My default state used to be anxiety, with some fear thrown in for good measure. I don’t know why. For whatever reason, I’m just prone to feeling anxious without any apparent cause. Over the last 20 years, though, my anxiety lessened as I learned and then practiced meditation. My first experience was a mindfulness meditation
I now feel empowered to follow the advice of one of the teachers at Clear Sky, to “Take action, and let the chips fall where they may.”
After all, a pattern of confusion stems from and continues a hurt. Being empowered to act brings joy.
Even as we heal and awaken ourselves, then, we affect all of humanity. So go do the work, for the sake of all sentient beings.
Heal your mind – and expand your consciousness – and your body comes along for a much more easeful ride, despite still being subject to death, decay, and impermanence. And the interesting thing is that it works both ways – when we change the body, we also change the mind.
When dealing with something intense, like the loss of a relationship, it can seem as if that feeling completely dominates our reality. To a degree this is true. Yet at the same time, the feelings of pain or hurt or confusion are really only present when we allow ourselves to focus on them.
If you’re wondering why we require a three-night minimum in our cabins, it’s to honor the process of retreat time. Three nights is still a very short retreat, but it does allow for the possibility of something magical to happen between arriving, settling in, and the “I’m leaving soon” thoughts.
One of our regular blog contributors, and the Secretary of our Board of Directors, Dan O’Brien, has just completed another cabin retreat at Clear Sky. Before he went into retreat, he wrote the following thoughts about why he does regular meditation retreats. Dan: One of the key ways I nurture myself is by taking the
Not everyone will agree with our priorities…
Sometimes it helps to remind ourselves why meditation is a consistent priority in the midst of our own busyness, or the opinions of our loved ones.
Being by ourselves in a solo retreat creates the opportunity for three important explorations or insights:
Alone in a crowd: We can examine the concept of being alone
Who is alone?: We can explore the fear of abandonment and death
I’m dancing as fast as I can: We can see our habitual patterns of avoiding connecting with our inner depth
Do you find it tough transitioning from your working day back into your home life? Or going into work on Monday morning after a weekend with friends and family?
It’s a whole other shift of gears to transition into the energy of a retreat center.
It’s always strange being asked where I’ll be going for my two week Christmas holiday, because these past few years it’s always been, “On a meditation retreat.” This response can invoke an inquisitive look, although these days most people I meet know someone who has done something similar. Still, they often have trouble imagining doing
Even someone who meditates is sometimes nervous about going on retreat. Yet, there is no replacement for this extended period of simply being with our arisings to see that they are merely patterns. They come and go, so long as we don’t hold on to them.
After I’d done it, I realized that before, my ego had felt some sort of power and satisfaction from not wanting to do the task.
Does that resonate? How we randomly own a feeling and make it our reality, whether it feels good or not?
Recently, a friend came up to me and said, “something’s different with you”.
A little surprised, I let this sink in and then asked her what she thought it was. After some contemplation she said…
While on retreat one time, I noticed that going over and over my story about “me” in my head is not useful, calming, or satisfying, even though it may seem so.
We’re just not used to being so patient, and as our world gets faster and faster, it has become easy to think that anything we want should happen immediately, with the click of a mouse, or by downloading an app.
Self doubt – it’s useless and painful.
Newsflash, though – since it is created by thinking a certain way, the good news is that it be changed. In other words:
It’s not necessary and can be transformed
Does the above conversation resonate with you at all? Well, let’s try that differently this time, applying some mindfulness of what’s going on with me.
While it might seem relaxing to watch TV over a meal or think over something else while washing up, where’s the sense of FOMO for the present moment? When not fully present, we’re actually missing out on being alive in that moment, and missing potential insights that will lead to greater freedom.
Well, the black hole image (or rather, the image of its halo since the “object” itself is out of sight) just became one of my new mindfulness tools.
Creative moments, whether they happen as an individual or working with a team, are some of the most rewarding and enjoyable parts of our work.
Yet, it can be hard to be consistently creative, especially if we feel we are always running to deadlines and juggling a thousand things. So how can mindfulness help us bring more creativity into our work?
* Personal Retreat Cabins:
We’ve redesigned our personal retreat packages. Check out our Practice and Integrate Retreat, which offers a supportive balance of formal meditation and mindful activity.
* The Kasinas (Meditation Retreat) – December 4, 2020 – December 19, 2020
Residential and Online – Kasina meditation is a concentration meditation (samatha, jhana) intended to settle the mind and create a foundation for liberation.
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