The Stuff I Completely Missed :P
-- There is a section on "Being vs Doing". You can google this and get lots of hits that go in lots of different directions. I don't think I can guess what we were talking about here based on google. Maybe I shouldn't even acknowledge this in this writeup
Anyway, I was supremely distracted at this point because I had some stuff going on at the end of class and had totally stopped paying attention. Oops.
Visualization Meditation - Lake
This was the last thing we did in class. I didn't hear a single word of this either. Oops.
Lake Meditation Script
Its really impossible to give my thoughts on this one since I didn't actually experience it, so there's the link, and you can read it as well if you'd like!
The distractions were strong at the end, what can I say, it happens.
Class End/Closing Notes
Two final notes here as our last class ends:
1) The instructor mentions that he is available to us for one free coaching session at any time, be it a month from now or a year. A coaching session involves talking about our practice, asking any questions we'd like, discussing experiences or further practice, anything we want.
He mentions that this was always part of the deal, I think he does some "life coach" type stuff that leans heavily on mindfulness, he specifically mentions that he waits until the end to bring this up because it doesn't feel right using the class as an advertising tool for the work he does outside of this. A very nice contrast to the lady that I've met twice who has pitched a book and additional class each time.
2) One of the guys in the class sent out an e-mail to everyone late last week stating an interest in continuing to meet as a group on some sort of regular basis as a way to encourage and support continuing what we've learned here, and to talk about our experiences. It looks like there will be 10 of us doing this. Yup, us, myself included. Whether its a sign of how much I feel like I've gotten out of this class, or a sign of some legitimate growth and a bit of a lessening in my anxiety around a group (or something else entirely) I cannot say, but I have committed to meeting up to continue learning with this group of people. We're getting together in two weeks at the organizer's house in Chapel Hill.
Given that much of my writing about the orientation and first week was about how massively uncomfortable I felt about the group/social aspect of this class, that seems like an appropriate place to end things when talking about the last class.