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Glad to be of service, my friend♥♥♥

@ It is the service that is true! You speak plainly. Only those that serve will know.

Yeah, there's an awful lot that could be said about retreat🙏🙏🙏

Yeah, I was a very worldly person though I've always valued altruism🙏🙏🙏

Messy workshop lolz

Why will you sharpen them for me?

My pleasure friend🙏🙏🙏

@ultimatemeaning when I was fired in 2016 for having seizures, and had to lose my apartment, the wilderness was my home, as I feel more comfy there than being homeless in Seattle. When the tumor was finally identified, they gave me emergency surgery the last few days of life. That was 2 1/2 years ago. The only thing left for a wandering, crippled veteran lady was to work on her shrine, where she met the Buddha. I am still here 🙏🪷💎💚💖👒🌲🌿🪹⛩️

Hi Helee

@ultimatemeaning Hi Lama la 💖💖🤗 🤗 Life has changed so much since my first distressed message to you, a total stranger chainsaw monk far away. If I saw you in real life I would be bouncing up and down and around like a goat. So let's hold off on this until I'm a refined majestic mountain goat 🤣 Wish you a warm winter ✨✨✨

Sadly, I get no support from the monastery but the monks who actually live in the monastery due from time to time get some Dana offerings

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Next instalment is Boxing Day see you at the premier if you can make it

@@jeffmorris348 thank you my friend for your feedback and sharing your thoughts

Stranger? I wasn't a stranger to.Akong Rinpoche, where did you get that idea?

@@ultimatemeaning I'm curious as to why you wanted to attend retreat rather than spend time with your daughter. I might have misunderstood your story.

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@@ultimatemeaning💜💜💜🙏🙏🙏🌼🌼🌼💫💫💫 You helped with some energy lately. Joy began returning to life. More practice, study. Little by little, stability is coming. Beautiful book with a great selection of Milarepa’s poems and advice (interestingly enough I “discovered it” in the library of the Zen center:”Drinking from the Mountain Stream” Beautiful daily reminders. Thank You. Will keep going Oh yes and 2 months cig free!!! 🌺🙏💜🪷🌸💫💫💫 How are you???

The point is, if you are finding it difficult just to get through the day and how on earth are you going to be able to do something extremely difficult like practice the eightfold noble path first one needs to find some personal stability and peace of mind and then it's a time to think about taking on a much harder task that is transcendence from liberation. For example, I wouldn't ask somebody who is experiencing severe psychological trauma to envisage taking all the suffering of all sentient beings. On that's because it's more than likely that this practice will make them feel overwhelmed in fact practising the Dharma takes a lot of courage and confidence. So the general advice is first find your own peace of mind and stability and once you are strong enough then it is time to consider working for the benefit of others

@ thank you very much for your reply. This makes sense. One more question. Let’s use me as an example. Context, not complaining: I will be very honest. I’m from a third-world country, from a family that’s considered to be lower than a middle class here. I was given some kind of a drug, that caused panic attacks, but before that I was okay, there is one good thing from that experience, I asked myself who or what am I. I’ve almost lost my family during Covid, then I had to live in a country that had a real war. Lots of traumatic events at work, where people showed how hateful and mean they are for a male, who is more sensitive and kinder, than an average male in my country.I’m not mean, angry, I don’t envy, not too attached, I don’t have motivations people have here. I don’t want to kill or torture someone for money. I had a full time job and went through university, while doing all of that. My nervous system is out of whack. Some time ago I realized, that there is a way out of it, but not through gaining material things. I’m running in circles. Material things seem meaningless and don’t bring me joy. I found peace in pranayama and meditation, mantras, cold showers and in time after rigorous physical exercise. In a normal state - no, I am a mess, constant panic, a lot of physical pain, rapid heartbeat, tinnitus, anxiety about survival. But this is less about mind and more about the body. I started listening to Buddhist talks and books on advaita. I am a believer and was considering the life of a monk. Since I know multiple languages from the first uni, I wanted to offer this as a benefit to monks for them to help me, because, as you can see, lol, I’m not a good candidate, so I had to bring at least something Is there anything you can recommend in this case? How to get to a point, where I am a good candidate? Asking about actionable items to bring back peace of mind and stability.

no kidding eh?

Welcome friend 🙏🙏🙏

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Yeah, I really appreciate truly skilled craftsman like the Japanese carpenters and English cabinet makers

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I've never been a craftsman just a jack of all trades master of none

The previous owner designed it to build a big boat inside so it's actually quite huge, but when I bought the place, I only paid for the land

@ultimatemeaning very nice.