Guest Author: Fiona Robyn!

Today I am delighted to introduce guest blogger/author, Fiona Robyn. Fiona has recently published a marvelous book called Small Stones: A Year of Moments, in which she demonstrates the very heart and essence of mindfulness in everyday life, by sharing with us how she engages in the practice of noticing and celebrating the ordinary. I was delighted when she asked me to be a part of her recent blog tour (here at mind.expressions we are at the very conclusion of the tour, and Fiona said that it's been truly wonderful).

I enjoyed Small Stones tremendously and recommend it to anyone who wants to engage in the practice of slowing down, attending, noticing, and appreciating the stuff and substance of this one life we are given... moment by moment.

Let's hear from Fiona:

Hi - I'm Fiona Robyn and Delany has kindly invited me to Mind.Expressions as a part of my blog tour to talk about my view of writing and to let people know about my new book. It's good to be here!

Delany has previously described mindfulness meditation here as "among other things, a process of training the attention". This phrase also happens to perfectly describe the way I see my daily writing practice at 'a small stone'.

I started 'a small stone' several years ago, as a way of making myself write something every day, even if it was only a line. I wrote down anything that made me pause - the smell of bonfires suddenly filling the car, a little boy jumping in puddles, a blackbird sillhouetted against the sky.

I started realising how little attention I sometimes paid to my surroundings. Sometimes I'd sit down at the end of the day and struggle to remember a single thing from my day to write about. One single thing! How much attention had I been paying?!

Earlier in the year I chose 365 of my best 'stones', polished them up, and arranged them into a book. You can find out more about it at www.fionarobyn.com/smallstones.htm. I enjoyed putting the book together, and I hope others will enjoy reading it, and start finding their own 'stones'. But my main reason for writing my blog, as it continues, is to help me to pay more attention. This moment right now, with the sun shining outside and a cup of hot tea in front of me, won't come round again.

Thanks for having me, and do feel free to get in touch if you have any comments or questions - I'm at fiona@fionarobyn.com. Thanks Delany!

And thanks to you, Fiona, for bringing us such a lovely book. All the best to you, in all your life and work!