A Glorious and Marvelous Feat

Whenever I have set time aside to do a retreat, there is a part of me—the checking, holding and making backseat driver—that says, “Wouldn’t you rather stay home? It’s going to be hard! I’m not even sure this practice actually works.” I mean, every time there is at least a little of that kind of thinking! One would guess that after over 40 years of doing retreats my “faith” mind would rule, but no, it still gets slightly stuck with little pieces of that thin and tenacious ego shell. It’s all so very interesting!

The process of committing to and showing up for a retreat is a glorious and marvelous feat! From the perspective of the big picture, it is the ultimate manifestation of believing in one’s self. Once the retreat has started, all we have to do is follow the schedule. Following the schedule is the most important thing, whether it’s a solo retreat or Kyol Che. The second most important thing is to diligently let go of all thoughts that are not of this moment. Now that is of course difficult, but because you have already done the hardest thing, which was showing up for the retreat in the first place, of course you can chip away at letting go of uncreative mind formations. Just keep following the schedule and making an effort to continuously drop into this moment.