We want to hear from you about what being an urban contemplative means to you. What does it look like in your life? Email us at yourthoughts@urbancontemplative.ca 
(If you have trouble sending an email using this link, please try urbancontemplative@yahoo.ca.)
“Today I’m trying to balance what for me is always a juggling act that puts a stutter in my days and that is – obligation. It’s necessary though so I tell myself to stop whining and get on with it.” C.W.
“ In having commitments throughout the city, I realize how important it is to step out of the hustle and bustle…….to pause, to meditate, or simply contemplate what it is I am actually doing. The city has many ‘cubby holes’ of quiet and beauty – in meditation gardens, churches, and in hospital ‘sacred spaces.’ It’s about taking time in the midst of it all that helps. To stop. To breathe. To give thanks. Eventually, a broader perspective emerges and I am able to begin again. I call this practice being a “mobile meditator.” D.C.
““Time – it’s all about that for me. I like to putter. I have almost always worked part time so I could write, meditate, pray, hang out. It’s important to me to live simply – I don’t want a bunch of stuff – so I don’t need a lot of money. But there have been sacrifices. Travelling. That’s my biggest one. I would love to travel more.” P.S.
“It’s about remembering to pause… and open to the moment, no matter what is happening and whether I like it or not. This is both the richness and the challenge. It’s also about action… and increasing conscious awareness of the competing intentions underlying my actions as well as accepting my personal limitations. Compassion helps a lot!” M.S.
“After discharging daily obligations and settling with the feelings of relief and often of satisfaction that they bring, I find that what I need most is solitude …. being able to be who I truly am. Interestingly, it’s not always necessary to be in isolation to achieve this. I feel very comfortable being alone in a crowd. While at home, of course, I have what is important to me for reflection.. My books, my creative supplies and the familiarity of my history…… a place to sit and dream. However I love knowing that outside and around the corner are my fellow travellers enjoying what I love about my city….for me it is culture ….libraries, theatres, art galleries …what would I do without them? However, that being said, family and friends I couldn’t do without. And of course travel …..bring it on. I really must buy a lottery ticket.” C.W.
“Interesting to walk with the divine during the day. There are moments I forget I am accompanied and moments where I see the divine in a smile, or a woman nursing her baby in the local coffee shop. I breathe in those moments and my life is full. Breathing life and connection.” D.A.
“My Horse’s Lament
Mickey don’t like city livin’
What’s a young horse s’pose to do?
Computers ain’t fun
He got nowhere to run
And he dang well cain’t date Subarus”
‘Dick Bovine’
“Amit Gotswami, PhD. in Physics has done this DVD called “The Quantum Activist”, and he has this part where he explains that we cannot do-do-do all the time: if we do that we pass through life without even noticing what happens to us, and without really participating to life. On the other hand, he says, we cannot be-be-be all the time, because then nothing would ever happen and many of us would not accomplish our purpose. He says therefore, we need to “do-be-do-be-do”. That’s what urban contemplative do!” J.H.
“My favourite moment (from my trip) was in Paris where I took my friend to Montmartre, an area in Paris which overlooks all of
the city. There is a church there, and ten years ago, when I briefly lived in Paris I spent many hours first discovering a new level of connection with God. It is a beautiful church and represents, for the people, hope. It is called Sacre Coeur … Sacred Heart. We entered and sat down to soak it all in and then the nuns began to sing. It was heart breakingly beautiful and I cried as I felt my heart move. I felt a shift in my being and for the first time in a long time I felt a change in a positive direction towards my healing, my journey, my purpose and my connection with the Universe. I cried for the rest of the day on and off. In all my time in churches in France I have never heard the nuns sing before.” J.B.
When i asked myself what my experience of urban contemplation is, an image arose from somewhere deep within me that was 
surprising and amusing- that image was of…..my dog. My frivolous side wanted to explore this and play for awhile and the more i considered the concept the more amused and convinced i became. Think of it: he is a very urban being as he sniffs and pees on many parts of the city that most of us do not even notice- small dessicated shrubs, shopping centre garbage bins, the occasional bike stand and of course the ever-present yet rarely-noticed fire hydrants. he seems to know his way around Calgary as well as I do, especially where the parks are and the route home from any direction. So he’s got the urban part nailed but “contemplative” is a bit more of a challenge. However, if being in the now is considered an integral part of it, and i suspect it is, then he’s already half-way there. Yes, he does worry if on occasion he goes for a drink and the bowl is dry, or when he sees me exit and say “good boy, STAY” and then he is in the land of desire and disappointment. But when i get out the leash and we bust out into the green belt, or visit the dogpark where he can socialize, he is positively elated and is able to FEEL and EXPERIENCE that in a very pure way. When home again he groans in ecstacy when i invite him onto my lap and he can collapse into the comfort and warmth of this location, and enjoy a gentle earscratch as he drifts off- clearly he is in an altered state, another possible aspect of contemplation. I have to say i was astounded today when we heard the first robin and i swear my dog paused, looked up for the source of the sweetness and listened for a full 10 seconds. Occasionally he watches airplanes streak across the sky and he does seem fascinated. Sometimes i really wonder if he knows way more than i think he does, and i mean knowing on a level unfamiliar to humans, but nontheless, some sort of …..contemplation?? No doubt this is all my own whimsical projection but, who knows?… perhaps staying open, a possible aspect of human contemplation, keeps us undecided about canine capabilities, and as Martha Stewart says (this is the limit of MY quotables), this is a good thing.
Anyways, I had some fun with it. Think I’ll take my dog for a walk now. S.V.