By Travis Newbill
Floral Notes and Bardo: The Creative Chronicles of a Shambhala Mountain Resident is a daily feature on the SMC blog in which a member of our staff/community shares his experience of existing as part of Shambhala Mountain Center.
Heavy clouds, a bit of rain — like sitting on a bench and reading dharma. Then, cooler and calm.
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I like to sit in this chair, in “my” “front yard” (yurt yard).
I felt so dense yesterday, edgy. Almost vicious. Critical. Arrogant. Even with reminders all around me that gentleness is the way… how to shift? Finally before dinner, I walked into the Japanese garden behind Sacred Studies Hall and read some teachings — reminder. The result was that I felt less vicious.
The world became almost entertaining. Non-threatening. I’ve noticed myself comparing myself to others recently, and feeling less-together, less-clean, less-vibrant.
I sat down at the dinner table and Heather asked:
“How’s your head?”
“Stuffy.”
“How’s your heart?”
“…”
“How’s your heart?”
“…soft.”
“Like a marshmallow?”
“Like a peach.”
And Kate, across the table, had a peach on her fork.
“You’re about to eat Travis’ heart,” said Heather.
She paused.
“Bon appetite,” I said.
Kaleigh, Eric, Heather and I went up to Dhyana (K&E’s cabin) for the evening. We sat in the living room and had tea and Japanese sweets that Kaleigh picked up in town. A nice, civilized and hilarious scene. I get a wild kick out of all of those characters and how they interact, how we interact. I seemed to be the quickest to crack up, fall out of character.
Maybe feeling so dumb and exhausted after the day of mental rage that all I could do was observe and enjoy.
After tea and snacks Eric and I went out on the porch — damp, dark, moist mellow night, and played music. Eric on the cello and myself on the guitar. Improvisational, expressive… It was such a joy, and nourishing. I’ve been missing artistic engagement.
Bhanu advised me (long ago now, when I had just arrived): “Be your musical self up here.”
— June 24, 2014
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Travis Newbill is a curious dude on the path of artistry, meditation, and social engagement who is very glad to be residing at Shambhala Mountain Center. His roles within the organization include Marketing Associate and Head Dekyong–a position of leadership within the community.