Clear Sky Blog

Learning To Speak Up for Myself

Partly from seeing the different effects of these experiments, I’ve noticed how powerful words can be when we’re in conversations.

Now, I try to be more skillful and flexible when talking with other people.

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coffee and podcast

I Don’t Have Time to Be Compassionate

I admitted that I find myself walking through the school halls, head down, hoping no one will talk to me – not because I don’t like them, but because I’m thinking “If I talk to them I won’t get to what I need to do to start my day”.

When I’m in this mode, I’m not being kind to myself and I don’t notice what others need, whether it’s just a smile or a few minutes of my time.

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Zen Garden blog title page

Why You Should Zen-Up Your Space

There’s another benefit to a well-honoured space: it brings out all of our hidden fidgets, shining a light on our inability to sit still. When there’s clutter, anxiousness can hide under the auspices of needing to clean and tidy and organize.

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Multiple signs confusing people

Healing my Confusion

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.

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Woman being treated by healer

Dharma and healing

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.

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Forlorn man sitting in the city

Living with Grief and Uncertainty

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.

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Buddha silhouette

How to Get the Best out of a Three-Night Cabin Retreat

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.

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Sulky pug dog

Is it selfish to meditate?

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.

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What is it Like to Be Alone in a Cabin Retreat?

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

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Are You Using Transitions as a Meditation?

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.

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How to not let negative emotions own you

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?

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