The retreat changed me.

 

My Overall Experience

By Suwin De Silva

 

 My experience at the retreat changed me. It influenced how I act, speak, move, and think around others. That change will have a lasting impact on my life. I am confident that this retreat and the ones I will attend in the future will help me make better decisions.

 

Anyway, back to the retreat itself. I had a great time. I reconnected with some old friends. I had forgotten about them, but they clearly had not forgotten about me. I enjoyed every activity, but I especially loved mindful walking. At first, I did not like it, but as I got better at it, I started to enjoy it more.

I was confused at first about why we had to sleep at 9:00 p.m., since I usually sleep at 10:00 or 11:00. But I understood once I had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning. I am used to waking up at 10:00, so 4:30 felt extremely early, but eventually, I got used to it.

I also had to adjust to not having dinner. On the first day, I had a small lunch and assumed I would eat more at dinner, but there was no dinner. There was nothing I could do, so I went to bed hungry. After that experience, I will never take food for granted.

I learned many other things too, like impermanence and the concept of Buddha’s atom. And that sums up my experience at my very first retreat.