I started the new year and ended the year past high up in the Sierra Madre Mountains. It was my first time to attend a full 10 days Meditation Retreat in noble silence and about 60 hours total of sitting still, focused on just the breath. It was a way of clearing the mind and purifying the heart to experience a blissful connection with the Divine.
After a lot of fidgeting, daydreaming, dozing off, ruminating about the past or planning for the future, I was finally able to tame my mind and calm my heart as I quietly sat and breathed, finding contentment in the present moment. I cried a lot in those hours of silence, many of us did, as we slowly let go of the clogs in our soul. Only then were we receptive enough to listen to God’s subtle murmurings and be blessed to receive the gift of inner peace. Getting there entails a delicate balance of consistent focus while allowing oneself to relax and just be here and now, the only time that truly matters. It is a daily practice we hope to sustain.
I am grateful to our meditation teacher and my classmates for their support and for sharing their beautiful energy, for the pristine environment (the rainforest that wrapped us in sunshine, thunderstorms, a sea of clouds, and rainbows), for the animals that brought so much comfort and joy, and the retreat house staff who served us selflessly throughout our stay.
The meditation retreat reminded me to greet our every human experience with acceptance and gratitude, and to learn to be still in the face of life’s impermanence, just as St Teresa of Avila wrote in a bookmark tucked in her prayer book found after her death: “𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒔. 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒃𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔. 𝑾𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑯𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉.” 🌸🙏🧘♀️🌬🍃🥗🐾🐕🐈🌄🎇🌧🌈
Fullness of Life 