We can all heal a little more

I recently attended my first in-person retreat since COVID. I find that long retreats are a real opportunity for personal growth and healing as well an opportunity to deepen of my meditation practice. 

You would think that after all these years of practice and at this age, there was nothing more to learn about myself or about the practice. But that is the magic of meditation and mindfulness—there is always an opportunity to go deeper and to heal a little more. To peel back another layer of emotional baggage and to let it go. To leave a little better person than when you came. 

Not all of us have the luxury of taking time off and going on a retreat, but all of us have the ability to ask for the help we need to heal. Maybe we just need to sit quietly with ourselves and meditate. Maybe we need more. We owe it to ourselves and to those we love to be the best version of ourselves—and that means doing the hard work of healing past hurts, traumas, shames and other pain we carry. That means getting the help we need to do that—therapy, support groups, medication and/or meditation—whatever is necessary to heal. 

We can all be a better person when we go to sleep than when we woke up.