Chapter 2,
My most profitable week of my year.
Everything is created twice,
First in the mind,
Then in reality.
Robin Sharma.
The month before I began my company over 10 years ago,
I went on a 10-day silent meditation retreat called Vipassana Meditation.
Vipassana is one of India's most ancient meditation techniques.
Long lost to humanity,
It was rediscovered by Gautama the Buddha more than 2,
500 years ago.
The word Vipassana means seeing things as they really are.
It is the process of self-purification by self-observation.
One begins by observing the natural breath to concentrate the mind.
With this sharpened awareness,
One proceeds to observe the changing nature of body and mind and experiences the universal truths of impermanence,
Suffering,
And equalness.
The truth realization by direct experience is the process of purification.
The entire path,
Dhamma,
Is a universal remedy for universal problems and has nothing to do with any organized religion or sectarianism.
For this reason,
It can be freely practiced by everyone,
At any time,
In any place,
Without conflict due to race,
Community,
Or religion,
And will prove equally beneficial to one and all.
I first heard about this technique from a stranger when I moved to Quebec,
Canada,
And it took me 3 years to gather enough courage to finally try it out.
The first time I registered,
A family trip came up,
So I cancelled.
I registered again,
But by then I was attending a French course where I would be expelled if I missed 10 days,
So I had cancelled again.
By the time I went,
I was ready,
Like really ready.
My sister encouraged me by telling me stories about an ashram in India,
A place of practicing yoga and meditation,
Where she would see people in silent retreats having a sort of glow around them.
I wanted to discover what that glow was all about.
I started my retreat in March 2011,
The first of many,
And by day 2,
I broke down in tears of gratitude for discovering this gift that was given to me,
And naturally thought of all the people that needed it in my life.
Those 10 days were some of the most grueling days of my life,
Mentally,
Physically,
And spiritually.
We would start meditating from 4.
30am to 9pm,
With only 15 minute breaks and vegetarian meals.
Around the time when I did my first retreat,
I was in an emotionally abusive relationship with no friends,
Job,
Or family close by,
And eating unhealthy,
Such as cake for supper.
It was a rough period,
And my energy was constantly at a low level.
I was angry most of the time,
Depressed,
Unsure,
And unsupported.
Then I went to a high vibrational place,
Where volunteers would work from early morning to night to serve us the most gourmet,
Local,
Healthy,
Vegetarian meals.
I remember the first night,
As I ate a bowl of hearty soup,
Tears of gratitude rolled down my face.
Gratitude was an emotion I was seriously lacking,
And it felt so good to experience it again.
I can remember my first 10 day retreat like it was yesterday.
That experience will forever be etched into my brain.
Every time I sat for an hour to meditate,
Without moving my arms or legs,
It felt like I had climbed Mount Everest.
For those of you who have climbed Mount Everest,
Please don't take that reference as an insult.
I just had no other idea which perfectly fit into the magnitude of the achievement I just had,
Even though it was sitting in meditation.
Mothers have also described the experience to be as painful as childbirth,
So it was definitely a challenge for me to say the least.
When I completed my first 10 day,
I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude,
Pride for accomplishing it,
And inner calm and confidence that I had never known.
Throughout the years,
As I continued to sit daily for one hour in the morning,
I have learned to let go of painful memories,
Anxiety,
Anger,
And impatience,
And instead be flooded with a sense of peace,
Calm,
And appreciation.
Michael A.
Singer says,
When you contemplate the nature of self,
You are meditating.
This is why meditation is the highest state.
It is the return to the root of your being,
The simple awareness of being aware.
I was glad I had finally lived it,
Especially considering it had taken a great deal of courage to go to the discouragement from outside forces.
My boyfriend at the time didn't want me to be away from him for 10 days,
And my entrepreneurial dad said why I would want to waste 10 days of my life.
These small comments marked me and started to make me question what I knew I truly needed.
Now my 10 day silent retreats are the most important 10 days of my entire year,
And I always prioritize those times.
I have never lost any contracts because of it.
On the contrary,
I come home to even more business inquiries.
