WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 Bell 00:00:04.396 --> 00:00:12.235 Dear community, we are August the 10th in the year 2023, 00:00:12.238 --> 00:00:19.823 and we are celebrating, savoring the last day of our Wake Up retreat, 00:00:19.823 --> 00:00:24.003 "Love in Action", here in the Upper Hamlet, 00:00:24.012 --> 00:00:28.513 in the Still Water meditation hall. 00:00:32.734 --> 00:00:36.734 I'm having an interesting moment sitting here. 00:00:39.943 --> 00:00:46.851 When we first started creating youth retreats, about 15 years ago, 00:00:46.851 --> 00:00:51.750 it was a real challenge to try and find enough young people 00:00:51.765 --> 00:00:54.545 to have a retreat. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And first there was forty, then the next year there was like 65, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then I remember the year we hit 100, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we were so excited that we had 100 registrations! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we went to report to Thay. This must have been around 2010. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Thay, there's a hundred young people in Europe 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that want to learn about mindfulness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Can you believe it ? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And he was like - well done! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then, we started to create the Wake Up movement. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I said (to Thay) it's a little bit overwhelming! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And he said, and his eyes lit up with sparkles, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he's like "excellent, it should feel overwhelming!" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and then I'm sitting here and I don't know how many hundreds 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of you there are, but it feels little overwhelming 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so I guess Thay's smiling with a sparkle in his eyes, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and be careful what you wish for, because it may come true. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I hope that's going to make it easier, but hey, I think speaking in front of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 spiritual friends 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is both challenging and wonderful, because on the one hand 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I feel I want to share my heart with you all, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and on the other, of course, I have the same feeling that we all do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of whether I can be enough in this moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I will share from my, my joy my experience and my practice 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that is my best, so, we will see. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We had some little flowers here thank you, thank you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Emotional support flowers, we also have an emotional 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 support cello, that we might, that I might need to call on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was 21 when I first came to Plum Village 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I was one of the people who as soon as there was 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a chance to receive the five mindfulness trainings, I 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 wanted to do it. And I was here for three weeks that summer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I was also one of the people who was like I am going to wait 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 until the last week. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I know some of us have been here through the summer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and have received the five mindfulness trainings 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this morning, and some of us are here for the first time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we also made that commitment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I have to say, getting on the train in Saint-Foy, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with the five mindfulness trainings, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 kinda in my pockets, in my back pack 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My life was different. It just was! 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I felt that I had a path. I felt that I knew what was important to me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I felt that what the experience was that I can't fall that far anymore. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It felt like the mindfulness trainings were a safety net or something. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Like, I'm held in their embrace that has been my experience. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And although I was sharing with my dharma discussion family 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like the path of the five mindfulness trainings is not exactly 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like a straight highway, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 its more like this, and thats definitely been my experience. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That it has been an adventure, an experiment, a work in progress 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a challenge and also a training, like really a training. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And as many of us know whatever kind of training we do, we learn 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by making mistakes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And by trying things out, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and by realizing ... oops, that was not in alignment or 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I have strayed far off my path at this point 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it was wonderful and has been wonderful to feel that they are part of my life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I don't know if your facilitators shared with you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but the dharma name we get with our five mindfulness trainings 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is the dharma name for your life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So even if you become monastics your monastic name is not as important 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 as your five mindfulness trainings name. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because we are kind of born into our spiritual path with this practice 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and with this training. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so this morning, definitely more than a hundred of us, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 maybe more than a hundred and fifty possibly closer to two hundred of us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 across the different hamlets. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 made a passionate, wholehearted commitment to take the insight 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and practises of the five mindfulness trainings 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 into our lives 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and so when we get on the train tomorrow, car or however we'r getting 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 home. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 these mindfulness trainings will be with us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and even if we didn't make a formal commitment to receive them 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 please take the piece of paper with you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They can penetrate our life because in a way they 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 encapsulate everything we have been experiencing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 together in this retreat. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 these trainings are, I guess, the kind of Plum Village blueprint for 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 changing the world. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They are nothing less than our full vision for the kind of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 loving action that can transform society and the future. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Someone asked me in the earth retreat earlier in this year 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I find the Plum Village teachings on the earth and climate so 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 fascinating, but do you have some kind of manifesto? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or something. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I said yeh - we have the five mindfulness trainings. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the person was like, no I didn't mean that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I was like, oh I mean that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because they are applied, they live they are kind of mult-dimensional. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Each one of them is about bringing the energy of awakening and love 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 directly into the heart of our daily lives, our relationship and our society. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so, as we take the practice home, maybe you go home and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 somebody comes up to you and says, how was your retreat? