10 Day Silent Meditation in Thailand

[Johnny2029]

Hey guys, I wanted to share this with everyone. I went on this about a year ago and I still feel the benefits of it today. I used to stress out a lot, and my monkey brain never stopped spinning it's wheels.

Here is what I learned from the experience:
It took me ten days of 'not thinking' to figure these things out. I am greatly honored to be able to share my experience with all of my friends and loved ones. Please read the following mindfully, as they were life changing revelations I discovered.

1. Being alone isn't the same as loneliness.

If you can't eat alone in a public restaurant, or find yourself reaching for your cell phone or something to do anytime you're waiting and standing or sitting alone, you were just like me and everyone else in society. We always have to look busy, or be doing something, or with someone. Why? Can't we just be?

2. There are Two types of Happiness - and most of us only know the first.

The first type of happiness is through stimulation - Doing something, eating something, buying something or having something that makes us happy. Some external factor, whether it is music, a friend, or something is the source of our smiles. Whether it talking to someone, listening to your favorite song, eating food food, or even hanging out with friends. These aren't bad things, but it makes us depenant.

The second type of happiness is just being. It took me 13 days to finally just be able to sit, alone, at a restaurant, doing something, thinking about nothing, looking forward to nothing, just to be able to smile and realize that I'm happy, just because.

3. Our possessions posses Us -

Before moving to Koh Tao, I was in a car dealership trying to figure out a monthly payment to buy a new corvette. If I had been able to afford it, I would have been stuck paying $800 a month for the next four years, and would never have been able to travel.

The $800 Louis Vuitton Handbag is the same price as a round trip plane ticket and a few days of expenses in Paris. yet, I know 20 girls with LV bags, and only 1 that has ever been.

4. The Duty of Effort is today, and even tomorrow we may die -

Whatever our Duty, Job, or Chore is to do, instead of trying to rush through it to empty our inbox, we should realize that our inbox will never be empty, even when we die. So we might as well enjoy the act of working by doing it mindfully and live in the moment, enjoying every minute of it.

5. We are fine exactly the way we are -

Whoever we are, is okay. if we can't even love ourselves, how can we expect others to love us?

6. When we get angry at someone, or something, it hurts us more than it hurts them.

It's funny that we can relive angry moments that happened years in the past so easily. We can bring them up in our minds and feel hatred and anger as if it was happening to us today. Friends may come and go, but enemy's accumulate. By being mad at someone, does it hurt us more than it hurts them? The answer is definetely yes, so why do that to ourselves? We need to just let go and let karma take over.

7. Material things can never make us happy as they are fleeting -

Every time I buy something, before I buy it, in the days, hours or months I dream about it, I smile. But soon after I have it, the smile disappears and I want something else. Expensive things cause more stress in life, and we really don't need it.

When I drove a Porsche, I always had to put the top up so people wouldn't fuck with it. Everyone I met assumed I was a pompous, spoiled asshole. People expected and treated me differently, and not in a good way. The only thing to do to make myself feel better was think of them as jealous, or envious, but that never made me happy. Everyone would ask why I didn't buy the 911 Turbo instead. No one was ever happy for me to have acquired my dream car, and my dream turned out not to be what I expected. When I drove my Celica, Miata, or even my 87' Nissan, I was happy and no one ever treated me with ill will.

So why do we think luxurious things, expensive things can make us happy? Is it because we want to fit in, or is it because we want to have what others have? Either way, I finally realized that I don't need it.

There is actually very little we need in life, and the most basic things are, the happier and more free we become.


My final thoughts:

If you agreed with any of the above or learned anything from it, please do yourself a favor and realize that the worst thing we could do is simply read it, nod our heads and then never think about it again. Even worse is reading it and saying to yourself, oh I already know this.

It took me 10 days of living it, to realize it for myself and have it really settle in and will try to do my best everyday for the rest of my life to remember these things I've learned and actually live them.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and about my experience.


Info on the Meditation:

The one I went to was a total of 12 days, but if I was to do it again, I would have just done the 5 day one in Koh Samui. The cost is basically free, the Samui one is donation, and the 10 day one is like $70 for the entire thing. Here is the website for info: http://www.suanmokkh-idh.org


Warm Regards,

Johnny