Come out to play....
Wow, where did March go? And April? I was surprised to see that the last time I wrote a blog post was the very end of February.
For me March went by with lots of writing to the end of my novel (well, very close) and then a computer breakdown which meant the loss of my most recent 10,000 words. The hard drive died and I was quoted in the range of $2000 upwards to retrieve the work. So I decided to let it go and here I am re-writing. It was strange computer karma that month as my son's notebook computer that he uses for school was also damaged and was sent for repair which took over five weeks and still wasn't done. Apparently they were waiting for a part....and waiting....and waiting. Anyway, he only just got it back yesterday from a different repair mob so I hope all that is over.
And then April....April.....well I remember the end of April because I went on a retreat in the Dandenong Ranges which was absolutely amazing. The first few days were a Buddhist festival which is quite a sociable event catching up with friends, meeting new ones, taking walks, having coffee, oh and a bit of meditating and receiving teachings. But then most people left and about thirty of us stayed on for a four day silent retreat.
All domestic arrangements were made the night before we went silent and questions were answered so that we really had the chance to let our minds become quiet. Then we had the opportunity to transform them from their normally busy and self centred state to a very beautiful and peaceful place. The interesting thing is that this is the true nature of our minds, peace, universal love, joy but we have to become quiet to find that. Then I suppose the thing to do is to bring it back into our daily lives and let it affect all that we think, say and do. Perhaps that's the hardest bit.
We were in and out of the meditation room/temple four times a day for an hour and a quarter each session. It was a guided retreat and we were led to some beautiful places within our own minds. Not the day to day minds that we normally inhabit but the deepest places in our minds, places that I wasn't even sure existed until I went there. And what I bring back from those places is the awareness that we will find the deepest levels of happiness within our own minds not in any external place. Bliss exists within and once we find it, we can share it with others. How wonderful.
The title of todays post was a reminder to myself to come out from the narrow place that our mind can become when we are focused so strongly on our own day to day stuff, the soap opera of our own lives and to connect with those around us. I noticed that going within feeling clearly this morning because it is the first time it has happened since my retreat. Aside from that I have felt closely connected with everyone around me and the amazing flow of life and it all felt so easy and simple. I wanted to remind myself that the joy of life is not in the incessant chatter of our normal minds which separates us from others but in the deeper places where we are all one and that outside of meditation we will find that through love.
K.xx
For me March went by with lots of writing to the end of my novel (well, very close) and then a computer breakdown which meant the loss of my most recent 10,000 words. The hard drive died and I was quoted in the range of $2000 upwards to retrieve the work. So I decided to let it go and here I am re-writing. It was strange computer karma that month as my son's notebook computer that he uses for school was also damaged and was sent for repair which took over five weeks and still wasn't done. Apparently they were waiting for a part....and waiting....and waiting. Anyway, he only just got it back yesterday from a different repair mob so I hope all that is over.
And then April....April.....well I remember the end of April because I went on a retreat in the Dandenong Ranges which was absolutely amazing. The first few days were a Buddhist festival which is quite a sociable event catching up with friends, meeting new ones, taking walks, having coffee, oh and a bit of meditating and receiving teachings. But then most people left and about thirty of us stayed on for a four day silent retreat.
All domestic arrangements were made the night before we went silent and questions were answered so that we really had the chance to let our minds become quiet. Then we had the opportunity to transform them from their normally busy and self centred state to a very beautiful and peaceful place. The interesting thing is that this is the true nature of our minds, peace, universal love, joy but we have to become quiet to find that. Then I suppose the thing to do is to bring it back into our daily lives and let it affect all that we think, say and do. Perhaps that's the hardest bit.
We were in and out of the meditation room/temple four times a day for an hour and a quarter each session. It was a guided retreat and we were led to some beautiful places within our own minds. Not the day to day minds that we normally inhabit but the deepest places in our minds, places that I wasn't even sure existed until I went there. And what I bring back from those places is the awareness that we will find the deepest levels of happiness within our own minds not in any external place. Bliss exists within and once we find it, we can share it with others. How wonderful.
The title of todays post was a reminder to myself to come out from the narrow place that our mind can become when we are focused so strongly on our own day to day stuff, the soap opera of our own lives and to connect with those around us. I noticed that going within feeling clearly this morning because it is the first time it has happened since my retreat. Aside from that I have felt closely connected with everyone around me and the amazing flow of life and it all felt so easy and simple. I wanted to remind myself that the joy of life is not in the incessant chatter of our normal minds which separates us from others but in the deeper places where we are all one and that outside of meditation we will find that through love.
K.xx
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