I'm back (it was great)

[Gareth]

Well hello everyone.

That's my own kind of three week meditation retreat done. For nearly three weeks, my contact with the outside world has been at an absolute minimum (apart from phone calls to my mum.) It has just been me and my family, and it has been absolute bliss. No work, no news, no friends just me, my wife and my two boys. We have all had a wonderful time.

I expected to have to let go of a multitude of thoughts about EM and whether this is going to be a succesful project (I have had lots of these in the past.) Quite early on I came to the realisation that I will be promoting mindfulness for the rest of my life, because I love doing this so much. The success is not important; it will happen or it won't (there is some mindfulness for you.)

About the time that I went away, I experienced a bit of a worsening of my mobility. So I had lots of the usual 'blindness,' 'wheelchair' and 'not being able to do stuff with my children' thoughts that are extremely common to me. I did a lot of meditating on this holiday though and right now, my mindfulness is probably as good as it has ever been; regular practice is most definitely good for you. I was able to let go of these doomongering stories and get on with the business of enjoying my holiday. I also spent a heap of time with my kids which is very mindful time. Lots of meditation plus lots of informal practice has been wonderful; I have never felt more present in my whole life.

I am three years into my mindfulness practice now, and it feels to me like the benefits continue to get deeper and deeper; this is a truly life-changing practice. I am a very lucky man though, and I haven't yet had to apply mindfulness to significant difficulties and emotions in my life,

I have indeed returned refreshed and raring to go with the EM project. I am extremely chilled out at the moment. Let's see if that can continue.

[JonW]

Welcome back Gareth. Good to hear you in such fine fettle. Cheers, Jon

[FeeHutch]

Welcome back!

[BioSattva]

I haven't yet had to apply mindfulness to significant difficulties and emotions in my life,

I often think about this for myself - in our heavily manicured societies it can be quite easy to think the absence of stress is down to our methodology, rather than the way external systems have been set up to limit the appearance of stressful phenomena. I have had some very stressful experiences which I feel have deepened my practice - not the threat of potential blindness, but well-beyond the 'ordinary', and yet as usual practice is only ever as powerful as what I put in on a regular, daily, 24 hour basis. It's hilariously frustrating how much it's about "just doing it" and not very much about where one has been before. Not practicing while relating to a time when one practiced a lot and had some insights into mindfulness is like an old wrinkly woman telling people she used to be a very beautiful young woman. People can tend to shrug their shoulders and frankly say: "Well, that's not now, is it?".

It's also easy for me to forget that I live in a peaceful country which is growing in economic spending power every day and where I literally have zero fears while walking the streets at any hour of the day. I sometimes remember what it is like on the streets in the UK - everyone closed up in their houses - scuttling from one place to the next. Of course that's a huge generalization, but I realise that I am monitoring the effectiveness of my practice while living outside of some quite stressful social factors that are present in other countries. There are other stressors - there's a yin to every yang, but there can be absences of stress in 'maintained' environments which can lull me into a false sense of security. I think seeking a wide variety of settings and social interaction can do wonders for mindfulness practice. The Buddhist monks who do charity work and go begging probably benefit from that way of living a lot.

I can get sucked into thinking that sitting at a computer and sharing information is just as nourishing to my practice as chatting face-to-face mindfully with someone going through a bought of depression, for example, but I think the former is a lot more comfortable.