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Our plan to serve a 10 day Vipassana course abruptly changed on day zero of the course. A stark realization hit: that our skills of self sovereignty have not been engendered in the slightest. We went from absolute freedom and togetherness, constantly exploring and waking up somewhere new with another destination or mission at hand, to a strictly regimented timetable of tasks to accomplish and rules to follow, including Sila (which means morality and the according precepts of practicing noble speech, not harming others, eating vegetarian, not sleeping on luxurious beds and wearing appropriate clothes that respect the curvatures of the body). Going from one extreme to the other without creating some mental space and preparedness is like hopping on a plane somewhere not having packed anything at all. We lacked the foresight to predict such a collision of ideals, and it hit us like a brick wall as soon as we got there.
Once leaving the centre, we sought to drastically rearrange our plans and question everything. We spent a week back in our favourite place, Mount Maunganui, at an Airbnb place that was very much owned by an awkward 12 year old cat who shed her fur as if she had leprosy. Spent most of our days going to the gym, getting coffee, and traversing the never-ending beach in flip flops. During the week, we both concluded that it was time for us to head home. We had exhausted ourselves financially and mentally. Finally having the chance to stay in one place for a while slowed things down enough for us to miss home. We set out so many life affirmations over the course of this trip about how we want to be more balanced in work/life and practice the things we want to practice when we get back. We felt the itch of Vancouver consume us.Read more