30 Days writing challenge Day 10 : 10 Days
10 Days, that’s what I Spent, 2 times in a Vipassana retreat; on time in Dama Mahi center, in France, the other at home.
These 2 retreats were painful but simply life-changing and incredible. Sitting on my ass, just concentrating on the present; training y spirit to stay in the present…no talking, the fewer thoughts possible; just letting the spirit evolve by itself; breath at its own pace.
In normal time, I need to write 2 hours a day mini, each day, to feel good.
But in these sessions, I curiously didn’t need any writing, I just felt great to live, to feel freer and freer from suffering.
Better, In each session, as I was concentrating on my respiration and body; good scripts started to write by themselves, in my mind… naturally and effortlessly.
As, usually, I’m afraid to share it to the world, I had no fear and was totally ready to share my work to the world; make everything I can to diffuse what I do.
So what’s the problem now? Why is it so difficult to meditate more? What are the obstacles?
- I have to start by saying that I meditate every day, at least 5 minutes. Sometimes 20, sometimes 30, 40… But almost never more than one hour (as a good vipassana session is supposed to last 1 hour).
- The first obstacle is obviously time. When there are many things scheduled in my day, it’s really difficult to meditate for 1h.
- The second obstacle is others (Hi, Jean-Paul!); how do I say to my companion “no, we won’t go to this restaurant today because I have to meditate”? How do I say to my friends: “No, I can’t call you to talk about your problems because I have to meditate”; to my parents “No I can’t see you this weekend because when I see you, I have practically no time to meditate. In fact, imposing my sessions requires a lot of courage that I don’t have for now.
- The third is sens of priority: sometimes, I have 2 hours free in front of me. And I‘m dying to(nonexhaustive list): Watch 60 different movies; 30 tv shows; Read 35 scripts, Read 250 life changing books; Write; Make sport; Go out, call friends and have a drink, compose, spend time on youtube… In this context, it’s very hard to say to myself: “Okay, I have 2 hours, and will spend one to meditate (so no movie for me, and 1 hour of relaxing activities).
I guess that’s why they organize retreats, and why the ones who really want to learn meditation seriously become monks.
But I think that these difficulties make the thing really interesting and make us progress in the long path of self-knowledge. Introducing meditation in a very charged schedule, struggling with many desires make us learn about ourselves more than anything in the world.
In fact, when we talk about spirituality, many have fantasist images in the head; think that we will see stars, and have great hallucinations about hindu divinities. But as I practice it, it’s a very concrete, very realistic practice, that keep us in reality and make us very pragmatic, and yet happy about our lives.
So, as Goenka (vipassana teacher) says : Be Happy.
