O-Me-Ga!

Over a year ago, I was getting ready for my big trip to the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY for my Search Inside Yourself mindfulness-based emotional intelligence training.  It was being facilitated by Google's 'jolly good fellow' Chade-Meng Tan and co-founder of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society in the U.S., Mirabai Bush.  Needless to say, I was excited.

My flight was supposed to leave on a Friday morning and I had train tickets booked from NYC to Rhinebeck.  I would arrive just in time for the Friday evening session.


Well, I live in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.  My flight was delayed.

At 9 or 10 pm the flight finally left and I was on my way.  I'd miss the Friday night session, obviously.  I felt a little disappointed, but I'd been practicing mindfulness for years by then and I'd managed it all with ease.  I could not take the train, so I had booked an expensive taxi for the two hour drive to Rhinebeck in the middle of the night.

The taxi driver was falling asleep I am sure... and we swerved all over the road.  But, I was in a little bubble of happy because I was finally fulfilling a 15 or 20 year dream to visit the Omega Institute. Nothing could take me out of my bliss.

I arrived at around 3 a.m.  When I stepped out of the taxi to pick up my key (on a bulletin board) to my tiny room, O-Me-Ga!  The silence in the air brought joy to my soul.  I could have stayed in that moment forever.

The driver was nervous to let me walk up the pitch black path to my room, which was about a 5 minute walk in what felt like wilderness.  I didn't have a nervous bone in my body.  We said our good-byes and I turned on my headlamp, swung my small pack on my back and began walking as mindfully as possible so I did not miss a moment.  I felt like I'd come home.

It's a little difficult to articulate the next two days.  It was filled with beauty.  I meditated in the amazing meditation centre, I meditated with about 100 people for 2 hours one night, I roamed the beautiful gardens, I ate organic foods from the centre's garden, I received a massage with enlightened conversation, I met powerful women from all over the world because there was a Women's Leadership Conference on at the same time, I got a glimpse of Brene Brown, and... the best of all... I learned about mindfulness and emotional intelligence from the masters.

Chade-Meng Tan and me

Mirabai Bush and me

It's a year later, and I'm just writing about it.  Maybe I had to let it sink in.  Or maybe it's time for another experience like that one.  I was so completely present and in a state of bliss the entire weekend.

Or maybe I had a fear and decided to bury it.... us humans tend to do that.

We all dream of something.  My dream is to have that kind of centre right here where I live.  I've dreamt of it for so long that I don't know when it started.  But when I visited the Omega Institute, I knew I was in my dream... just not in the right location.

Every experience leads us into our future.  It may be a year after my experience, but I had to go through all that I did this year to take the next step.  More steps will follow.  That's how dreams happen.