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And you say ... brilliant, great wonderful. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm going to practice meditation every day. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we may have a tendency to think that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the most easily applicable thing we can take from this retreat 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is ten minutes sitting every day. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we may think, that's going to be my aspiration, my intention 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my volition, I'm going to put it all into that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that is good, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I feel we can be more ambitious then that, and I say that because 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if we only do 10 minutes of sitting meditation a day, and then the 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 rest of our life is the same, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the transformation will not be very radical. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But what we can see in each one of these amazingly challenging 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and inspiring trainings in the five mindfulness trainings is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that they're about far more than sitting meditation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In fact, as a relatively active person, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when I left Plum Village I, found it really hard to do sitting meditation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think it was very rare that I made time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 was able to make time to do sitting meditation in my daily life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But, my life was utterly transformed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by the five mindfulness trainings. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One thing I learned, I used to sit on public transport and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 be present for the people around me, and present for 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my feelings. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And honestly, I think I got more kind of shift in my 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 perspective and way of living in the way I sat on buses in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 central London then I would have done by sitting on my cushion. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because I lived like many of us a very 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 active and hyperstimulated life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was juggling a job in journalism and a masters degree. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Like too much input, so if I sat on a cushion all I 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 heard or saw was just all the inputs 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but when I was in relation with the world, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 following my breathing and being in contact with my body 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's like I opened up a whole new way of experiencing life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that was really transformative for me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So as we think about what we might want to take away from 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this retreat, i'm gonna sort of reflect back to some of the 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 things that we've been experiencing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we can see for ourselves which of these elements 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 do I want to incorporate in my daily life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One of the things, perhaps the most important thing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we've been doing on this retreat is resting. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 relaxing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and spending time in silence 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 both with people but also with nature 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and so we may ask ourselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in my daily life, am I making time to rest 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So resting without screens 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 resting wihtout maybe headphones 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 am I able to rest and listen to my body 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and how might we incorporate a practice of resting in our daily lifes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So those of us that work from home we have a great chance to do relaxation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 after lunch. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because no one can see you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, you can find the Plum Village App or your favorite relaxation teachers 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and you can listen to a relaxation 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and make it a part of your working day. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We can make a commitment to ourselves, a promise to ourselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to spend more time in our nearest park, or to use 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 our days off from study or work to actively go out into 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 nature. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we can also , like, learning from this experience of being 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with people, in nature, is great. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How can we invite our friends and organize to have more time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in nature together. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That is actively cultivating ourselves, our body and mind 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 our awakening and also our resistance. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What I mostly want to talk to you today 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about is, spiritual resistance. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How the choices we make about how we live our life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are a fundamental, deep form, or resistance. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to collective consciousness and to society. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So choosing to rest in our super busy world is a form of resistance 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we don't need to consume, we don't need to do, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we're gonna be in the way that is the future we would 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like to see. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 more simple, more connected and more whole in ourselves, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 not relying on external things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like consuming and doing to be happy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Another thing we've been doing on this retreat has been stopping 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and looking deeply. We have had a chance to step back 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from our life, to step outside 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the constant 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 pressures that we are under 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to kind of take stock to reflect a little bit and to listen 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and so the question about how we could take this kind of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 stopping back with us could be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is there a practice that you can take in your life where 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 every day has at least one moment of stopping in it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So when I went back from Plum Village, the something 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I chose was drinking a glass of water from the water 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 cooler at work. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And my work was in a newsroom 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so it was a very overstimulated environment, but I wanted to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 keep this connection to Plum Village into my spiritual life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the spiritual dimension of my being because being in a - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was in the politics department of the newsroom - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so its probably like the least, a very not spiritual place. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I was determined, I was there for ethical reasons because 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that ethical news was possible 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 thats another story. