One of the troubling contradictions in life is that we don’t want to be controlled or told what to do yet, to achieve our goals we must follow a fairly well defined path even if we prefer the scenery in another direction.
If we are really honest, however, we can see the current state of affairs is the one in which we are not free. When our cravings and fears govern our behaviour we are essentially at the mercy of every changing whim of the mind.
By contrast, if we can overcome the cravings and fears that have ruled our lives then we will be truly free to work towards a lasting peace and satisfaction. Without the constant push and pull of desire and worry, the mind can rest in present moment awareness.
The method that we must apply to overcome craving and worry is to seclude ourselves for a period of time in order to reduce the strength of distractions. By undertaking a meditation retreat we can then train the mind to avoid going to the past or the future so that we can bring a newfound present moment awareness into our daily lives.