Weekend with a Guru

I went with my friend and her daughter to an ashram for the new year weekend. I have been off since Christmas eve and doing a lot of traveling and thought maybe I should stay home. It is a couple of hours away and I wasn't sure if I could handle more time meditating or contemplating my life.

I woke up feeling pretty good. I decided to take some things to do if I decided I couldn't handle the agenda.

We got there at lunch time and then they had a singing and chanting session then dinner. After dinner the Guru addressed us and then we had cookies and went to bed. It was 9:30 and the party was over. Lights out at 10:00. I laid there in the dark for a few hours thinking about some of the things he said.

He had some wisdom which I could relate to these days. First he said the path to peace is too easy and therefore our ego will not accept it as the truth. First we have to decide to let go of the past and come to every situation fresh without baggage (my word) second have to let go of our vision for the future. This leaves us squarely in the moment a place of bliss.

He said we are divine children of God with only our own beliefs between us and peace. By uncovering those negative beliefs about ourselves we can be free and at peace. None of our opinions count only God's opinion and he created perfection. He said the ego makes us think that the path to peace must be complicated and we spend a life time search for something that has been there all the time.

Someone from AA (self identified) ask if you say we are perfect the way we are what are we striving for? He said that perfection is a man made concept that is unattainable and can not even be defined. Divine is as we were created not mans definition.

He said that working hard isn't bad but expecting a specific outcome causes us pain. Doing only what we love daily and the results will come naturally. If we do things only to achieve a certain result and do not enjoy the process it will ultimately harm us.

He said to be genuine in all your actions. He said sometimes we do things for other at our own expense because we think they want us to or need our help. He said that this will goes against us because it comes from a place that is not genuine. The example was in a new relationship being someone you aren't to please another and eventually this comes back to hurt the relationship and ourselves.

The above is my interpretation as I heard it. I am a working to rid myself of the past and have less expectations about the future. I want to focus on being happy living in the moment.

I liked being off the grid for the weekend and it was a nice ending to my time off. I have a lot of decisions to make in upcoming months. It is going to be the year of change for me but I am ready and believe it we take me to the next level spiritually.

Happy New.