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I chose that the moment that I drank water was the moment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when I would be deeply into touch with my spiritual life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I recited the poem that we have here in plum village 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for drinking water, many of us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 know this poem, but if we are here for the first time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you might have just seen it near a water tap somewhere 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and this poem goes like this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now, with the collective consciousness I don't have 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the first word. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Water, thank you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My brain is a social brain. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Water comes from high mountain sources, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 water runs deep in the earth 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 miraculously water comes to us and sustains all life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My gratitude is filled to the brim. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was working in the newsroom in Spring 2003 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was a peace activist and it was at the outbreak of the Iraq war 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And every time I went to the water cooler, I recited this poem. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There were screens all around me that had a live screen from the war 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 zone. And this was my act of resistance. This was my resolve 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my heart alive, to keep my hear open and to stay in touch with 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the beauty and wonder of life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so that I could see clearly the destruction and injustice of war. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is very interesting to practice mindfulness in the workplace 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so I invite you to try it out. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You could choose drinking water, you could choose maybe if you go 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to a place of work or study, you could choose some part of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the distance when you are transitioning from your home life 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to go int work, you can take 200 meteres, and you can say 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to yourself, I will walk as a free person, as my whole 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 self including my spiritual aspect from this lamppost 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to that pedestrian crossing and you make a resolve, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I will do this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So this was another thing I did. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Across the center of London 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I had my anti-war umbrella. In London it always rains 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 except recently but that's a different story. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sorry. No diversion. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I had my peace umbrella, in London everywhere. Everyone about 15 years 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ago still wore black in the city and had black umbrellas, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so my umbrellas was white and it had the words peace that I 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 had stencilled on to it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I got lots of reactions as I would walk through the city 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 on my way to the newsroom, but that was my almost resistance. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And when I can to a certain place near a cathedral, I chose a stretch 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that was quite nice, right in the heart of the city and I said 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I will walk as a free person, free from my anger about the war 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 free from my fear about the days work ahead, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 free from the fights, I will walk as a free human being on this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 beautiful planet earth and I did this for 200 meters 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and these were delicious 200 meters, and now whenever I 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 think of London, my heart goes right back to this particular stretch 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and whenever I have a chance to go there, I like to revisit 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my corner of these few hundred yards, that become like a 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 deep refuge for me because when we make 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a commitment to do that what's amazing is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 our whole body remembers the feeling, our whole 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 body remembers, I feel peaceful and free here 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so even if my mind is really stressed, about 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what was happening or about what I need to do 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that step up onto the pavement those two steps through this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 gate, the step to the right with the two trees, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 all the signals where, you are peaceful, you are fee 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you are a free person. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So this is another way that we can take the practice 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 home, that we can, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 take something as simple as walking to be an act of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 resistence and an act of freedom right in the heart 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of our daily life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was walking in the rush hour the people were often 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 overtaking me, because I had a certain pace. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It wasn't as slow as slow walking but there was a certain pace 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I found could tasted free to me. And everyone was like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 overtaking me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And literally, each step felt like an act of resistance. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't agree with the direction that my society is going in and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I will express my resistance with my body, with each step. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I reclaimed my freedom 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 from this rat race, from this collective consciousness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Another thing we have learned to do on this retreat is to be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 present with discomfort, with discomfort in the body, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 discomfort in our feelings, discomfort in the mind. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think these things are changing now but at least this was not 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 something that I had a chance to learn at school, it was only 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 something I had a chance to learn at age 21 when I came 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to Plum Village. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Many of you 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 have a lot of emotional maturity. I feel that I'm the kind of - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm a millenial and I know that many of us here 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are Gen Z - so we're possibly slightly different generations. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it's wonderful to see that the emotional intelligence is there 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the young generation. That we are finding ways to understand 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the landscape of our emotions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we hope that over the last few days, we've learned something 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 really tangible, felt ways that we can be with a painful feeling 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when it comes up. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We've been learning how to name it, or even beyond naming 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 how to feel it, in the body, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 how it might effect our breathing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our breathing becomes more tense, or shorter or more jagged. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our jaw becomes tighter, and we've been learning how to encounter 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and accompany and embrace unconditionally, challenging and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 uncomfortable feelings that come up. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 just that this is a really great skill to have. