The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audiodharma.org.

Well, it's very nice to see you and to be with you and to see so many people here.

It feels like the good old days.

Before that thing happened called COVID.

I feel like maybe I should introduce myself a little bit because it's been a while since I've been here.

And one of the great things about a place like IMC is there's old friends who are familiar and have been coming for years.

And always new people are coming in and so it's such a great mix.

I first walked in these doors, so to speak, but it wasn't these doors.

I think in 1999.

So this group had a few times that it would meet at the Quaker Friends Meeting House in Palo Alto.

I don't know if does anyone remember that? It was here then.

Okay.

And I remember I walked in and it was, I think people were sitting, you know, was a little bit of like a rectangular room and people were sitting facing the center.

And a friend had told me that there was meditation and sounded interesting and walked in and everyone was just sitting there quietly.

And so I just sat down and was kind of waiting for it to start.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

You know, at some point, okay, this is it.

And that's sort of been my practice for the last 20 years.

You know?

Waiting, waiting.

And then it's like, oh yeah, this is it, this is it.

...