Life after retreat
It was quite a transition, coming straight back to busy London life. I got a headache after just 30 minutes on my phone, and it felt like everyone was working at 700 miles per hour while I was going at a snail’s pace. I got tired, really tired…
So now I meditate for an hour every morning. There is no way you can miss this practice. I will now try to do a silent retreat every year. You can hold me!
Oh and my health issues (thyroid issues) have improved. Since most diseases and illnesses are caused by stress, I find that calming the mind is the best treatment. And voila!
Practicing mindfulness meditation takes effort, and my teacher kept reminding me that the mind is like a muscle, so the more you practice it, the stronger it becomes. It’s truly crazy that we live in a society that focuses only on physical training but completely ignores the mind. It is the only thing that causes all our suffering and at the same time the only thing that will set us free and provide us with true inner happiness.
I’m not saying 10 days will change your life. I am definitely not a monk and I still have inner critics and negative thoughts. I am a human and a ‘thinking being’, but what that allows me is to access the present moment and quiet those thoughts. I was able to see my thoughts objectively as if they were not my own, and that was liberating for me! (It’s not easy to be present, right? I thought I was fully present until I took this course. Trust me, you will never fully understand what it’s like to live in the moment until you train your mind.)
I know how helpful this will be to everyone who reads this. I know how much it would help, especially in our society where we place so much emphasis on finding happiness in the outside world through a career, a relationship, a new outfit or a little botox, but that only buys you temporary happiness until it’s over, you get wrinkles, you lose your job, you abandon your partner.
Have you ever felt constantly exhausted, tired, or depressed due to all the mind chatter that constantly dictates how you feel and eventually changes the way you perceive the world? ‘Oh, I need to lose more weight’, ‘Oh, I need to get promoted’, ‘Oh, I’m getting too many wrinkles’. We lose sight of the present moment by constantly thinking these thoughts, our egos thrive on negative thoughts and we get caught up in and forget about the only time we have: the present moment!
This was honestly one of the best tools I’ve ever received. If I can help, I can help, and if there’s one thing I can encourage you reading this to do, it’s not buy that latest bikini I’m promoting or lust after my last vacation. Because if you aren’t truly at peace on the inside, it doesn’t really matter…(I know), it’s not happiness because it’s temporary, it’s fleeting, it’s only a short period of time (I promise). You search, either consciously or unconsciously. It involves waking up and booking a Vipassana retreat (for the dedicated). Or, if you’re not ready yet, start making meditation a part of your daily routine and stop sitting alone and running away from your thoughts. It will be the greatest gift you can give yourself, and it will bring you one step closer to finding inner peace and inner stillness that you never knew existed.
“When you change your thoughts, the world around you changes.”
jordan xxx
Temples I also went to:
WATRAMP POINTS –
For those who don’t want to jump, there are a few places a little closer to home… (I haven’t tried these so I don’t know how good they are.)
UK Vipassana Retreat
Dhamma Deepa
Gaia House
A list of insightful readings that have helped me on my journey.
The Power of Now – Eckhart Tolle
New Earth – Eckhart Tolle
Secret – Lorna Byrne
The Power – Lorna Byrne
The monk who sold his Ferrari – Robin Schama
Four Contracts – Don Miguel Luis
Becoming Supernatural – Dr. Joe Dispenza
You are a placebo. – Dr. Joe Dispenza
