I’ve been suffering with chronic and disabling illness for many years now. It has been a journey of suffering, but it has also been a journey of learning, growth, and love.

It’s the end of 2022 now, four years since I last posted. The past few years have been just about survival for me, without time or energy for posting, but I’m ending the year with a new motivation to share what I’ve learned.

In the past few years I have been homeless and lost all my possessions, all while struggling with disabling illness and poverty.

Every day is about trying to figure out how to make my life work, and how to be as happy and fulfilled as I can, and I’m trying to share what I’ve learned in the hope that it might be useful to some of you in cyberspace.

I became permanently disabled in 2007, and a lifetime of exploration within both Tibetan Buddhism and Judaism helped 15 years ago, and continues to help me every day.

I met Tibetan Buddhism over 30 years ago, and was instantly drawn to the rich and deep techniques of working with one’s own heart and mind, and the emphasis on bodhicitta (loving kindness). I met lamas of such enormous love and spiritual attainment that I am still astounded, inspired, and filled with gratitude on a daily basis.

I was brought up within a rich Jewish culture, filled with ways to learn how to be in the world, trying to improve my positive qualities, and living a moral and ethical life. I learned the importance of thinking and self-examination. And that strange, weird, and wonderful dark Jewish humour serves me very well in difficult times.

You won’t find anything radically new or different here, just how I’ve used and interpreted what I’ve learned to try and live the best life I can.

I truly hope that my words are in some way helpful to you.

Let me know!

You can contact me at mara.shnay@gmail.com. Given my health issues, I read all my emails, but I don’t always manage to answer them all.