Reflections on Week Two

First of all, I can't believe I have already been here for 2 weeks.  The time is really flying by and I believe it will be sad to leave this amazing place.  The other day I said that the reason time is flying is that it takes so long to do everything when you live in a tent.  Just to go take a shower is like packing for an overnight trip.  You can't forget your towel, etc. or "oh well".

One of the many joys of being here is how kind everyone is from permanent staff to seasonal staff and guests.  We are all on our own journey and trying to figure out what form that will take.  The other day I went into the Art Hut for a Mandela class because I wanted to find out what it was and how to make one.  Now my artistic training ended in elementary school and that is about the level that my mandela project took.  However, when I put it on the bulletin board, someone found something nice to say about it.

It is also fascinating how many random conversations take place everyday.  I am enrolled in a workshop with Brian Weiss, M.D. on July 22-24 and am thrilled to have this opportunity since I have read a couple of his books.  Well, the other day a woman who is also a seasonal staff person like me and whom I have had a few brief conversations with, sat down next to me at breakfast.  Immediately, she started talking about Brian Weiss and how kind and approachable he is and that she had been to several of his workshops.  Now she didn't even know that I had signed up for his workshop.  Then she left the table and I haven't seen her for a couple of days.  And that just the way things happen here.

In closing I want to share something with you from my morning meditation sessions.  We have a segment called "loving kindness" and I wish this for all of you.  It goes like this:  "May you be filled with loving kindness.  May you be held in loving kindness.  May you accept yourself just the way you are."