So the big event this week was taking the overnight MegaBus ($33 each way!) to New York City to attend the first 2 days of Contemplative Care training. The New York Zen Centre for Contemplative Care is offering this 9 month long course to individuals wanting to learn to bring more presence to end of life conversations. One might wonder how long I contemplated the decision to take on this long-distance commute before committing and the answer is simple - 24 hours.
The day after I got laid off, I sat at my computer and started googling. I searched "death and dying", "dying well", "mortality awareness", and other uplifting phrases. And then I got a short email from my friend Tonya Surman suggesting I check out zencare.org. I looked it up an immediately said YES. This is it. The corner stone that I will build my career change around. I did notice that it was being held in New York, but initially I ignored that. I spent the day searching the web but couldn't find anything else like this in Canada. A big Canadian bummer to that.
I also noticed that the deadline for registration was June 20, 2 weeks prior. So, me being me, I send an email with an appeal about just being laid off and needing to register NOW for THIS YEAR, and got a response back in less than an hour encouraging me to apply and be considered.
It's hard to describe how right this decision has felt. Of course there is that 12 hour overnight bus ride at the beginning and end of each training period, once a month. Now, I don't know many other 50 year women willing to travel this way, but I have always said that one of my greatest and most useful talents in life is my ability to sleep anywhere. Even on a bus, even crossing a border in the middle of the night and being hauled off the bus for the usual border interrogation.
So in order to be accepted into the program, I had to apply (which I did immediately), I got a reference letter from my Buddhist teacher, Sensei Doug Duncan (which he gave), and I made my first trek down in July by overnight bus to both check out the program and test the travel arrangement. Both passed, and I wrote the check for the year.
I'm not sure what all I will learn at this training, but I'm really looking forward to hanging out with these wonderful teachers and 35 fellow students for 2 days each month. We are all involved in volunteer placements and will have the opportunity to discuss our experiences with these with each other in person and with our groups, buddies, and mentors between the monthly sessions. We're a mixed bag of persons from various Buddhist and non-Buddhist backgrounds, and I'm on the younger end of the age average, with a few 20 somethings, but the majority identifying as empty nesters or retirees. And I'm the only Canadian amongst the Americans, most of whom are actually from New York or the surrounding area. I have to say I'm looking forward to hanging out with Americans again after so many years in Canada (I'm an American by birth but have lived in Canada for the last 32 years.
So more on the content of contemplative care when I know more about it. For now it's just about getting more comfortable with myself and trying to figure out what it would mean to bring more presence to my conversations.
The day after I got laid off, I sat at my computer and started googling. I searched "death and dying", "dying well", "mortality awareness", and other uplifting phrases. And then I got a short email from my friend Tonya Surman suggesting I check out zencare.org. I looked it up an immediately said YES. This is it. The corner stone that I will build my career change around. I did notice that it was being held in New York, but initially I ignored that. I spent the day searching the web but couldn't find anything else like this in Canada. A big Canadian bummer to that.
I also noticed that the deadline for registration was June 20, 2 weeks prior. So, me being me, I send an email with an appeal about just being laid off and needing to register NOW for THIS YEAR, and got a response back in less than an hour encouraging me to apply and be considered.
It's hard to describe how right this decision has felt. Of course there is that 12 hour overnight bus ride at the beginning and end of each training period, once a month. Now, I don't know many other 50 year women willing to travel this way, but I have always said that one of my greatest and most useful talents in life is my ability to sleep anywhere. Even on a bus, even crossing a border in the middle of the night and being hauled off the bus for the usual border interrogation.
So in order to be accepted into the program, I had to apply (which I did immediately), I got a reference letter from my Buddhist teacher, Sensei Doug Duncan (which he gave), and I made my first trek down in July by overnight bus to both check out the program and test the travel arrangement. Both passed, and I wrote the check for the year.
I'm not sure what all I will learn at this training, but I'm really looking forward to hanging out with these wonderful teachers and 35 fellow students for 2 days each month. We are all involved in volunteer placements and will have the opportunity to discuss our experiences with these with each other in person and with our groups, buddies, and mentors between the monthly sessions. We're a mixed bag of persons from various Buddhist and non-Buddhist backgrounds, and I'm on the younger end of the age average, with a few 20 somethings, but the majority identifying as empty nesters or retirees. And I'm the only Canadian amongst the Americans, most of whom are actually from New York or the surrounding area. I have to say I'm looking forward to hanging out with Americans again after so many years in Canada (I'm an American by birth but have lived in Canada for the last 32 years.
So more on the content of contemplative care when I know more about it. For now it's just about getting more comfortable with myself and trying to figure out what it would mean to bring more presence to my conversations.
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