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My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is Cyndie Parzuhoski!

Cyndie Parzuhoski (cyndieparz72, #7407) has received a certificate of achievement in Make It Easy for earning an Expert Level Mindfulness Meditation Merit Badge!

“I researched and contacted a “Mindfulness Centre” on Walking Meditation and I continued (and still am continuing) daily meditation.

From the Mindfulness Centre I contacted:

Wherever we walk, we can practice meditation. This means that we know that we are walking. We walk just for walking. We walk with freedom and solidity, no longer in a hurry. We are present with each step. And when we wish to talk, we stop our movement and give our full attention to the other person, to our words and to listening.

Walking in this way should not be a privilege. We should be able to do it in every moment. Look around and see how vast life is, the trees, the white clouds, the limitless sky. Listen to the birds. Feel the fresh breeze. Life is all around and we are alive and healthy and capable of walking in peace.

Let us walk as a free person and feel our steps get lighter. Let us enjoy every step we make. Each step is nourishing and healing. As we walk, imprint our gratitude and our love on the earth.

We may like to use a gatha as we walk. Taking two or three steps for each in-breath and each out-breath,

Breathing in “I have arrived”; Breathing out “I am home”

Breathing in “In the here”; Breathing out “In the now”

Breathing in “I am solid”; Breathing out “I am free”

Breathing in “In the ultimate”; Breathing out “I dwell”

I have practiced this a minimum of once a week for the past few weeks, and I love it!

Over the past month plus, I have continued to do Breathing Meditation every morning and Guided Mediation in the evenings before bed (which is assisting in a much better night’s sleep!).

I have also begun to practice “Noble Silence” for three hours every day, from the time I finish work until my husband gets home during the week, 3 hours on Saturday when my husband spends time with his mother, and then 4 hours every other Sunday from 12 to 4. This is a period of deep silence where I speak no words (I am alone, so I am able to do this during the week), and even though I am doing other things (such as making dinner or cleaning), I allow my mind to be free of thoughts. It is amazing how I have been able to clear my mind at the end of my work day.

I find that the meals I cook have tasted better, as if the silence until my husband arrives home is awakening other parts of my body (such as my taste buds). During the weekend, I have been sitting outside, near my enormous Russian sage plant that takes up almost half of the one side of my home, and I concentrate and mediate on the bees that engulf the plants. I watch them take nectar from each little petal and move on to the next one. I watch them dance with each other. All without a word from my lips. I took my camera outside with me and I have attached a photograph from my Noble Silence meditation this past weekend.”