Tuesday Morning with the Monks 8/21/18

Most mornings the coffee maker starts brewing at 3:33am. My Husband and I are usually up by 3:45am and first cup of coffee hits my lips by 4am. I like my cream with coffee, haha…. Beastie Boy lyrics- ” I like my sugar with coffee and cream”. Anyways while I drink my cream with coffee I read my daily inspirational books and I write in my journal. I gotta start my day out that way, 100% positive! While I am reading and writing, my Husband is making me a Healthy Breakfast. Breakfast is usually ready by 4:45am and he leaves for work by 5am. Between like 5am and 5:30am I am doing stuff on my phone or my computer. As it gets closer to 6am I better get ready to go to the Temple, Ratanapanya Meditation Center.

Dressed and ready, I am out the door. I walk to the Meditation Center because its right around the corner,I take pictures with my phone as I go, its getting light out later, the summer is changing.. I have been going to the Temple for over 3 years.  Today I get to the Temple and the gate is open. Some days the gate is closed and I have to go through a little gate on the side. The Buddhist Monks are already chanting when I get there. I take off my shoes. There are 6 Monks chanting today, Gerry- Senior Monk, G- Gerrys side kick it seems like, Tomas-the first Monk I talked to at the Temple, Manito- we are friends, Vincent- he is a white guy who just became a Monk a few months ago,( I dont know why he became a Monk) and a young man,I cant remember his name, he is being a Monk for a brief period of time, I think that makes his family happy. These Monks are from Thailand, except Vincent, he is from Tucson. So back to the Chanting, I dont know how to say the words they are chanting or what the words mean but listening to chanting makes me feel good, peaceful. Monks chant to practice the Buddhas teaching… Buddha was and is teaching us how to end self suffering, how to look inside of ourselves and be happy. After chanting we will meditate. The Senior Monk, Gerry, will set a timer and that notifies us when meditation is over. Some days its easy to clear my head, others its hard. Today it was hard! Thinking about all the things I want to do today, then i catch myself and say “focus on your breathing Dawn”. Then my mind wanders again and I catch myself, ok I am going to do the Chakra Mantra, I AM, I FEEL, I DO, I LOVE, I SPEAK, I SEE, I UNDERSTAND, repeat, repeat,repeat. This Meditation is long today, the alarm goes off and the Monks finish their chanting. We bow 3 times to Gerry and I say “how long was that meditation?” No one really gives me a clear answer, but i think it was 25 minutes. Now its time for Yoga.

I get 5 mats out of the Temple but today only 3 are used.  Gerry, G and I do Yoga today. Gerry and G do not speak English that well but we communicate through laughter, and they watch what I am doing. We have done Yoga so many times together, they understand what we are doing by now. We breath first, wake our bodies up from toes to head and then begin with Sun Salutation. Sometimes we do Sun Salutation fast and sometimes slow, it is different every day. After that we work on all of our Chakras from Root to Crown.They may not know why we are doing these poses, but I know they like doing it. By the time we are done it has been probably a half an hour and we are all ready for the day. I take a picture of each Monk in a pose and then Gerry takes a picture of me. We roll up the mats and kinda say our goodbyes in English and Thai. I take the mats in the Temple and today Tomas is making breakfast. He calls my name and wants me to come in the kitchen. I go to the kitchen and he has a handful of instant oat meal packs, brown sugar and cinnamon, he wants to give them to me. I say ” no, you dont need to give me anything” ( those are full of sugar and who knows what and i am trying to eat clean) and Tomas says I must take a gift from the Monks! So i take that oatmeal with a smile and bow to him in thanks. We say SA TU (sp?) I think it means thank you, I really should pay better attention! Then I go back outside and put my shoes on near the Blessing Buddha Statue. Blessing said to the people in my life  and all the animals and people in need in the world.

Time to head home. I leave the Temple and continue around the block. I take pictures of things on my way that catch my eye, feathers, coins, birds you name it. Now I am home and I have a lot i want to fit into this day. Lets see what I can do.

So that is how my day started and I just thought I would share. If you have any Comments I would Love to hear from you

B L O G = Be Love Our Goal