,

Here is an alternative way of looking at the mind. Imagine that your mind is a kind of radiant sheath that surrounds your physical body. It extends from every cell of your body and it permeates your body. Perhaps this ‘mental body’ extends far out into the room in which you are currently sitting. From this alternative view, you are living inside

You can model yourself on the cat, who is a master of this contemplative technique.

Insight begins in the mind, breakthrough tends to be more emotional, and finally epiphany is a powerful physical phenomenon that shakes our whole being.