[Music]
I'm currently a quarantine even with in
plum village which is under lockdown
just because I've been on a little
family visit recently and I was on some
public transport so as a precaution I'm
spending 14 days in solitary which is
perfect as far as I'm concerned it's
like a great opportunity to do a solo
retreat and yeah it is seeing what so
many people have been doing putting out
wonderful things online to support each
other during these difficult times some
of us here in plum village thought we
might do the same so I thought I could
do something like a little video blog
during this quarantine time maybe once
every couple of days post something just
to stay in touch with with all my
friends out there and yeah hopefully
contribute something positive and just
so that we can continue to inspire each
other and help each other to smile and
stay sane and calm and happy in
difficult times so I thought I might
start by giving a little tour of my mmm
forest refuge here we're in the music
hut in Upper Hamlet and Thun village
France and currently is sitting on top
of the piano
which has seen better days a little out
of tune it's not so happy being away for
a while some keys a little sticky but
yeah the tuner can't come now because
he's also in lockdown but anyway we will
survive what else is in here
this is my little altar so we've got mr.
Buddha sitting quietly and this is me I
generally don't like having photos of
myself around but this one's quite
special as it kind of reminds me there's
a part of myself I need to keep alive
kinda curious and open and you just did
him what's going on in the world so here
we've got a little bit of does it say
jazz well from from Deer Park we can
light a bit of that it smells nice yeah
always good to have sage what else is
going on yeah we have the cello here
they're gonna be hearing more from the
cello soon and these are some stickers
my little niece Sophia she was very keen
to to put this sticker on and uh this is
from my little nephew Felix he wrote out
why a jean twinkle cents which is walk
with me in French and then we got smile
over here smiling is always good and
then here I was staring at it the other
day and I I saw this fragile sticker and
then I thought well you know what we're
all fragile and vulnerable so that's
what's happening over here we've got
some kind of technical stuff what's
great as a musician is that we can do a
lot of things virtually now so they've
got a friend in Paris who's asked me to
add some shadow to to some music that
he's composing so
I ended up adding five tracks when
you're working on that and then there's
somebody else in the u.s. some friends
working on a on a practice song they've
asked me to add some cello to so I'm
going to do that later this afternoon so
yeah that's just some of what I'll be
doing to amuse myself and I thought it's
a particularly good opportunity to take
care of our relationships and to
reconcile somehow yeah
relationships get stuck we neglect each
other sometimes maybe we've been have it
it's difficult to let go move on forgive
or to reconnect to say sorry and to
forgive each other but I think yeah what
I've seen is that whenever I can touch
compassion for others and when I really
get in touch with their suffering with
their difficulties their circumstances
then I see that in a sense we're all
doing our best and although we we kind
of mess up a little bit now and then we
are we are doing our best and yeah and
so particularly now because it's easy
really to see how everybody's suffering
everybody's having a difficult time
everybody's plans are canceled
everybody's kind of confined and out of
their usual routines and maybe it's
tough suffering with isolation or maybe
some anxiety some loneliness some fear
so because it's easy to get in touch
with that then I have a feeling maybe
it's easier to to find compassion for
each other and to forgive each other so
I'm certainly planning to make a list of
all my loved ones and write to them and
you know just take care of the garden a
little bit take care of all my my
relationships and reach out to people I
haven't spoken to in a while
check in see how they're doing so I
wondered if we can do a little paddle
guided meditation a little practice to
help us get in touch with a lot of love
burns actually I was really inspired by
a film which we watched together at the
monastic retreat when we were in Germany
a month ago at the EIA be their European
it's to the Pipers I sent her over there
we watched this film a beautiful day in
the neighborhood about mr. Rogers and
there was a scene where he kneels down
by his bed at the end of the day and he
prays for all the people that he's
thinking of there's a lot of people I'm
just sending love and yeah holding them
in his heart and and sending good
thoughts to all of them and not just
them but their father their mother their
their friends and so he's sort of
spreading goodness and kindness into his
whole circle of people he's in touch
with and and they were there in touch
with him and I kind of remembered that I
used to do that I used to do something
similar and that practice has fallen
away recently so so I thought well maybe
this is a good time to bring it back
so last night I did that I know by my
bed and you know I just brought to mind
all the people in my life and there's a
lot of people in my life and I love them
all dearly and yeah I slept so well I I
just felt so good thinking of them all
seeing that each one of us is dealing
with
difficulty each one of us has some
anxiety some pain in our hearts and I
visualized each of them smiling a smile
of real peace and freedom
maybe we can do that now it can each be
in touch with members of our family our
close friends just breathing in and out
maybe hold them in our hearts we see the
stress the strain the tension in their
eyes and in their faces
their worries that they are holding
right now and as we breathe in and out
we just allow their faces to relax and
turn to smiles they allow all of our
loved ones to smile in our hearts think
little children we visualize them
imagine them free peaceful news
and if there's any little hurt in our
heart or places that are stuck in the
relationship we can smile to that to you
breathing in knowing that were all
facing difficulty the whole human
species
breathing out I only wish my fellow
brothers and sisters in the human family
well my wish is for every person to be
free and ease at peace with whatever
situation they're in even if they are
facing ill health or even the end of
their life
we will all die sooner or later
let us pray you may do it with dignity
with ease with freedom
so if this comes with a lot of love from
one village wish you all well forward to
hearing from you and hearing how things
are going for you and maybe in the next
few days I will get the cello out and
share some music with you and share a
couple of songs I've been working on
yeah and I just feel there's a whole
human family we can do a lot to to look
out for each other to stay in touch with
each other
[Music]
lift each other's heads so let's be
alone
[Music]
you