When you read this article, most probably I would be in Vipassana for ten days. It's a different kind of experience where I won't have any means of communication, and the condition is not only silence of speech but complete silence, noble silence involving any gesture or reading or writing. While I will go through this experience, mostly for introspection, I would suggest readers also do some exercise, as per their convenience, to do introspection for themselves.
I would suggest that you look within to identify your likings and dislikes, and rationalize them to make life simpler and easier rather than complex and difficult.
Then you can also think about your nature. I mean how do you describe yourself and whether you would like to continue to be what you are or you would welcome some changes? This is for your thought process and hopefully understanding your nature and identifying important characteristics of yourself will be very useful. You can actually write them down if you like to.
If you like to continue the introspection exercise, I would suggest that today you think of your desires. When I say desire, it means something more than your regular wishes. Desire means something which is long-lasting and lifetime. So what would be your top five desires in life that you would like to fulfil and that will give you great satisfaction?
And also how is the weather within you? Is it calm and cool or are you feeling turmoil? I think this might be a good topic for you to do a mental exercise. When you come across some unexpected thing, how do you react? What are your reflective actions? What kind of initial response do you give to unexpected incidents? It might revive some memories in your mind and you might re-live the experience of earlier incidents. And I hope that most of them would turn out to be pleasant once although there might be a few which would be painful.
Why don't you think about your surroundings today? Most of the time our surroundings are based on the circumstances in which we are living and also depend on our own choice. Some of the things in our environment we can change but many of them are beyond our choice. How do you evaluate your surrounding in terms of your liking, your comfort and their role in your well-being? Would you like to make some changes and adjustments or you are quite comfortable?
I believe that entertainment is part of spirituality because it pertains to your inner self. In fact, I strongly believe that your mind needs happiness that comes through entertainment. It actually works as meditation and rejuvenates our minds. That's why I call a movie is like a meditation which gives you lots of peace and takes you away from the world. On this point, why don't you think about your preference for entertainment and activities that make you happy?
The next exercise that I would suggest would be to deliberate about 4-5 changes that you would like to bring into your life. Are there any big transformational changes that you are thinking of?
Well, these are some thoughts that come to my mind before I go for Vipassana and write down my experience in the next article. Meanwhile, happy introspecting!
