Three more sleeps...

As I slowly make my way through all the teeny tiny details (i dettagli) of preparing for this trip, I need to remind myself of my true purpose on this journey: to deepen my meditation practice by tapping into the ancient contemplative tradition of the Christian mystics by going where they've been... by praying where they've prayed... by meditating where they've meditated. If I can uphold this intention, the minor details are sure to become less overwhelming.

I use a book of daily readings to help ground me when I meditate here at home. Today's page offered the following words of wisdom:

It is difficult for us to meditate because we are so hyper self-conscious. We cannot help, as it were, looking at the little television monitor serviced by the ego and seeing ourselves, thinking about ourselves, analysing ourselves. But meditation is concerned with a definitive silencing of that monitor screen. Meditation is a time of poverty, of silence, of self-forgetfulness. It is not a time for analysing ourselves, for thinking about our motives or imagining ourselves to be spiritual or sinful, but a time to be absolutely still in mind as well as body. (Dom John Main, OSB)

I cannot tell you how excited I am about the thought of turning off that TV monitor that my ego demands, and making the most of this opportunity to experience the silence, the stillness and the simplicity of meditating in the ancient hills of Tuscany & Umbria. How blessed am I!!

Vivere in pace,