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
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.