Practice, Patience, Perserverance

September 23rd, 2003 at 12:00am

Day 7. Ten hours of meditation per day sucks. Too much! Getting annoyed that I am having to do it all the time. Of course I could just lay in bed in my room all day and no one would know the difference, but I do want the challenge and I want to see what comes of it. Luckily the head monk told me ten hours again tomorrow, not eleven as I feared. Also said to try 40 minutes sitting/ 40 minutes walking (currently at 35). Hard work, but I know that I will be the one to benefit.

Five new recruits today. I have a new girl in both rooms on either side of me. Trying to decide if I want to continue the retreat longer than 10 days. I won’t decide today because after ten hours I am feeling stressed, tired, angry, and my back hurts and I am tired of ants crawling on me and flies landing on my face when I am trying to sit and meditate. Yesterday I was feeling happy and peaceful and good and was keen to stay, so I’ll go for another ten-hour shift and re-assess. I would really like to stay long enough that I’m feeling good every day. Time to get up and make the mental donuts now….

Walking meditations around the Chedi

Entry Filed under: Chiang Mai,North,Thailand