How is a 10 day retreat my most profitable week,
You may ask?
It's quite straightforward.
When I sit in silence without any phone,
Computer,
Or person influencing my decisions,
A new level of clarity and ideas to grow my company naturally happen.
When I ask a question and then sit in silence,
The answer almost always appears.
In my busy life,
I just forget to ask those important questions.
One year,
I asked myself during my retreat,
How can I grow my company?
And I got a business idea of creating a new French department.
My limited mindset and lack mentality never even fathomed that idea before.
As each day progressed,
I thought of another puzzle piece and way to make this idea a reality.
By the 10th day,
I had such a surge of excitement and energy and a clear plan on how to grow my company.
With that new service offer,
I was able to increase my annual sales by 87%.
Taking time out to meditate not only brings financial gains,
But emotional,
Physical,
And spiritual as well.
When I first started my company,
I was very imbalanced and thought that working 12-hour days was the only way to grow.
Boy,
Was I wrong.
Being self-employed,
I don't get paid if I am sick,
Too tired to get out of bed,
Or depressed.
That thought alone added so much pressure to me that I bizarrely numbed that fear by eating even more junk food and watching TV series.
I was so exhausted and mentally drained that those 10 days at the Vipassana retreat were often my only reprieve.
In my subsequent years at the retreats,
I served as a volunteer in the kitchen so the meditators would be well taken care of.
Working in the kitchen helped me learn how to integrate meditation into daily life.
The kitchen was quite chaotic and stressful just before mealtimes,
But we were still expected to be at the group sittings on time,
Even when we had uncompleted chores.
This forced us to prioritize meditation,
Even if we had busy schedules and responsibilities.
We also had the opportunity to work with new people from around the world who constantly participated in the retreat and learned to speak nobly,
Meaning no gossip lies,
Idle chatter or whistling.
Every action and word had to be done in a mindful manner,
And if our energy was at all negative,
We were asked to leave the kitchen to practice some self-care.
The food was only to be prepared in a joyful,
High-energy manner.
This also helped me work on my ego,
Since I took my kitchen tasks very seriously.
When I left,
If I was volunteering only for a weekend,
Then my task was quickly delegated and the kitchen ran just as smoothly without me.
This lesson alone has enormously helped me to realize that I don't need to take myself so seriously and hold the world on my shoulders.
If I am unable to complete a task,
Both in the kitchen or at work,
There is always someone who can.
Since Vipassana's base is a set of principles that I live by,
I am also reassured working with others who live by those same values.
All who attend a Vipassana course must conscientiously undertake the following five precepts for the duration of the course.
1.
To abstain from killing any being.
2.
To abstain from stealing.
3.
To abstain from all sexual activity.
4.
To abstain from telling lies.
5.
To abstain from all intoxicants.
My closest friends and some clients have done Vipassana,
And we understand each other in a way that no one else could.
I remember I served my twin sister's first 10-day retreat.
She had previously traveled to India and United States to do transformational workshops.
I told her about the retreat based on love and compassion,
But forgot to mention how grueling the time can be.
Grueling the first time can be.
After her first retreat,
She left telling me she would never do it again.
I thought,
Okay,
I guess this isn't the path for you,
And trusted she would choose what was best for her.
I knew that it was a tool in her toolbox,
And a seed that was planted in case one day she would need it again.
Five years later,
When she was at burnout and exhausted from work,
She told me that all she craved was a month of silence.
Which finally brought her back to do another 10-day retreat.
Now she has incorporated daily meditation into her life,
Is more balanced,
Has more energy,
And regularly continues annual retreats.
To be honest,
I am not sure if I would still have my company if I never discovered these silent retreats.
It has been one of the greatest gifts in my life.
Each retreat is unique and different,
Depending on what is going on in my life.
Some years are effortless and peaceful.
In other years,
Lots of pain and agitation come up.
But the layers of anger,
Negativity,
And unresolved issues have dissolved into peace,
Love,
And joy.
That level of calm and clarity has enormously helped both me and my company grow throughout the years.
And it might help you too.
