My first silent retreat - part 2 — My Journey to Mindfulness

So what about this experience during 5 days in silence?

I think everyone can have a different experience and each retreat could be different. It’s not something that you can anticipate. And each day is completely different and every moment of each day could also be different.

What I’ve learned during this first retreat is that nothing is permanent.

“It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

But here some little things that I enjoyed during my retreat:

eating in silence during 5 days was a nice surprise; I tend to eat quickly even when I’m alone. And I realised that during the retreat I was really slowing down and appreciating even more the food, all the tastes, the colours, the texture. I took my time to enjoy my food, and as a “frenchie”, food is really important, I can tell you !
sunset can be just magic, especially in the nature
tea: smells the odour, taste the tea, enjoying to try different flavours
i’ve realised that I could share a room with a stranger and not talk during 5 days (but what a beautiful moment to break the silence and just say “hi” to the person whom you shared your room during few days
my emotions were following a roller coaster and I noticed that nobody or nothing was creating them, I was doing it myself !
some moments were really boring…usually I would get me busy or at least I would have the opportunity to get me busy, but here nothing was available, so I was just bored and I nothing that you can have fun with yourself and also boredom disappear at some point
i did not missed my phone at all !
but I seriously missed reading

I think I will always remember the moment when I came back home. Although I lived a great experience, I was not able to share it and talk about it. So my first dinner was in silence, just as during the retreat. It took me some days to get back to the “normal” life.

Going to the supermarket the first time was overwhelming.

I promised to myself to get some time with myself only. I think we are so much caught in the busy life and the noisy life that we forget to stop and be with ourselves.

And for anyone new to meditation, I could only recommend to try it, maybe just for one day or a week end.
What about switching off your phone and spending a week end alone in the nature.

Tell me what was your experience !