While on a trip to Colombia, my websites went down due to an attack. It took two weeks before my precious sites were fixed. In the past, I sure would have gone ballistic but this time it was different, I was able to center myself and stay calm. “Everything is temporary, everything happens for a reason.”

At the height of waiting for my websites to be restored, I was given a one-day sitting slot in Vipassana Meditation Center in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Thanks to this opportunity and what I learned from a 10 Day Silence Retreat two months ago, I found the tools to tame my emotions and skip the stress.

Vipassana Meditation Guru S.N. Goenka said, “It is this simple truth: before you harm others, you first harm yourself by generating mental negativity; and by removing the negativity, you can find peace within and strengthen peace in the world.”

10 days of silence?

Yes, I immersed myself for 10 days of no speech. During the retreat, a Code of Noble silence for the body, mind and speech is required: absolutely zero speaking, glancing at other students, gestures, and written notes.

Day in and day out we are to sit still, merely observing respiration and sensations, and how our mind and body react to them. As easy as it may sound, doing these are certainly never easy. To purify the mind at its deepest level is self purification itself. S.N. Goenka is right when he said that we can delegate a lot of things but self-purification can only be done if one will work hard on it. As in everything else, no one can help us be successful on anything. It must come from within us through self-discipline and the power of strong determination.

Because the retreat is free and many wait to be given a “privileged” slot, students are encouraged to endure the duration of the course. Some gave up on the first, second, and third days. Giving up crossed my mind, and yet I trusted the process and surrendered to the flow. I enjoyed every minute of my stay, gave my mind its peace vacation, and savoured the beauty of the location. Imagine seeing deers on my daily meditative walks, seeing eagles fly overhead, and watching millions of stars and a full moon at night. On top of that, great vegetarian food is served daily with “pure love.” Truly, a heaven-on-earth experience for me.

On the fourth day, my breakthrough came. Words are not enough to describe my experience. I entered a state of pure bliss where my thoughts are no longer in chatter, I no longer chase one thought after another, my mind was at its calmest.

Every experience would be different depending on the conditioning of the mind. One must be willing to embrace something so simple yet difficult at the same time. Vipassana is not an intellectual game, it is experiential. It is not a one time breakthrough, but an every day process, a practical way of living.

We all know how each day presents itself with distractions and problems. Our thoughts and emotions can steer us to the wrong direction if we don’t control them and remove negativity from our minds. With meditation, we can bring back peace, and harmony to our mind and innerselves. It is an opportunity to see things from a bigger perspective.

The good thing is after that happens, we radiate peace onto others like sunshine.

Borrowing from S.N Goenka: “May you, and all beings be happy!”