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I feel that as a human being when we can be with and master some 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the most painful feelings that we have, it's honestly, close to a 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 superpower, kind of. It allows us to have agency, to have freedom 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to have a way out, of some really difficult situations that we will 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 be encountering in our life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To be able to feel the feel, feel the emotions and the painful feelings 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but, not be overwhelmed by them. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because we have an energy of mindfulness, we hold on to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 our breathing, we hold onto our felt sense of our physical body. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Something as simple as feeling our hands, or feeling our toes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We find a way to be and breathe through difficult feelings. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And what we've found on this retreat I'm thinking, I'm sure in every 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 dharma sharing circle group, is that when we can be with a 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 difficult feeling, it allows us to be authentic. We can be real. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We can share our whole self because we're not afraid of it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we've been able to speak our truth in our dharma sharing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 circle, and we've been training how to listen to other people's uncomfortable 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 feelings and to accompany and offer that spiritual friendship and support. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And this also a kind of superpower. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To be able to show up for our friends 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 without fear, but with a real strong, and loving presence. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that we are also taking home with us tomorrow. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we are with our friends and when they are having a difficult 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 moment, we know how to come back to our breathing, we know how 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to feel the reflection of their suffering in our own body. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Take care of it there and be with them, not to change it in any way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but to be not alone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We've been learning how to be together, even in suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And this is so important for our generation, because we know that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the path ahead will be challenging for us. So learning how to suffer is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a really important skill and training. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And this brings us to something really important, which is, something 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that Br. Phap Huu touched on in the first talk, that mindfulness is not 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 just to make us feel better. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Many of us may have come to mindfulness through some kind 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of wellbeing program or because someone said you can take care 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of your mental health with mindfulness so please practice 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 mindfulness to be well. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And there are some offerings of mindfulness that only go that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 far. But in deep mindfulness, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 authentic mindfulness, original mindfulness, real mindfulness, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know - whatever this thing is that we do here, that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 has ancient roots, more than 2,000 years old, in our kind of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 mindfulness, we don't just practice mindfulness to feel well. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We practice mindfulness to understand our suffering and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to find a way out, for ourselves, for our loved ones, and for our 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 society. So deep in the DNA of our kind of mindfulness, is a kind 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of radical transformation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A way out, changing things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Bell] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We are leaving this retreat with a spiritual path. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Path. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it has something to do with suffering and it has something to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 do with happiness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Suffering , illbeing, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Happiness, illbeing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We're learning how to handle painful feelings and suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we have been very actively musically, joyfully, learning how to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 generate happiness. These are two really important skills. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sometimes we may think that happiness only comes from 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 outside. And we may sort of outsource our happiness ... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 oh you know because the conditions are not enough, I can't be happy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So we kind of give up our agency, give up our freedome to be happy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 by making it someone else or something else's responsibility. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And here we reclaim our power, and we say that it is possible to learn to train ~ 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to create a happy moment for ourself and for the people around us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In Buddhism we are not afraid of suffering. We're ready to name it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To call it out, to look at it head on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I think that on this retreat many of you are also 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 deeply aware and awake to suffering in the world. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One sister reflected to me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 sometimes it might be that in the collective consciousness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 right now, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we think that we have the right to suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we have the right to suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because the situation is so bad 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in every aspect. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But we don't think we have the right to be happy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's quite interesting - think about that for a moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We allow ourselves to suffer but we don't allow ourselves to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 be happy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's a bit of a koan for us. Maybe its' not true. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But we can investigate that a little bit, why we might 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 think it is. And perhaps it has something to do 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with the collective consciousness that surrounds us and we'll go into 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that in a little bit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our teacher said that learning how to suffer is an art and a training and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 yesterday in the Q&A there was a really interesting question 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think it was the second question about on the one hand we know that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we are enough, and we alrady are what we want to become 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we can feel complete and whole 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but sometimes with the energy of mindfulness or professional settings 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we become aware that we are lacking in some areas. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we want to train or to cultivate 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I really appreciated this question 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because both are true. There is a kind of energy in mindfulness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that when we wake up to for example our habits 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or the thoughts and feelings that are coming up in us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we may want right away to do something, to change 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the situation, there's a kind of dynamism. On the one 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 hand we accept it totally on the other hand we see 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the possibility for change. