Hi everybody and Happy New Year!
Of course on one level, we are all living in the continuous eternal present with memories of the dead past, and imagined future. But on another level, we choose to divide things up into units of seconds, days, years etc.
So on that basis, it is almost a feeling of relief that we have finally completed yet another year – 2022. We probably had good and bad times, successes and failures. But now, at last we can start again with a brand new slate.
So we often see things a bit more clearly, after reflecting on the past, and looking forward to the future. Maybe we might be thinking we might be happier if we made a bit more effort to do things that are good for us like exercise, eating healthily, and of course meditating and connecting with spiritual friends!
We all know that new year’s resolutions have a bad track record of success.
But that does not mean that we should give up completely.
Let us make the effort, and commit ourselves to things we think will not only make us happy, but also bring joy, meaning, friendship and community into our lives.
The problem with new year’s resolutions is not that we make them. It is that we stop making them. I think we should be continually making those sort of resolutions over and over throughout the year. When we do not live up to them, that is OK, we are not perfect. Just start again the following day with more commitment.
For me, the sort of things I have in mind are exercising every day, reducing sugar, processed food and alcohol, meditating with a group once a week, and meditating at home daily. I have found that for me, doing my best to follow these makes me a much happier person.
So please make your own list, and see what works best for you and your lifestyle.
We are starting a course on Tuesday evening 10th Jan for 6 Tuesday evenings. Why not come along? It is perfect for anyone who has not been before, anyone who has not been for a while, plus anyone else who comes all the time.
We will teach meditation and give full instruction, then after the tea break we will give talks, and lead discussions on “The Taste of Freedom”
03/1 Padmajata
10/1 Keith – Course week 1
17/1 Amber – Course week 2
24/1 Mangala – Course week 3
31/2 Helen – Course week 3
07/2 etc to be confirmed
I also wanted to mention that 9 people from Hertford recently attended a weekend retreat at Vajrasana hosted by the Cambridge Buddhist Centre. It was really a wonderful weekend. It was lovely to be in the snowy countryside with our sangha, and also meet new people from the larger Cambridge sangha. We made a lot of new friends, and deepened our existing friendships.
https://www.cambridgebuddhistcentre.com/retreats lists two more retreats that you might be interested in:
3-5 March for newcomers and regulars
and
11-16 June for regulars
also at Vajrasana
That is all for now. I hope to see you soon.
Happy 2023!
Keith