Around 8 to 10 years ago, I met up with a former colleague, and she told me about attending a silent meditation retreat north of Toronto. The more she told me about it, the less it appealed to me. No books? No writing instruments? No phones?!?! Just, no. I thought to myself, "you couldn't pay me enough to go to a retreat like that."
As the years passed, the little seed she planted started germinating. I became increasingly curious about the retreat. I looked into it several times over the years, but I could never convince myself to use 2 precious weeks of vacation to attend the course. So I shelved the idea repeatedly.
Until last August.
By this time, I had quit my full-time job, and I was in my last few weeks of work. The meditation course popped into my mind on August 9/18, seemingly from out of nowhere. I checked the Ontario Vipassana Centre's website, and there was a 10-day course that was open and accepting applications from new students. I re-read all of the information on the website and decided to apply. A few days later, I received confirmation that my application was accepted! The course ran from Dec 5/18 to Dec 16/18, and I share my thoughts in the below video.
Although we've since lost touch, I would like to thank my former colleague, T, for planting the seed so many years ago.
