Visit a monastery

I called and reserved a weekend retreat for October 16th-19th. I’m very excited. The fall colors should be out and I’ll be at the Abbey where Thomas Merton wrote some of the books I love so much. I plan to take a couple of his books, a book or two of poetry, a notebook and some pens and spend the entire weekend in complete silence. I know it’s certainly not everyone’s idea of a good time, but I can’t wait!

It looks like I’m going to have to postpone my trip to Seattle, so I may be spending a weekend at Gethsemani in just a couple of weeks. Beautiful time of year to be there, too. If I go, I’ll definitely take some pictures.

I want to go to the Abbey of Gethsemani where Thomas Merton was a monk. It’s about three hours from here. I hope to go before the end of summer. It’s a three hour drive so I’ll just need pet-sitters for one night and I can enjoy a couple of days in a beautiful, secluded area and just meditate and think.

http://www.monks.org/visits.html

I’ve found that there are a lot of monasteries relatively close to where I live, including the one where Thomas Merton was a monk. I think I will try and plan a trip for the end of summer/beginning of fall to visit one of them with my mother.

I stayed at a Buddhist monastery for 3 nights while I was in India, and it was amazing!! This one monk saved my friend and I from a rabid dog, i swear!! She did it so swiftly n gently too, I will never understand how she was able to do it. This dog was sneering n barking outside our room and it was throwing itself against our door trying to open it (it wasn’t the most stable door either)and from one moment to the next we heard a wooshing sound (like someone picked up the dog and flew away with it or something) and the dog stopped, it was silent the rest of the night. Point is, its super cool. The 4am wake up gongs, not so cool, but still part of the awesome experience.

I can’t remember when I put this on my list, but I visited a monastery in February of 2007. Holy Myrhhbearers monastery in upstate New York was a wonderful place to have a spiritual retreat.

i’ve stayed at various different monasteries and/or convents, and those were among the most peaceful and uplifting days in my life.

Very interesting. I have had the opportunity to see many in my travels.