As I explained in my previous post, I spent all of last week at a mediation/creativity retreat. We focused our creativity on a dharma art journal. This journal was to be a space for expressing ourselves freely and without judgment.
The first day of sitting was actually quite rough. I had a headache that lasted the entire day and my mind would not quiet down. Two words kept popping up to describe what has happening in my head: monkey mind.
I did not invent this description; it came from one of my numerous Zen books (unfortunately, I can’t remember which one). You know this state of mind though.
We’ve all experienced it: the one in which you lie awake at night, sleepless, because your mind is racing a mile a minute from all the thoughts flooding your head.
Well, that was me on day one, only add on top of that a throbbing headache.
So, rather than fight monkey mind, I allowed it to be. Then I exploded in my journal and took 2 aspirins.
What the inside of my head looked like (more or less) on day one of sitting
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I'm Trish Roque and this is my arty blog. My goal is to make more art and to post it here along with musings and the many lessons I no doubt will encounter.
One Comment
That looks COOL!
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trish Reply:
May 26th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
@Sarah, Thanks Sarah, though at the time of sitting, my mind didn’t feel so cool. It wasn’t too far off what you see in the post LOL!
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