Mindfulness Garden Games
by Joann Calabrese
author of Growing Mindful

Time Change Challenge

New Moon Greetings – March 10, 2024 It’s Daylight Savings Time Again On this first morning of Daylight Savings Time (DST), I have a mindfulness time-change challenge for you. We know this six-month cycle of adjusting the clocks is disorienting. So you may be thinking the challenge is to remain mindfully attentive as you try … Read more

Aligning with Lunar Cycles

Greeting on the first New Moon of 2024 – January 11th If your new year resolutions have already fallen flat or perhaps not off the ground yet, don’t worry – the lunar cycle is your answer. We don’t have to be stuck with an annual cycle for setting intentions and goals. It’s way too long. … Read more

Cultivating Wonder and Joy

Greetings on the Last Full Moon of the Year – December 26, 2023 It is easy to get lost in day to day responsibilities and the stream of difficult news, but mystics and seers have always tapped into wonder and joy even when things around them were dark. Tuning into wonder does not mean ignoring … Read more

Ancestor Altars

Rosemary for Remembrance

Full Moon Blessings – October 28, 2023 Creating an ancestor altar – a place of remembrance for those who have passed on – could take place anytime during the year. However many spiritual traditions align their remembrance with the end of October and beginning of November. These include the Celtic festival of Samhain resurrected by … Read more

Meditation Basics

New Moon Greetings – October 14, 2023 One of my favorite books on meditation and mindfulness is Eric Harrison’s The Foundations of Mindfulness, How to Cultivate Attention, Good Judgment, and Tranquility. The book is informed by Harrison’s 30 years as a meditation and mindfulness instructor in Australia. He was introduced to meditation in the 1970s … Read more

Quirkiness of Corn

Full Moon Greetings – September 29, 2023 Corn’s Quirky Nature You might not think much about corn (Zea mays or Maize) in your garden or on your plate, but it has fascinating and distinct characteristics from most other plants you grow. First of all, corn is a grain. (The grain family includes plants like wheat, … Read more

Chrysanthemums for Transitions

Full Moon Greetings – August 30, 2023 Herald of Summer Ending Chrysanthemums are fall blooming perennials that announce the fading of summer. Mums (for short) are beautiful and tidy plants that come in a range of shapes and colors from deep orange and yellow to lavender and mauve. Flowers are shape shifters and may resemble … Read more

August Garden Chaos

Happy New Moon – August 16, 2023 The chaos of a typical August garden may make practicing mindfulness in your green space a bit challenging. Plants are producing abundantly and all a bit overgrown, tangling around and into each other. In addition to the usual tending of plants like weeding and watering, most of us … Read more

Gifts of Comfrey

Full Moon Greetings – June 3, 2023 Gifts of Comfrey Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) has just begun to bloom in my garden. But the delicate bluish-purple flowers are easy to miss. Tiny bell shapes hang in clusters under the leaves. You have to look closely to admire them because they are dwarfed by the rest of … Read more

Violets – Small Wonders

Happy Full Moon – May 5, 2023 Delicate Tiny Beauty It is finally spring in Denver and my violets are in bloom. Violet plants flower early in the spring along with tulips and daffodils. But unlike their very showy neighbors, violets have a quieter energy and can be almost invisible. Violets grow naturally in shady areas. … Read more

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