The Writings of Mag Dimond

Thankfully I’m mending and now wending my way through Italy, a country that I simply adore! Then upon my return, I’ll be spending some days at Spirit Rock Meditation Center as it’s been awhile since my last retreat. For now, it’s delicious sights, sounds, and food (of course). I’m taking lots of travel photos which I’ll share down the road. And my trusty writing journal is always at the ready.

I had the great fortune  to discover two books I want to shout about. The Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done, a memoir by Carol Menaker and Barbara Kingsolver’s, Demon Copperhead, a novel built on the story of Charles Dickens’ classic David Copperfield, and a Pulitzer prize winner…

Aging. That’s one of those weird, uncomfortable things about being in your late seventies: you think a lot about how much time is left in front of you. You think about it a lot.  And only when you sit down at your desk and dig into the writing itself do you forget all of that and just live in the land of your words and imaginings. A good place indeed... Until your back starts to ache or your brain becomes drowsy.  

(Thinking of aging and writing my second book.) When I came to Buddhism later in life I discovered that “not knowing” is one of the core principles of practice and the happy righteous life. What is true is that we don’t know because life is filled with uncertainty, and we have little control over the thoughts and actions of those around us. Our practice then becomes a process of meeting the dramas and events of our lives with an open mind and a letting go of attachment to outcomes.

As I'm writing my next book (on food), I decided to investigate the phenomenon of tasting and discovering pleasure and our collective eating experience. Profiles of sweet, sour, bitter, salty, UMAMI and how the brain is affected by what we love to taste and enjoy!