Three crazy Buddhist....

were standing on the porch...the one on the right said...."you do WHAT when you meditate, Maybe you should try this..."
the one on the left was so overcome by laughter that he almost fell over....the one in the middle, well, you know how it goes....the one in the middle is always the one creating a problem!

The end of a lovely 2 day retreat....here we have (for real!) Terry in the middle, Scott on the left....and to the right we have David........ let me tell you about David!!! 86 years old, a few heart attacks and a couple of strokes....but hey, he's been meditating for over 50 years....and is still going strong. He is such an inspiration to me....this man used to be a cardiac surgeon, decided that after having a heart attack himself, maybe he should change his way of life! So, he moved to Nova Scotia (from Toronto) and started a new way of life. Now he's up every morning at 6am....meditates for an hour and then heads off into town, to check things out! Runs a farm with a few others....and has stories that will make your toes curl!!! We had a wonderful few days with him and other like minded folks....so uplifting and so wonderfuly.

I come away from a weekend like this with such a deep sense of gratitude..... people willing to share stories of their lives with such honesty and sincerity.... we all have to deal with the stuff of life that is difficult, messy and not always too agreeable...but yet, there is a shared belief that we can trust in the inevitable passage of time, the trust that we are doing this life the best way we can....and hopefully, we can bring a smile to our faces...and a smile to those around us...which is probably the best thing we can do with our day!!!

I feel so honoured to have been able to spend some time with all these wonderful folks, and mostly to be able to stop and listen to what others have experienced.....especially when they are 86 years old and have lived a life full of passion (he also has 8 kids!!!) and are able to admit to their downfalls (he had a hard time remembering anyones' name!) and still laugh and smile and chuckle at what life has thrown his way....truly amazing person.

I will go to bed tonight with a different vision of what tomorrow might bring.