Posts Tagged ‘Silence’

A health professional I know wanted to offer a class on survival tips for this busy holiday season but people told her, they were too busy to attend.  We laughed about it but it is a sad commentary on the way we celebrate many holidays.  And the way many move through each day.

A writer, Robert Benson, once wrote that we move so fast that often if we stop to think about it, we can get ourselves tired for the next day as well. We often live on the edge of exhaustion, not realizing how tired we are.

What to do?  I find a morning stretch or yoga sequence to be a refreshing way to begin the day.  I listen to music while I eat breakfast and read the morning paper – the images and noise of TV are too jarring for me in the morning.  I make a list of things to do and calls or emails to send – a way to focus the day.  I get up from my desk often to get or refill my  cup of tea – a breather from looking at screens and a time to say hello to co-workers.  I don’t read all the ads that come in this season – there is way too much stuff in my life.

What do you do?  Breathe deep and have a blessed holiday season.

Thomas Carlyle once wrote, “In silence, great things fashion themselves.”  I wonder what ideas, thoughts, or discoveries are being shaped as 55 Buddhists are spending 8 days in silence at Rolling Ridge?  I spent time living with Quakers at Pendle Hill , learning how to befriend silence (if is harder than it looks), but many of my staff are wondering about this week.  Not talking for that long, oh my.

I like to think of all the prayer and meditation seeping into the walls of this retreat center and leaving a blessing for those who come next.  Just as all the camp youth from the 60′s to the turn of the century left laughter and joy in the walls and halls, now we add silence and prayer.  This old estate has heard lots and we are delighted for all the traditions that find a welcome here, each adding to the environment. Tell me what you experience on your next visit to Rolling Ridge.  Listen.