We invite you to join us for online every first Thursday of the month morning Mindful Caregiving sangha.
Mindful Caregiving
These mindful caregiving sessions are open to all who identify as caregivers. The topics and discussions of this group will be rooted in mindfulness practice and will aim to support those in a parental role, caretaking for an elder, or experiencing another type of caregiving situation by creating a compassionate, reflective space to come together.
No prior experience with mindfulness is necessary—all are welcome. There are no restrictions to join. While there is no fee, we invite participants to offer dana (a practice of generosity) to help sustain the gathering.
Format: 7:00 am-7:25 am meditation period and 7:25-8:00 am dharma sharing.
For questions about the Mindful Caregivers group, please contact facilitator Jenny Medvene-Collins.
No previous mindfulness or meditation experience is necessary. No fees, donations are always welcome.
Monthly Topic:
August 2026 Mindful Caregiving Sangha - Watering Our Wholesome Seeds
Reading: "Deep in our consciousness there are many wholesome, positive seeds. If we know how to touch them and water them, they will manifest themselves on the upper level of our consciousness — the mind consciousness. We have to practice looking deeply to recognize our wonderful seeds — the seeds of mindfulness, enlightenment, understanding, joy, and loving kindness. We might think that we cannot love because we have not been able to touch the seed of love within us. Through our practice, and with the support of a brother or a sister, we are able to touch our seeds of love, forgiveness, compassion, and joy.
We need to organize our daily lives so that the positive seeds are watered every day and the negative seeds are not watered. We all have seeds of suspicion, despair, and anger. In one person, they are stronger; in another person, they are weaker. We do not want the people who live around us to water our negative seeds. Every time a negative seed is touched and watered, we suffer. But we can do better than simply not watering our negative seeds; we can water our positive seeds of happiness, loving kindness, forgiveness, and joy. We call this the practice of selective watering. We water the flowers, not the weeds, so that the flowers will bloom in the other person.” -Thich Nhat Hanh
Jenny Shares: Over the past couple of weeks, I have found myself watering the entire garden of seeds without selective attention to the ones I especially want to nourish. It has been a bumpy July, with an unexpected hospital stay for my partner and extra stressors and caregiving responsibilities for me. I’ve been reflecting on the practice of watering our wholesome seeds and recognizing the ways I did and did not provide myself nourishment during this extra stressful time. When the hospital stay began, I was navigating many logistics while trying to figure out how to tend to all those I caregive for, and I temporarily stopped caring for my garden. As I reflect back, I can see seeds such as fear and anger being watered and my role in encouraging them to grow bigger in my mind. I reflect back again and see the seeds of gratitude that were watered as neighbors and friends generously helped out. It’s interesting how quickly each of these seeds grew inside of me, when given my energy and attention. It did not take much focus on my seeds of anger for the thoughts about who was not showing up in ways I’d hope for to sprout and grow. Similarly, I felt gratitude for the kindness of neighbors and friends almost instantly. We have so many different seeds inside of us at all times, and we know that what we pay attention to will grow. What we pay mindful attention to will grow even more sustainably, as we can water those seeds with intention rather than haphazardly.
This leads me to wonder: what nourishing seeds are we watering currently? Are there seeds we would like to more selectively water, and for what reasons? I look forward to listening and sharing with other caregivers when we gather together.