Hello my Steemian brothers & sisters!

Today I'd like to share with you my experience from living with monks in India and what I learnt, needless to say, this has been one of the most profound experiences I've ever had in my life.

I would also like to adress the fact that I wrote a similar article on my personal self-development blog http://www.williamwesterlund.com. This is the revised version for Steemit. The articles are cross-linked for verification, I am the original author, it is my personal experience. Love. <3

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As previously mentioned, I travelled the world solo for six months a couple of years ago. I found out during my travels about an association that organised meditation centres. The association was called Vipassana, and it housed both monks and civilians looking to further deepen their spiritual practice and to advance their spiritual growth.

The Great Hall

I didn’t take much thought before I sent in my application and bought a plane ticket to India.

If you have never heard of Vipassana, it pretty much works like this:

You are allotted a cell for your time of stay, in my case 12 days. Deprived of your material belongings. You are not allowed to talk, to maintain eye-contact, or to interact with anyone else at the centre.

And you spend 10.5 hours a day meditating with only occasional breaks for food and mental rest.

Needless to say, it wasn’t easy, but luckily the time spent there was worth it.

These are five lessons I learned as I sat next to the monks; pondering the questions of life (read: planning my escape).

1) Don’t Believe and Listen to All Your Thoughts

There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the mind—you are the one who hears it.
-Michael A. Singer

Your inner voice chit chatter non-stop. Your identification with the voice is fundamentally your most difficult predicament if you aspire for spiritual growth.

I realised only after a day or two at the Vipassana course that I would go mentally insane if I were to listen to every word my inner voice had to say.

If the voice wasn’t busy planning my next escape route it was whining about the pain of sitting still.

Only at times where I successfully let go of my identification with the voice did I experience some sense of pleasure and peace within.

Fast forward to the now.

The times I truly let go of all stress and all external bullshit of daily life; is when I take distance from my monkey-mind and just be in the present moment.

2) Stop Chasing. Stop Pushing.

Most of us come from a paradigm of scarcity when we look at what we want to achieve in life.

We need to do this or we need to achieve that. And we are afraid of what would happen if we would just stop trying to accomplish stuff.

That if we would stop run towards our goals, that we would end up in an abyss of failure.

I don’t believe that’s true anymore.

I experienced after a week at the centre, a new sort of inspiration emanating from a different place.

From a place of abundance rather than scarcity.

I remember how I between meditation sessions and before I went to sleep, planned and thought endlessly of all the things I wanted to do in life.

Simply because I was inspired to do so, not because I needed to or wanted to fill some internal void.

Just for fun.

The obvious lesson and paradox here is:

Stop the chase towards whatever you are after. Let the energy and inspiration come to you naturally.

Stop pushing life to happen and let life pull you.

And if you don’t feel inspired and motivated after you lift your feet off the pedal? Perhaps you are doing the wrong thing.

3) There is Immense Growth Hidden in Pain

The hardest part at the Vipassana centre was to endure the excruciating pain of sitting still hour after hour.

For me, being a “bodybuilder” at the time didn’t really make it easier. I had huge legs and a heavy upper-body which made me sit like a wretched person.

Especially compared to the thin Indian men sitting around me.

If I had a question regarding the Vipassana technique, once a day I had permission to ask the teacher. On day six I walked up to him, and I asked him if he would approve me using a back-assist-thingy.

He looked at me, smiled, he uttered some words (not even sure it was English), and then he waved me back.

No back-assist-thingy for me I thought.

During the days that followed I slowly realised the secret to enduring the pain.

By entering the pain with my consciousness, I could make it dissolve. Not permanently but momentarily.

I realised that the pain I experienced was a gateway to dis-identification with my body and mind. As a result, I made tremendous improvements to my awareness and presence. Simply through observation I could dissolve the pain. A hidden gift.

I realised much later that what I had done unconsciously was the process of letting go.

To learn to let go of emotional and physical pain by filling it with your consciousness resides today as one of my top tricks of the trade.

4) Material Things is Nothing but Clutter

External things won’t make you happy, period.

I had nothing when I travelled in India, but a backpack with a couple of t-shirts, underwear, socks, books and an old black ’n’ white Nokia telephone.

I stayed at shitty hostels and ate cheap food.

Yet I wasn’t any less happy than I am now.

In many aspects I felt more fulfilled, more free.

Give up the idea that material things will make you happy long-term. No matter what you attain externally, it will never complete you internally.

Wherever you go, there you are.

5) This is It…

Now take a step back, take a deep breath, and don’t think. Just reside in the moment.

This is it.

There is no eternal state of bliss. There is no time in your life where you’ll feel that you truly made it and be happy forever after.

And it’s unreasonable to expect it to be otherwise. It’s unreasonable to expect that our senses our capable of sustaining an eternal state of happiness.

Although as you befriend this space; there is peace and a sense of calm. There is nothing more to it.

Leave your expectations at the door and enter with acceptance.

Joy arises.

Now play, it’s all a game, this is it.

Hustle & Zen

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Cross-link to article on my blog http://www.williamwesterlund.com/vipassana/, image sources unknown, they are found on Vipassana's website.

I hope you enjoyed today's article, enjoy the holiday season and keep the steem (pun intented) up!