Belated update: 8th of August

It’s Wednesday morning the 8^th of August and I’m sitting at Connolly station in Dublin city centre. I feel I’m in travel mode… But at the same time, I feel like I’m going home… Since yesterday evening I’ve been starting to feel more ‘me’ than I’ve felt in quite a while. How nice to realize that moving actually makes me feel at home. Wouw… travel really DOES bring me closer to myself. How exciting to be sharing this piece of ‘news’ this morning. Lol

Anyhow… I’ve been up since 3am, left Arklow at 5 to start the 7 hour bus journey taking me over to the west of Ireland (7 hours isn’t long at all, but when you consider how relatively small Ireland is, it seems quite a trip). I’m on my way to the meditation course. Yes, it’s Vipassana-time once again and silence will resume from around 8pm tonight. I can’t wait… I’ll be in silence until the 19^th of August. It will be the same drill as the 3-day course I did in Donard, Co. Wicklow (in June) and the 10-day course I did in Kerala, South India (in September last year): 10 hours of meditation a day, no contact with the outside world, no reading, no writing, no music, no physical contact with other students. Nothing… For most this will sound like torture, but at this moment in time, it’s come to represent HEAVEN in my eyes. 

I’ve a fair idea now what to expect, schedule-wise. I know I’ll be grand to get up at 4am each day and I’ll adjust to eating 2 meals a day with the last meal being lunch at 11.30am. I know the aches and pains I’ll physically feel (the knees will suffer the most and the legs will weaken after a few days of in-actively sitting cross-legged on a cushion. I know it will be tough and I’ll probably want to run into the nearest field to escape… I know I’ll shed many tears and see many fears… and this is all great really. Because the most important reassurance I have, is that I’ll always come out stronger and more together than before. I know the journey will reveal things… things I don’t know about myself yet. But I’m open and I can cope. I can cleanse myself of stuff that’s weighing me down at the moment and I can move forward, simply by sitting still and observing what’s behind my eyes. It’s quite exciting and high-time for this withdrawal. Because, seriously, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Just before things are starting to change so drastically for me.

When I ‘come out’ after the 10 days, I’ll be going back to Arklow and getting ready for the launch, on the 23^rd. So, a new period of my life will be starting, and I’ll be as fresh and free as a daisy to totally embrace the experience, with vibrant energy, clarity and deep gratitude for what’s happening. And with such an approach, only more goodness will come.

Before I start the course this evening, I’ll be meeting Lorraine, the publisher. She just so happens to live in Ennis (which is where this course is taking place). We’ve arranged to do a photo-shoot for the press-releases that will be spread, around the same time as the book is being launched. So, we’ll be taking pictures, with myself and the book! Yes THE book… I’ll be holding it in my hands later on today for the first time! God… this is huge… The first book that I’ve written—an original story that exists NOWHERE else in the world—and I’m gonna be holding it soon, PHYSICALLY!!!! This is when everything really will feel more real than real can be! What an adventure this is. Wouw… Oh… I’ve got to go, the bus is about to come, so I’ll update in a couple of weeks, about how it all planned out. A happy journey awaits!