Maria's Summary

Week 1

I found it hard to allocate 5 minutes out of my daily schedule but it felt great to practice regularly again. It took some time to settle down and not be distracted but once I relaxed and got into it, it was wonderful just to be in the peace. Since I am just starting to practice with some regularity, most of the time, I am distracted. Hopefully with more persistence with practice, the distractions will lessen.

I have been working on reminding myself of who "I" am. I have been paying attention to my reference point when using "I".  When I catch myself using "I" in a limited way and then try to expand upon that to include the more complete picture, I am surprised to see the difference between the two. I have noticed that when spiritual teachers refer to "I", they are not talking about their independent personality. So, I thought I'd try that out and see what happens.

Another thing I noticed this week was that I found I lost myself in some sense, and I noticed that during this period, other people around me became me because there was no self. That was interesting.

That's all for this week.

-Maria