My flight to Sri Lanka is only in a few days.
I'm experiencing wave after wave of strong excitement and fear.
Any special recommendation regarding one's practice before a retreat?
Well, the first one is with anything be fairly
I don't know, I guess a little bit strict with yourself, reminding yourself that it's never good to live in the future.
That's the best way to put it.
The excitement that we have for things is...
is not correct.
It's not correct to be excited about things.
It's not beneficial.
It's a cause for suffering for you.
And it's a cause for you to actually ruin future experiences.
with expectations or with just excitement by itself because you bring that into the experience you bring the fear you bring the excitement into the experience and so you want to start on the right foot by reminding yourself this is not correct it's not proper to be i mean this is natural when there are expectations in the future you have to go up on stage and give a talk for example
Great fear comes up great excitement when you have a performance or so on.
Great fear and excitement.
But it's not proper and it's not helpful.
It's detrimental.
So the problem with that, you have to be careful there as well.
I don't mean to say you have to remind yourself that this is harmful, because that's dangerous as well.
Then you get even more worried and more afraid, I'm going to ruin it or so on.
You just have to be strict with yourself.
Always stay in the present moment.
So the best way to say is, remind yourself to stay in the present moment.
What's most important now is now.
It's not Sri Lanka when you come here.
It's not the meditation course that you're going to do.
The meditation course, you'll be terribly disappointed because you'll realize it's just the same.
I mean, you won't be intellectually, but your mind that's excited now will become bored and easily...
disenchanted because it's exactly the same as it was at home.
And so then your mind with the same habit will begin to get excited about when you're going to go home.
Wow, then that's what's exciting.
When I go home, then it's really going to be exciting because then I can put all this into practice.
Yeah, when I go back to work, I'll be like this.
And you'll get more excited and more afraid.
And you'll have the same conditions while you're here in the practice, becoming excited and afraid about having to go home.
And this is how you'll develop your habits.
So it doesn't mean that you can solve it now.
Of course, coming to meditate is the best way to help to solve that.
But it's important to have your right view about meditation.
Meditation is to be in the present moment.
So the best way to prepare for the meditation practice is to start meditating, to look at this excitement and fear and say, this is what I'm going to have to deal with at the meditation practice.
This is what the meditation practice is all about.
Start here, start now and focus on that worry and that fear or that excitement and that fear because it's the same sort of thing that's going to come up here and it'll ruin your practice if you're here thinking about the future.
You'll be, yes, yes, I'm here for the purpose of the future.
Well, you're not.
You're here for the purpose of the present moment, to make the present moment the best it can be.
So right now, make the present moment the best it can be.
That's the best way to prepare.
Don't get excited about the course.
I mean, if you do get excited, look at the excitement, not at the course.
Look at that excitement.
Don't repress it.
Don't stop it.
Don't deny it.
Look at it.
Try to understand the excitement, because that's what you're going to try to be doing here.
So get a head start.