My name’s Terry Doyle. I’m the Special Interest Coordinator for Meditatio and my remit is to take the gifts of meditation, our practice, to people who might be considered to be marginalised, outside mainstream society.Â
I’ve worked a lot with people who, for instance, who are homeless, got addiction problems, mental health issues, prisoners.Â
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In my experience, meditation and our practice is a wonderful way of helping us to come home to ourselves. Meditation and again my own direct experience is a wonderful way for me to stay centred, more resilient. Cause the work isn’t always easy, life isn’t always easy, we all know that, we’ve all come to discover that. But meditation is a great gift and it costs us nothing, it costs us nothing to meditate. We just have to make ourselves available. Maybe these days, more than any other time, there is this message out there that you go for it, be all you can be, instant gratification. You can have it all, you can have it now. Whereas the wise ones from every wisdom tradition, say something different, the patient, persistent practice reaps great rewards. And again, I think that is the wiser path.Â
I’ve learned that truth through hard experience. Patient, persistent practice reaps great rewards.Â
There’s another saying that I like, “If you don’t go within, you go without.” Meditation is a great way of going inside, becoming inner space travellers. Inner space astronauts if you like, because our own inner space is every bit as infinite and vast as what’s out there. And yet how often do we commit to going inside?
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 To let the world go on without us for a while, to learn to focus our minds upon a word, a mantra and not judge. And just like if we want to catch a sun tan, all we have to do is sit in the sun, we don’t have to stomp around and say, come on, come on, shine on me, no. Just sit, we make ourselves available to be shown upon. So, I would urge anybody or encourage anybody who’s out there thinking about embracing a discipline or wholesome discipline to nourish mind, body and spirit, to nurture ourselves. And meditation is a wonderful practice. All I would say is, go for it, commit, don’t do things half-heartedly, surrender into a daily practice twice daily if you can. Focus your mind, give your attention to a sacred word, a mantra and let that silence speak to you. You know, go for it, everyone.
Terry works as a Holistic Wellbeing Coach and Community Organizer in the North East of England. He will be leading a retreat, Caring for Oneself, for Others and for Us – Young Adults Retreat together with Fr Laurence Freeman, Tayna Malaspina and Fr Patricio Lynch, to reflect on and deepen our self-care so that we can better care for others at Bonnevaux Centre for Peace, from 29 July to 3 August.
