JoAnn Saccato

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7/2/2017

The Spaces In Between

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Picture
Wild lily, Tahoe National Forest, June 2017. (JoAnn Saccato)
I've recently started including the awareness of spaces in between objects as part of the centering exercise I do with clients and students. As we look at objects with a curious attention--seeing them as if for the first time through the eyes of a child--they have a tendency to come alive in a new way. A fresh crispness is experienced when our pure attention is focused.

I'm noticing that clarity to be even more pronounced when I focus on the spaces in between objects. Their three dimensional nature becomes more apparent, but something else quite fascinating happens, too.

There is a visceral connection with the object as I become aware of the spaces in between. A deeper realization that I am a part of a bigger something eventually emerges. There's a direct experience of just being an extension of the object--the object and I are one and there is no space in between.
I'm not sure any of this can make sense through the written word...These concepts are so big, that I question even writing about them...
I'm not sure any of this can make sense through the written word, but it seems to come into play with an experience I had that helped me see there is not only no space in between objects, but no time of past, present or future either. These concepts are so big, that I question even writing about them--particularly for a public audience, as they may make no sense at all. It may be one of those things that has to be experienced directly to be fully understood.

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7/29/2015

One Simple, Powerful Way to Shift Your Relationship with Food

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I don't usually subscribe to the "5 Things You Can Do To ____<insert some great outcome here>____" format of writing, or the use of an astonishing headline that boasts powerful transformation devised to pull in a reader. Oh, I know these are the trend for writers and marketers in our fast-paced, information-overloaded culture, but it seems somewhat deceiving and belittling to think that my audience's needs and happiness can be reduced to a bullet pointed list that they can read over breakfast. (I have to say, though, when I do get pulled in by this style, I do glean some great benefits from the information shared.)

That said, I have discovered one simple (but not always easy!) thing to help me in the current wrestling match I'm involved in with binging and weight gain.

Significant progress was made when I began looking at the deeper issues of what was happening in my life--what was causing me to go numb at night when I was home alone and when I was out and about with friends or traveling, but I unearthed another contributor that has made a huge difference...

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6/6/2015

What's Your Availability for the Ever Unfolding Divine Mystery?

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Picture
Zion National Park (All photo rights reserved by JoAnn Saccato)
Somehow, somewhere, we've convinced ourselves that we are in charge. That humans are somehow disconnected in some special way from the way things are and can actually control events. However we've arrived to this belief, taking this attitude disconnects us from our place in the divine mystery that is unfolding in and around us each and every moment. A divine mystery we are part of, but one certainly not in our control.

If we're living with this belief, we lose the ability to hear the sublime whisper that speaks of
simplicity amongst complexity, contentment in the midst of change, aliveness as things arise and pass away, and joy in the midst of pain. Lost to us is the potential to participate in the awe of wonder
that can happen only in the moment.

Oh, we may have peak experiences on occasion that wake us up to that awe and wonder, but then we usually find ourselves chasing after another peak experience, because our normal life, much less stillness, seems dull in comparison. What I've learned is that those awe-inspiring moments are available to us no matter what we're doing, if

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  • Home
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    • Mindful Resilience Course
    • A six week introductory course in mindfulness
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