I have a confession about last week...

Quitting a meditation retreat, mindful traveling, mindful short content, and inspiration from outer space

Hi friend,

I have a confession to make. I decided to quit during my last meditation retreat. I knew that this retreat would be the hardest, but I didn't realize to what degree. After 9 out of 13 days, I departed Wat Suan Mokk.

There were many things that I did not agree with. Everything was gender-segregated including eating, washing dishes, and group discussions. One day, I had asked why there was gender segregation and how it applied to LGBTQ individuals. The instructor (a man in his 70s) responded, "if you meditate hard enough, those feelings will disappear". I thought I heard incorrectly at first, but he repeated himself a second time. Throughout the week, he would also crack unnecessary sexist jokes trying to build rapport with the other men.

It was a rude awakening to realize that silence in a retreat was just a veil of safety. People traveling thousands of miles seeking enlightenment can be just as close-minded as the people I try hard to distance myself from in the states. I saw this as a challenge and decided to stay. Can't always run from disagreements.

But the following day broke the camel's back. While my friend was feeling ill, (1) other female meditators refused to break their silence to help her and (2) the main coordinator scolded me for breaking silence helping my friend. I will gladly break silence any day someone is in need and it was concerning that many meditators thought otherwise. My friend decided to depart and (after a sitting meditation) I realized that I could not sit through another meditation knowing that my friend was out there trying to get better by herself.

We left the retreat along with 4 other people and ended up spending a few days in Krabi, Thailand eating, exploring and refueling.

In the video this week, I share details of why I quit. (Most is summarized here) Even though the sexism, "meditate the gay away", and horrid living conditions took a toll on me, I decided to leave because I felt it was the right thing to do.

When we blindly follow, we relinquish our powers as humans. We should never lose our sense of curiosity to challenge norms and innate empathy to save strangers around us.

---

Mindful Traveling

Just recently discovered that Bogota, Colombia bans cars on the streets every Sunday and everyone loves it. Residents can use any forms of transportation without motorbikes, skateboards, wheelchairs.

While I was living in New York, this was also one of the reasons why I loved visiting Fire Island. There were no cars or stable cell service. People were just in-the-moment.

It's refreshing to see a city initiative far different from most high-tech improvements.

A Short Video On Improving Writing

Kurt Vonnegut shares 8 tips on how to be a better writer. Great nuggets in this quick, 2-minute video for anyone who writes.

Short Podcasts To Quickly Binge

Discovered this little gem of a podcast in a commercial a few weeks ago. From WNYC Studios, 10 Things That Scare Me features influential people and the things that keep them up at night.

With Collaboration, Anything is Possible

When 200 scientists from all over the world work together, anything can happen. Eight radio telescopes from around the world virtually simulate a telescope the size of earth to take the first photo of a black hole.

As always, thanks for reading!

P.S. If you enjoyed this, share or sign up here: mindfulmoments.substack.com

Anything else? You can always hit "reply" to email me directly. 💌

Have a beautiful day!

Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven

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