Benches: places of last resort and places to ponder

There's something about a bench. People end up on benches when they have nowhere else to go, but they also offer a place to sit and ponder.

What I've been pondering is "my heart" - I started doing Tibetan Tonglen meditation about a year ago and I started to feel my heart as an energetic entity, not just a physical chamber pumping my life blood.

And then earlier in the week, there was one of those science programmes on the telly, which always manage to tell you stuff that your common sense had figured out a long while ago.

Although my common sense had in a way clocked this information about the heart, it was inspiring to hear that science has detected that more information is sent from the heart to the brain than vice a versa.

Nice to remember when I'm in a dilemma - knowing that whether I am aware of it or not, my heart is doing its bit for me....

And I'd like to spare a thought and prayer for all those for whom benches are a place of last resort tonight!

This bench is at Cockmarsh on the bank of the River Thames