The Gift That Keeps Giving- The Silence and The Power of Stillness

What to say… a magical five days as far as I am concerned! No words can express the fire of Truth blazing in this beautiful room facing the Ottawa River and surrounded by wonderful ancient trees! We were as One in discovering ever so deeply the power of Silence and Stillness.

Of course it had its moments; removed from all distractions (books, phone, electronics) for five days was challenging at times wasn’t it? - especially when it was your first time like it was for most of you! Facing the unknown in a very concrete way and not sure what to expect, the mind had a field day at times: will I be bored, what if my head can’t stop spinning, what if I can’t meditate, what will happen if I don’t communicate with my loved ones for five days?... but that was just at the beginning... Soon the beautiful embrace of the quiet environment of Galilee Center became a cradle to support our inquiry, to soften, relax and open to the possibility of discovering what is always here.

Through the exploration of our own specific human experience, our story, events in our life, and diving in our own direct experience, we got to see what all of this was pointing to… like something calling deep from within to discover that beyond our story, our passing emotions, our mind’s chattering… there is such a deep resource that is available to all.

The beauty of it all is that it was going beyond any theory or philosophy. God knows we have a ton of those! But sometimes it is just not enough and there is a deep call, a whisper inside that arises wordlessly suggesting: there is more to you…. more to life…

By not dispersing our energy and distracting ourselves by talking and staying busy and entertaining ourselves… we got to discover that there is a natural gathering of energy in service of our deepest intention. To end the perpetual runaround of the mind-emotion identification is such a relief… We have just been looking for Truth in the wrong place. That’s all! What a freedom to discover directly how our avoidances perpetuate our suffering in the form of anxiety, depression and chronic agitation.

We got to discover the power of dissatisfaction-disillusion that is simply a stop sign, an invitation to look in a different direction. We got to discover this “hungry ghost” inside that would never be satisfied no matter how much success, appreciation, love, power or money we have and the deep unworthiness that it covers. To slow down enough so we can hear beyond the ongoing noise of the conditioned mind.

Through inquiry, meditation and sincere sharing in the form of Satsang, we were able to go deeper in such a beautiful way. We were One in this deep intention of awakening… I was deeply moved and touched by your sincerity, sharings and discoveries. We were dumbfounded at times, laughing at times, crying at times and deeply committed. What a gift to share those precious days together! One moment at a time… one discovery at a time... Enjoying the journey… the possibilities are un-limited and you definitely got a taste of that. I support you fully in your ongoing discovery. By being available to ourselves, a deep wisdom and unbelievable resources shined through.

Here are two poems that were written spontaneously by one participant who generously agreed to share them.

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Driven, achieving, seeking,

seeking, fixing, fixing, fixing, seeking, fixing, fixing, seeking,

tweaking, tweaking, tweaking,

static movement.

Humility, ahh humility

shattering humility,

ground shifting humility.

softening, loosening

Spirals and spirals and spirals and spirals

release,