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 things are impermanent - we can effect things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So actually in Buddhism, the spirit of training, cultivating 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is really, really important, and i think that the one skill 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I've really got better at in the monastery because 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was the nearer of the four is how to suffer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the immediate result of learning how to suffer 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is that you are also actually directly learning how to be happy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because for me the obstacle for my happiness was my suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the compost in my suffering has given me more joy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it's really interesting, because it's not that my suffering has 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 neccesarily gone away, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But that I've learned to be with it differently. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And this is something our teacher said, to be aware of the misconception 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we somehow might need to take our suffering out of us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 put it down or take it out that I've learned that the way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I can be with it, because my suffering is kind of real 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in some sense, because it's felt, how can I be with it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And ye, for me what I've learned is that my, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my suffering is not something kind of fixed, it's a bit more like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 a river. And this is really interesting to kind of unpack a little bit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So when we talk about taking care of our suffering. The mind is an 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 embodied mind. So we're taking care of our mind and we're taking 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 care of our body at the same time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're not two different things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is really important. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How we are living in our body, how we are taking care of body 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 how we're eating, acting, consuming 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 has a direct link also to our suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And, our suffering may kind of reflect, reflect the collective, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And this is what I have kind of discovered. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That, my suffering has quite a bit to do with the suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of my family. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 LIke many of us I have a strong seed of despair 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I also have another one of fear and anxiety. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I have another one that's a little more like sorrow, or 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 melancholy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And, when I've learned how to suffer with them, I've learned not to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 see them as mine alone. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But to see them as something that belongs to a river of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 ancestors. And so when I'm taking care of it, I'm taking care of it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 on behalf of my father, his father, and grandfather and grandmother, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and other grandfather, and other grandmother. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I would like to give you this image of our emotions being this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 river, kind of being fed by different inputs, so that the lineage that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 comes from our ancestors and somewhat in the body, and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so from our childhood and our nurturing, and there are also 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the inputs from our society. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 From kind of collective consciousness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And our way of consuming. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So one of the interesting things about this week is that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we have consumed a differend kind of consciousness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think the kind of screen consumption, has probably 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 gone down by like 90%. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We have been with a lot of non-violence, a lot of compassion 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and good will. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A lot of presence rather than distraction. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We've had healthy good - very particular kinds of the day 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I don't know if this is normal for you to have three healthy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 regular meals may be very new for our body and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 our body may be feeling good aobut it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 WE've had a different kind of experience about our own 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 consciousness, because our own good seeds, have been 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 triggered, while we've been here they've been kind of activated. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Each of us, our seed of compassion our seed of stillness, our seed of joy 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in different ways. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So what we have been kind of immersing ourselves in 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is what Thay calls, community 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of resistence. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 WE have given ourselves the chance to experience something difference 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this week, and to see how it feels. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And all the insight that we've had about our own, suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 our other's suffering, our families 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 suffering, about different decisions and choices, we have to make, is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because we have given our consciousness, a really deep 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 kind of bath, in a different environment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So to recap something we were learning this week, we were learning 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about the different kinds of fuel that are feeding the river of our body and mind. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And, the fuel has something to do with how we feel, so 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we learned about four kinds -food and drink (we used to call 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it edible foods) and i can't write the word edible on the board 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so I'll just say food and drink. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sense impressions - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So the screens and the music but also like the noise of the city 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we give ourselves a break from that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The fourth one (sic) my volition or intention 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we've been exposed to a different kind of volition and intention this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 week an intention to live differently to build a different future, to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 be with each other in a different way. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And this other one that I am talking about now is consciousnness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 exposing ourselves to a different consciousness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So the inputs this week have been different, and that's 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 why our feeling now is different. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is your power and this is your freedom. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we go home from this retreat, you are the master 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you can choose how you will consume 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 thse different things, how you will guard yourself, how you will 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 protect yourself. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How you will resist. