This is Optimal Living Daily, episode 1618, on transforming the judgmental mind,

stories from seven days of silence, part one, by Dr. Ilana Miller of ZenSyciatry.com,

and I'm Justin Malik. Happy Saturday, welcome to one of the only podcasts in the world where

blogs are narrated to you for free, with permission from the authors. It's an award-winning

podcast thanks to you, and today I have a bit of a longer post, so I'll read the first half

today and then finish the rest for you tomorrow. So with that, let's get right to it,

and start optimizing your life.

On transforming the judgmental mind, stories from seven days of silence, part one,

by Dr. Ilana Miller of ZenSyciatry.com. On the first evening of my recent seven days silent

meditation retreat, at a strange stream, I was in my house and had flooded. As I walked through

the rooms I waited in several feet of water, panicked, I raced to call my landlord to help me,

I could feel the anxiety and fear as I rushed to dial her number, mistyping at several times.

Instead of picking up the phone, though, she had her husband answer. He was unkind and dismissive,

and told me that his wife didn't want to talk to me. I could feel her presence in the background,

and became more and more upset as she refused to get on the phone, refused to help me,

refused to even talk to me. The next morning I woke up and still felt the weight of my

anguish in the dream. I wondered why that dream came to me when it did, and what it was trying to

tell me. In dreams, other people often symbolize parts of ourselves. In real life, my landlord is

very sweet and non-dismissive woman, and so I felt that her presence symbolized a part of myself

that is dismissive and cruel to my own anguish and pain. Over the course of the week, many powerful

emotions and experiences bubble to the surface, and I took advantage of the safety and simplicity

of the retreat environment to stop ignoring them. But first things first, was it hard to be silent

...