This morning's practice started with our "check in" sheet that we complete every morning. It gets us to set an intention for the day and to give some numbers to various aspects of our lives. I have noticed that each day my percentage has grown slowly each day. Once we have completed the form we sit with another guest and share. Today, just as I started sharing I said that I am "inching forward" and it was a bit of an ah moment (hence the name of today's blog).
As someone who likes to make huge gains quickly, I am proud that I am very content with slow progress. Once we completed the check in we have group sharing and had a long conversation about anger. It immediately made me think of the quote I share all the time "anger is just sad's bodyguard".
We moved into talking about mindful eating which resonated with me as I know that I don't think about what I eat and often eat way too much and not even notice. We are so lucky that the food is so delicious here plus there are no "life" distractions allowing us to eat slowly and really enjoy it. Liz got us to ask while we're eating: do I really want this, am I even hungry, am I feeling sad or mad, will eating change my mood? This ideas will definitely help me back home.
We talked a lot about grief today too and the different ways people grieve and how we can grieve not just for death and dying. I shared a bit about how I am working through accepting help from others and I am learning that people wanting to help you is an expression of love. I continue to work on knowing my self worth and that I am worthy of others love and help.
Our meditation practice this morning encouraged us to use one of the learned strategies. I used the "noticing" one as that really resonates with me. I was able to feel and hear and stay in practice till the end. I also feel this strategy will be doable at school because it is such a busy environment and I will need to be able to be mindful able sights and sounds.Lunch was make you own wrap with tempah and it wasn't too bad. The salad was a curry dressing and so yummy.
This afternoon's session was so cool because we meditated for a solid hour but were transitioned from sitting to walking to lying meditation. It was very impactful to keep your focus while moving into a new position. We did have a long honest conversation about assertiveness. We got some terrific ideas and hand outs regarding communication styles and understanding the difference between passive, assertive, and aggressive. That led to further talk about receiving criticism. We really got to responding and reacting thoughts. We talked about how to handle not sweating the small stuff. It was pretty powerful to really reflect on how our own multiple family and friendship relationships function.
Dinner was various amazing India dishes. I even ate lentils - if you know me, I freaking hate lentils but of course these were delicious with spices and mango chutney. Dessert was chocolate peanut butter cookies soooo good.
Tomorrow we do not have yoga in the AM will be practicing silence for 6 hours. Yes, silent meditation for 6 hours and will have multiple practices and a yoga session. We are all a little freaked out as we sit and chat all day long now. But, we do have kayaking tomorrow night and am looking forward to seeing the Wye Marsh.
