You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘ashram’ tag.
Cultivating compassion and joy is not a linear process; it’s organic, like growing flowers. If you work regularly at decreasing your compulsive desires and narcissism gradually you will see beautiful results.
–Lorne Ladner, The Lost Art of Compassion
~~@~~
Last June, I spent two weeks deconstructing at an ashram. On the surface, the ashram experience seemed a nightmare. Group constipation, perpetual cravings for hamburgers, and sleep deprivation combined with withdrawal from various vices, hard work, heat, and allergic reactions. (See Poo-poo Tea at the Ashram and Ashram Adventures for a recap of those fun details.)
Beneath that muck, seeds of joy were being planted. Several lifetimes of lessons were condensed into those two weeks. It was a lot to processes. I’m still working to understand what I learned and to apply it to daily life. (For more on that end, see A Heart Flung Open and Knowing by Doing.)
And here is but one of the many lessons I learned from the experience: Beauty will unfold day by day when you work to tend the garden.