Meditation Retreat

I finally started a regular meditation practice last fall.  15 minutes every morning.  In theory, meditation seems like the easiest thing to do, because there is nothing to do.  That’s the whole idea.  Just sit.  No moving.  No thinking.  But why is it so difficult?  We’ve become so dependant on distractions.  Always busy.  Constant restlessness.  Living in our heads.  I still suck at it.  But the more I practice, the more I feel myself eventually settle.  Accepting.  No longer trying to run away.  Many underlying issues arise.  Meditation teaches me about me.  And now, in the midst of this global pandemic.  Self-isolation.  Physical distancing.  Quarantine.  Lockdown.  Everyone being told to stay at home.  We have been asked to sign up for a meditation retreat.  That alone is difficult enough.  Not knowing when this retreat will end makes it much more difficult.  Face-to-face with our Covid-19 fears, we feel immobilized.  We can’t run away anymore.  But what if we were to accept being forced to stay home as an invitation to come back home?  What if we looked at being stuck mostly indoors as an opportunity to turn inward?  Maybe the best way to survive this pandemic is to approach it as a meditation?  Let it break us.  Let ourselves become undone.  Blessed with more family time.  Talk to each other.  Get to really know each other.  Be afraid together.  Heal as a family.  Let it show us what’s really important.  What if we use this time to fertilize the birth of a new level of family connection?  The choice is ours.  Stay safe everyone.