ABSTRACT
The stimulus for one of many important lessons I’ve received arrived the week after Christmas in 1998 during my first visit to Green Mountain Monastery, Thây’s center then in Vermont. When I got there, I was quite tired and unhappy. The fall had been a challenging time at home and at school. After three days of sitting meditation, eating meditation, and mindful walking in the quiet, snow-covered hills of Vermont, I relaxed and started smiling again. My primary concern was how to take this peace home with me. Hoping for advice and reassurance, I asked Sister Annabel, the Monastery’s Abbess, for a consultation. I began by describing my return home from previous retreats.
“When I get home, I’m walking on air, Sister Annabel, but I’m like a tire with a slow leak. Friends meeting me a week or so after my return don’t know I’ve been anywhere. How can I keep my practice alive?”
