Once again life takes us where it sees fit.
The last time I wrote we were still waiting with great uncertainty for my 1-mounth check-ups and the result of this new drug I am taking. I am very happy to say the results came back and they are good so far!
We found out about a week ago that my disease is diminishing on one scan and stable on another, which doesn’t necessarily mean that the new drug is working, but it is great news anyhow. Now we know that we need to stay in L.A. for at least 2 more months and it gives us this little tiny piece of certainty in the big sea of unknown.
So to celebrate we decided we have to leave this huge city and see some nature that is not man maid.
The first thing we did is drive to Arizona to meet my sister and her family – An amazing 8 hour drive through the dessert that can seem boring to some, but for us was a feast for all sensual senses. Having had to go threw most of that without air-conditioning (Our car started acting up in the middle of the desert) even added to the experience. Driving with all the windows open, feeling the hot, dry wind of the desert, and sweating… It somehow makes you feel like you are in an experience and not just watching it.
The second thing we did was to spend Yom-Kipur in a small town called “Ojai” (Pronounced “Ohai”), an hour and a half north of L.A. We found a retreat center there that was totally empty on that day. We paid for an adorable room with mountains view and oak trees all around us and all the peace and quiet we could ask for. What a delight! They even gave me some work in the garden in order to get a discounted price – So not American, so different from what we have seen so far here and so heart warming for us. By sheer luck, on the next day there was a little Sangha meeting in the tradition of Tich-Naht-Han in that place and we finally had a group sitting and walking and reading, the first since we left Israel.
Apart from that, we are planning some other trips in the near future and our hope is to see as much nature and as little city that we can. Of course that immediately brings up my conditions and attachments, but as some teacher once said (I’m sorry but I can’t recall his name) “You should get all the help you need”. Right now we need some help, the help of Mother Nature, and I am fine with that condition.
I must say the times of me sitting at the computer and writing this letters to you is an excellent practice of mindfulness. It is in these times I can reflect on the past few weeks since the last letter, and watch my progress or decline in skillfulness and wisdom. In between those letters, there is allot of “Doings” and coming-and-going of stuff in the reality my mind creates. What I am trying to say is – I enjoy writing to you! And I thank you for your precious attention to my practice of right manifestation of thoughts to words. In this group meeting in Ojai, we read some pages from Tich-Naht-Han’s book, saying he finds writing a hard place to practice mindfulness and would much ratter work in the garden or wash the dishes. Strange hearing that from an amazing monk responsible for some of the greatest modern literature in that field. Well, nevertheless, I find it easy practicing right now.
Till our next meeting then, I wish you all a happy new year, a big hug and Hag Smeach!
Dror
