Morning friends of HOL,
We are one week into October, a month that explores mental wellness deeply. September seems to have flown by faster than the F1 race.
Sep in a glimpse
September saw us covering two podcasts! (One on curing death and the other on being average). Doing podcasts has opened up the way I have learnt the Dhamma and also the way I perceive the world. I am always happy with the new boundaries the podcast team pushes out every season.
In addition, we explored the topic of toxicity at home and also being an oblivious toxic friend. I particularly enjoyed Sharon’s article on being a ‘good’ Buddhist. In some Buddhist circles, we often see some individuals feel inferior because everyone else is ‘up there’ in their practice.
Sharon shreds that image of herself by reflecting on her London journey. Maybe we sometimes need to give ourselves a break from being perfect and choose to be a work-in-progress.
Lastly, we launched our mini-article series on applying Dhamma at the workplace! More here and here.
In Gratitude
We recently learnt from a listener that he listens to our podcast on the way to work and on the way home. It heartens me that our podcast is slowly digested on MRTs and buses.
I learnt that HOL’s material is being used in some Buddhist classes in Malaysia to share a more contemporary perspective of the Dhamma.
While this makes me jump for joy more than the prospect of a midnight trip to JB, it also reminds me that our team has to constantly keep an eye out for any non-Dhamma material in our posts that might confuse others.
I am always grateful for friends/ venerables /mentors that point out nuances that the editing team may have missed. So for that, I share my gratitude for these angels!
On a tangential note, our writers sometimes find it hard to find suttas to help ground their article (not a necessity really!). So here are two awesome resources for getting the suttas at your fingertips.
Sutta Central is amazing for having one of the most expansive collections of Buddha’s words (Spanning from the Pali Canon to the Agamas!). Suttafriends is a super cute way of organising the Buddhist text through Similies, Stories, and People.
Looking Forward
As we dwell deeper into the depths of the year, here are some topics we could get some help writing on!
Christmas/ Giving
Quiet Quitting
As usual, we capture our monthly impact in the pictures below!
Have a story on a different topic or an idea for us to explore?
Do drop us a comment below or email @ info@handfulofleaves.life
Meanwhile, may you stay happy and wise!
With Metta,
Heng Xuan