28 June 2011

Another camping trip

My last solitary camping trip to Yorke Peninsula was at the end of March.

Having rearranged work and life to enable me to go off camping for a 3 day weekend once a month, it was the third trip for this year...and part of my strategy for taking time to grieve and feel and process all the emotions around Mark's death.
That was 3 months ago and the urge for solitude, silence and communion has once again crept up on me. My new employer is fairly flexible so I've been able to get next Monday off work. I'm so excited to be planning this next trip...I'll pack up the camping gear on Friday night and leave very early on Saturday morning.

This trip will be different to the others.
The trauma and shock of Marks death have subsided (though I suspect not quite as much as I think). My outlook is positive and almost joyful. And I am happy.

A few hours of meditation last weekend whet my appetite for silence and stillness - they facilitate the spirited journey towards the centre, so I'm looking foward to the opportunity to explore at length where the deeper, quieter states of consciousness will lead. It's only possible with long, uninterrupted hours of sitting.

So the plan for this camping trip is to sit: a minimum of 5 hours on Saturday, 7 hours on Sunday, and 5 hours on Monday before packing up camp around 3pm...
A few solid hours of sitting is nowhere near as intense as a Vipassana retreat, but if nothing else, it will soothe my soul and rekindle my meditation practice.

How grateful I am to be returning to the campsite that I will now and forever associate with an extraordinary period of my life.

This is, right now, an extraordinary period of my life.

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