Days gone by.

I have a new love. He's called Peanut and he's a chocolate point adorable Tonkinese kitten. He is sooooo cuddley and he has decided that his bed is my boobs.

I have booked myself in for Vipassana. A ten day meditation course. Which involves over 10 hours a day meditation. No talking, reading or listeneing to music is allowed for the whole ten days. Here is a bit about Vipassana, incase you have no idea what it is about.

''What Vipassana is:

• It is a technique that will eradicate suffering.
  
• It is an art of living that one can use to make positive contributions to society.
  
• It is a method of mental purification which allows one to face life's tensions and problems in a calm, balanced way.
  

Vipassana meditation aims at the highest spiritual goals of total liberation and full enlightenment. Its purpose is never simply to cure physical disease. However, as a by-product of mental purification, many psychosomatic diseases are eradicated. In fact, Vipassana eliminates the three causes of all unhappiness: craving, aversion and ignorance. With continued practice, the meditation releases the tensions developed in everyday life, opening the knots tied by the old habit of reacting in an unbalanced way to pleasant and unpleasant situations.
Although Vipassana was developed as a technique by the Buddha, its practice is not limited to Buddhists. There is absolutely no question of conversion. The technique works on the simple basis that all human beings share the same problems and a technique which can eradicate these problems will have a universal application. People from many religious denominations have experienced the benefits of Vipassana meditation, and have found no conflict with their profession of faith.''

Here is my timetable for the ten days, getting up at 4am is going to be SO difficult but I'm sure it'll prove to be worth the early starts.

4:00 a.m.---------------------Morning wake-up bell  4:30-6:30 a.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or your own room   6:30-8:00 a.m.----------------Breakfast break  8:00-9:00 a.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall  9:00-11:00 a.m.---------------Meditate in the hall or your own room                                according to the teacher's instructions  11:00-12:00 noon--------------Lunch break  12noon-1:00 p.m.--------------Rest and interviews with the teacher  1:00-2:30 p.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or your own room   2:30-3:30 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall  3:30-5:00 p.m.----------------Meditate in the hall or your own room                                according to the teacher's instructions  5:00-6:00 p.m.----------------Tea break  6:00-7:00 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall  7:00-8:15 p.m.----------------Teacher's Discourse in the hall  8:15-9:00 p.m.----------------Group meditation in the hall  9:00-9:30 p.m.----------------Question time in the hall  9:30 p.m.---------------------Retire to your own room--Lights out