A Little “Board”

I just returned from a 3-day meditation retreat in Kingston Springs, TN. The retreat location normally hosts kids in summer camps and other events for youth. In the kitchen area there was a little board on the wall that appeared to have been sliced out of a log. Imprinted on the board was this four-word sentence: “I’m a little board.” It was one of the first things I noticed at breakfast time, and it is ironic because the first thing I usually have to deal with at a meditation retreat is my unquiet mind and restless feelings. By midway into the second day, my brain arrives, and I am reminded that silence is not somethnig to avoid. When I practice tolerating sensations of restlessness, I learn all over again that boredom is a phantom – something that we create when we believe we can’t tolerate being quiet and still.