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We want society to go in a different direction, and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 all ours choices around these things are a chance to resist 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and in our own life to embody the different directions - to claim 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 our freedom. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it takes training, right. We have had it surrounded. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And going out from this retreat we will be encountering a really 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 good intention, and then the absolute reality. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of our habit, how we usuallY 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 spend our evenings, how we usually spend our mornings. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How we spend our free time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So there is some organizing going onhere. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How could we make commitments to organize our life so we are 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 eating in a different way, so we're spending our time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 differently. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we encounter, like for example in our, many of us this week 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we've touched a deep fear, inside or a deap anger and one piece 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of the Buddhist understanding of consciousness, that we want 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to give you, is that consciousness is both individual and collective. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When you feel angry, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we name our anger, we allow our anger to be there, embrace 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that feeling of anger, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we then have a chance to ask ourselves the question 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and in what way is this anger not only mine? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So to not identify with our anger, to not like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 put ourselves in a box 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and say I'm angry, I'm angry because of this, and that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but to see, wow, my anger at the fossil fuel companies 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is a generational, societal, collective anger. My anger at inequity and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 racial injustice is a collective anger. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we allow ourselves to recognize 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that our consciosness, also belongs 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to the collective consciosness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our fear and anxiety for our future also its strong in the collective. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that is why it is strong in us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now what is interesting about this is that with the energy of mindfulness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because of the deep interbeing, between our consciousness and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the collective, that is exactly where your power lies. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That is where we have agency. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We belong to a collective. We are intrinsic to the collective and when 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we transform ourselves we transform the collective. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is one way we can apply the insight of interbeing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Insight of Interbeing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our grief with the destruction of the earth and cultures 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is also the grief of the earth herself. That is why it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 feels so big. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we are a part of that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That we don't need to hold it in. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 identify with it, and kind of imprison ourselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 within it, saying me I'm someone,I am angry 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I am in grief and in despair. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we've done quite some work with climate 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 leaders -I'm an activist and we host retreats 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for climate leaders, and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we hosted one recently near Vancouver in Canada 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And, it was very interesting because it was the first time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I realized that climate despair has become a thing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 thata people were identifying with 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I realized that there was a story that went with it, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and that it was really hard, people were finding it hard 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to see that their despair was impermanent and ever changing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and interrelational 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so I'm a student of despair in practice, and I've realized 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that when I am learning to suffer with my despair 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's been really important for me not to identify with it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but to recognize it as a seed that has been transmitted to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 me and activated by my environment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so I trained to allow my despair 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to like, evolve a little bit, to have 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 different threads to it. To be something fluid, something 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 made of non-despair elements. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Something made of multiple parts, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and this can be - even our despair inter-is, it's not a fixed thing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've really learned that it has not helped me when I have 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 identified too much with my despair. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Another thing that might belong to the collective consciousnes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that might - any of us might feel, is like an energy of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 restlessness, and kind of craving. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But this is very important to know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if we come to do sitting meditation and we sit down and we feel 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the restlessness in our body 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and like urges and impulses 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 craving in our feelings and body 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this is also the result 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of our capitalist, consumerist society 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you are not enough, because you need to consume more. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we've kind of been automated and trained - all of these inputs 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 are telling us that we need more to be happy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So when in this retreat, we are sitting in stillness, not reaching 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for the phone, not reaching to eat or drink something 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that is an act of resistance. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we go home, we can do the same, we can take time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 maybe on the journey home how can I simplify my life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We've lived so simply this week. We did not need much to be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 happy. The presence of people was a condition of happiness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Well hopefully for most of us, most of the time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And hopefully the present of the forest and the trees. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 for quite moments, was a condition of happiness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But when we can be with our friends in a simple way 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we don't need a lot to be happy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sister Hero has a good insight around the question of striving 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and optimizing, kind of not-enoughness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we feel like society is telling us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the collective consciousness is telling us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you need to develop yourself more in order to contribute. