My Road to Meditation:

I dabbled in meditation back in the nineties and met the Dalai Lama when he came to Perth…. I subsequently read his autobiography and thought that if I was to have my time over again I would be a Buddhist. I continued to be a part time practicing Catholic and turned more to being spiritual rather than religious. I read books about quantum time (physics), Road less travelled, You Can Heal Your Life, My Mother Myself, A Course in Miracles and many more…..trying to find a sense of spirituality… life got busier and busier and both religion and spirituality took a back seat…. Never leaving… always at the back of my mind but never that priority.

My recent trip to Tanzania I was touched by the strength of the ordinary Tanzanian, the courage in the face of adversity…. The pain that people suffered and accepted as part of their life….what was unbearable for me was to see children suffering in hospital… from the baby that was crying and needed comforting and no staff to do this, his nappy changing and there was no nappy…. Or the toddler that was screaming because he was being bathed in Potassium permanganate dissolved in warm water to come up with a nice pink colored solution, having his burns debrided with no pain relief, it brought tears to my eyes…… I was both humbled and frustrated…. The disparity between rich and poor was at times palpable. The health issues seemed so insurmountable, that I need a way to stop my mind from churning…… I realized that my spirituality was missing… it was not even dormant it had gone……

Last year was very busy and stressful particularly then end of the year was even more so, after I came back from Canberra, I was at breaking point and realized I needed to stop….. I had decided to either go back to church on Sundays or start meditating….I usually go to midnight mass, have for the last 30 yrs… there was a new Parish priest at the church I usually go to… and it was the worst service I have been to for a very long time….no inspiration…… there was nothing….I was like a stranger, I came away knowing I was not going back….


I did an Internet search for a Buddhist retreat starting in January…and would you believe it one was starting on the 2nd January…. I booked in for the week and I have not looked back since then….. I felt like I had found my way home……very strange…. Time will tell how I go….. I feel calmer…. My mind is less chaotic and I now have strategies to slow it down…..I have set myself some boundaries as far as work is concerned…. And am working on my discipline to continue with my meditation on a daily basis with a quarterly retreat to keep me focused…I found a meditation centre here in Singapore and went this afternoon, which was a great end to my teaching weekend……watch this space...


Happy Chinese New Year "Rabbit" Happiness and Prosperity to all....