This Monday October 9, we will meet in person.
Go to calendar for our schedule
Address for the OHMC meditation space:
3812 Northampton St. NW
Washington DC 20015
Please arrive a few minutes early so we can invite the bell on time. You may also arrive 15 minutes early to practice working meditation by helping us set up cushions.
This week we will meet in person on 7-8:30PM at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM online, and Friday 12-1PM online.
Annie will co-facilitate with her friend and guest facilitator Dr. Deidre Combs on Monday evening, October 9th.
“When you begin to see that your enemy is suffering, that is the beginning of insight..” – Thich Nhat Hanh
Across the spiritual traditions we are counseled to be grateful for those with whom we may not agree. The challenging people in our lives can be stressful and even dangerous, yet the Buddha taught that our worst enemies can be our best teachers. In fact, there is a story about a Buddhist monastery in which there was a monk who the other monks all disliked and found difficult. Finally, after many years of disharmony, the difficult monk decided to leave. Surprisingly, the abbot of the monastery went out and found the monk and begged him to come back.
Why? Because a difficult person in our life is someone who can help us to grow, deepen our compassion or expand our perspectives in ways we may not be able to on our own. I have learned so much from my challenging relationships, the ones I still have and even the ones that didn’t last. When things are going well, I am not apt to change, to question, nor to grow; a frustrating truth!
Dr. Deidre Combs will join us on Monday to share her wisdom on how we might learn from those who challenge us the most and use discord as an avenue to deepen our practice of awareness, understanding, compassion and love.
As usual, we will leave time to share with each other about our practice, how we work with the challenging folks in our lives, or anything else that we want to put into the circle of care that we will create together.
We look forward to seeing you there!
with love,
annie and deidre