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you need to have these skills, this and this diploma, these qualifications 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And, you need to be productive. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You need to be efficient. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We've created all of these systems a kind of this crazy society 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 all of these screens, these e-mails and we have to learn to be 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 efficient, productive, Siste rHero has this questions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we feel that pressure, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that society is asking us to optimize but for whose benefit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To give up our time, our energy, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Wwe may end up like losing our life, like literally spending our 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 time to create a skill for a specific economic process, but we may not 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 be living our life in the process. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We may lose our freedom, our contact with nature, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 our time with friends, our ease with our body, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 With the energy of mindfulness we have a chance to stop 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to look deeply and to deeply reflect on our questions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What I'm doing with my time, and energy - is it meaningful for me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Who benefits? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Like every hour counts. Our livelihood is important. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and how we spend our time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Who we're with. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The collective consciousness, we expose ourselves to. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There was one day in the newsroom when after drinking my glass of water 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I came back round towards my desk 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my colleagues were cursing and arguing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and [booging] someone else 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 being very aggressive about the next program. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I just suddenly realized I'm in a toxic atmosphere. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And it was literally like that I'd probably been there like 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 18 months by then, drinking my water, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I just suddenly was - what am I doing to myself. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what am I doing to myself. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Practicing mindfulness in the workplace is really important. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because you can wake up and you can see 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 honestly, I swear that my path out of the newsroom 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 began in that split second. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when I woke up to reality 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of my environment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'm on the sixth floor of this gigantic building in Westminster 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in London and I'm wasting my life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That was quite a punch line. I didn't mean it. Okay. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The one thing I wanted to say about the path of 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the five mindfulness trainings 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we heard it this morning, we read it in the text, they all begin with this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 really powerful phrase. Aware of the suffering caused by 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we wake up to like what is actually going on 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and what is wrong with what is going on, then immediately 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there is a release of energy and intention or volition - I want to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 do something about this. I vow to change my choices, my 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 situation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We will now enjoy the sound of a bell. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [Bell] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we wake up we realize that something is 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 suffering and then we want to understand the roots of that suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why has it come to be? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In simple ways and in deep ways. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If I 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 am watching something late at night and I am not able to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 resist this automatic play on the next episode and I am 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 still watching something at three in the morning 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and I have a headache the next day, awareness of suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the path that led to suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is very clear. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's really good to be mindful. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Maybe we should have a pop-up on certain apps and things so that 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we have a certain awakening in the moment, so we know 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what to change in order to do it differently. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And this is the case on the personal level and also 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 on the collective level. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our way of consuming may water our seeds of fear and anxiety. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Maybe there can be a different way that we read the news. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or we can put a shorter timer on social media. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Maybe the choices we make about how we spend our time 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who we spend our time with. Are the people we surround ourselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with - lifting us up? or pulling us down. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we look deeply into suffering and we see it deeply 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 right away we see the path out of suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So we see that there is something we can do to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 make a difference. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We see the cause of suffering and what we can do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So Thay, he describes it as the path that led to suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 he called it the path of suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the path of happiness and wellbeing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Some of you may recognize this as the four noble truths. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So what we are doing here with the five mindfulness trainings 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 represent a path that is leading us through and out of suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And so we may ... 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A very important point about this 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so underline it - you may have realized it already 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the function or the purpose, the intention of mindfulness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is not to make an unliveable world 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 liveable. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Mindfulness is not to help us survive and unsurvivable situation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For me in the newsroom, mindfulness began by helping me stay true 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to myself in really difficult days. And really painful moments. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But mindfulness carries a seed of insight in it, until the day when 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that mindfulness [says' you;re in a toxic environment, get 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 out of here. It didn't say stay in this toxic environment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and breathe. And this is really important because sometimes 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 mindfulness is introduced into different sectors to kind of enable 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 toxicity, to enable an unsurvivable working environment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or an unsurvivable ....well 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 even military environment, there Is now mindfulness in the military. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But that's another story. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we practice the whole teaching. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we practice