From Awareness to Zen: an ABC of mindfulness

26 alliterative reflections to inspire a zenful mind

In late March, my wife and I were wandering through a local national reserve, and as we looked out over the magnificent marshes, a phrase came to my mind:

I found that it both alliterated beautifully and captured what I feel is true, so over the last two weeks, I started crafting a few more of these alliterative lines. But quickly, I found there were too many beautiful words to use!

So, I thought it’d be an enjoyable and creative exercise to turn it into a mindfulness-themed ABC.

Here it is. Let me know which ones resonate with you!

Awareness accepts and answers all.

Boredom brings boundless being.

Courageous curiosity creates caring connection.

Deconstructing divine doing defies death.

Enlightenment enables earnest earthly engagement.

Fearing failure forces future fumbling.

Gratitude grants God’s gift.

Honest hosts harmonize human hearts.

Insight into inner I ignites intuitive intent.

Jealousy jails joy.

King’s kneeling kindles kin’s kindness.

Losing loss loses lingering languish.

Nameless nature necessitates no narrative.

Observation overcomes original obstructions.

Playful participation peels persona’s power.

Quietness quells quarrel.

Remembering repressed radiance returns resplendent reflections.

Sincere seeking surfaces Self.

Thankfully, touching timeless truth transforms tainted thought to treasure.

Universal undoing unites unlimited understanding.

Voracious victory violates virtue.

Worriless work works wonders.

Xenialize Xanadu.*

Yield your yoke, yield Yourself.

Zealful zen zaps zero zest.

If you come up with any of your own, please feel free to comment!

Jibran ❤️

*I think I’m correct in assuming most of you reading this don’t know the words Xenial or Xanadu. So let me briefly explain 😉

• Xenial means being hospitable (in the context of welcoming guests and strangers). Xanadu is a mythical, idyllic city. What I mean here is to make your (inner) idyllic city welcoming to all visitors. Both others and your inner other-selves.

• Oh, and yes, this was very hard to come up with; I definitely had to use both a dictionary and a thesaurus!