A Non-Religious Spiritual Practice and Volunteer Community Supporting Boston’s South Shore

Friday Reflection — February 13, 2026

Friday Reflection meets this week9:45-11:15 at the Paul Pratt Memorial Library (Cohasset).  The main lot has limited parking – there is a lot more parking behind the building.  Note we’re starting at 9:45, as the library opens at 9:30.  Please plan to arrive a few minutes early, to find your way to a new space.  We’re meeting in the Children’s Reading Room, inside the main doors and to the left.  

We move on to Chapter Six (Mingyur Rinpoche’s Story) in Pema Chodron’s How We Live is How We Die.  Pema shares another tale of at-death experience, this one also a little hard to believe.  Please remember that Pema, like other Buddhist teachers, encourages each of us to investigate all things for ourselves, to accept nothing at face value.   ​H​ere's some of M+’s own core language​ on this point: “we are committed to fostering safe and welcoming spaces to pay attention to ambivalence, confusion, dissonance, and resistance - whatever blocks the path to open hearted curiosity.”  We must think through things for ourselves!  

Having said this, I’ll say I find this story compelling.  There are a lot of “western” stories about well-heeled ​t​eens who set out on their own, forsaking family fortune and expectations to take a sometimes death-dealing bite of the world.  I was surprised to hear of a Buddhist kid doing this – one of those children identified near birth as the “next Great Teacher,” one who’d been given everything and was destined for greatness.​  And who threw it all away.

Pema’s entire book is an invitation to consider how our own living experiences might prepare us for our not-yet-realized death experiences.  Change is always happening, some of it big change; everything is impermanent; death is already a part of life.  Our practice this week invites us to consider times when we’ve taken a big bite out of the world:  a risk we took, a choice we made that lost us something meaningful, even essential.  Can our practice interrupt the same old ways we talk about the “difficult” past?  Can we intentionally and safely connect back to shaky ground, those real and raw ​moments of uncertainty and risk?  What might our knowledge of shaky ground say about both the quality of our lives – and how we imagine the quality of our deaths?

Come sit gently with yourself and others.  Hold these questions with openhearted curiosity.  You do not have to be reading along to join in, though reading along might enhance your experience.

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  • “I have already written some facts of my life, journal-style. But this new Recollections experience allows me to share with my grandchildren, and hopefully their children, some life memories in my own words, my voice for posterity.”

    – Karen from Cohasset

  • "I have been a care giver my whole life. I helped both elderly parents live in their home as long as possible. Been a bedside nurse for over 40 years and raised 2 children . After my mom who was my best friend died Covid hit. I worked in a Boston Hospital ICU T throughout it. When it was over I realized i had lost my compassion. After another year I retired. I started to volunteer to have a sense of purpose. One day I walked into Mindfulness Plus and it changed me I was encouraged to cry and talk and most of all heal. The wisdom of the group was invaluable. Every meeting gave me fresh insight. And soon my words helped others. I will be forever grateful to this group that has transformed me (with alot of hardwork on my part) I encourage everyone to try it. You have nothing to loose and everything to gain."

    - Pat from Hanover

  • “I find the Living with Loss Community Support Group to be very warm and supportive. This experience has allowed me to expose vulnerabitlies without judgment, and the compassionate energy shared is personally healing. I am grateful to the Mindfulness Plus organization and their offerings to the South Shore community.”

    – Claire from Quincy

  • “I have found some comfort attending the Living with Loss group. It is nice being surrounded by others that are also suffering loss and sharing our thoughts and emotions. It is a gentle, non-pressured atmosphere and I have always left feeling just a little bit better after attending. I hope in time to not need the group support but right now I do and it’s a safe, easy, supportive, comfortable place to share some of the tough emotions around significant loss.”

    – Rebecca from Hull

  • “Friday Reflection offers the opportunity to sit with a group of friends, silently review my past week, and if I choose, speak in confidence and without judgemental feedback about what it is like to live in my body, mind and soul. And more than that, I'm offered the enlightening and fascinating opportunity to listen to other members of the group do the same. I find it centering, peaceful and harmonious.”

    - Bill from Weymouth

  • “It is an honor to be a volunteer interviewer in the M+ Recollections program. It is a privilege to enable community members to tell stories of their lives that hold special meaning for them that they can choose to share with others. Through being part of this process, I also learn about, and gain new perspectives about the diversity of our community members, as well as deepening my connections to our community.”

    - Paula from Hull

  • "Loss and grief equals pain. The healing process from this pain is hard work and is exhausting. Whether your loss is deeply personal or on a bigger societal level, the Tuesday Living with Loss group provides a safe space to share your loss with others in a non-judgmental, pressure-free environment. You can share many words or sit quietly the entire time. Knowing that there are others who support you and collectively embrace your soul has helped my own healing process continue after the sudden death of my husband last year."

    Gail from Scituate

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