When is a holiday not a holiday? When is rest not really rest?

After spending two weeks off work, hanging out at home, you would think that I was completely rested. But I wasn’t as rested as I thought, not compared to spending a weekend at Jamberoo Abbey. Yes, this is the very same place that was featured on Compass in the last few weeks. I’ve actually been coming there regularly for a few years now after one of my good friends introduced me to the place, and if you watched the series, you’ll know that it’s a very restful, very peaceful place.

Life there has a rhythm all of its own, like one long meditation really, with the regular prayers at the chapel, and walking the same stretch of road countless times to the chapel. When there isn’t much distraction, little noise (no TV, left my mp3 player at home), you start to notice your surroundings more, and the beauty of the place is that the surroundings are wonderful.

Although I’ve been there several times, this time around it was very, very weird at first. I guess that kind of happens after you see a place you are familiar with on TV. I liked the programme, and I thought it gave an accurate picture of what life is like there, but it’s not my reality of the place. It took me awhile to look past what the programme showed and see the place for what it is again.

It took a whole 24 hours for me to settle in, to calm my mind down (and believe me it was in a really chatty, hyper mood), to be still in the silence. That’s really, really hard to do, and it was probably a good thing that I was on a Christian meditation retreat since it helped me to settle down even more. So by the time Sr. Magdalen led a beautiful chant on Sunday morning I was completely at ease. I spent the last hour of my stay just sitting on the verandah outside my room, listening to the birds, gazing out at this view.