Hello and welcome to another episode of Mindfulness Plus. I'm your host Thomas McConkey. Thanks so much for listening today. I have a story about my first meditation teacher, David Timson, who has been a guest on this show previously. So if you haven't heard David's interview,

I recommend that he's a lovely being with a beautiful, overflowing Sufi heart. And I remembered

my first meeting with him that I wanted to share with you. And it occurred to me that it

will actually, that what I learned from him our first meeting will make for a really

nice meditation practice today. So let me paint a picture. I am I think 18 or so years old.

This is a while back now. I'm in Alpine, Utah, just a quaint little town nestled up against the mighty Rocky Mountains of Utah.

And I remember the girl I was dating at the time introduced me to him.

This is her stepdad.

Oh, maybe I didn't need to introduce that detail.

We'll get that out in post.

At any rate, I show up at his door, and I remember the moment he opened his door to his home to greet me,

it was like he had opened the door to his heart to let me in to his whole beautiful being.

And from the moment I met him, I felt totally ensconced, just wrapped up in his presence and his love.

It was really just energetically a surprising moment for me at age 18.

I hadn't experienced anything quite like it.

You know, clearly it left an impression as I'm remembering back 25 years.

That night we get to talking.

We spent a lot of the night talking.

And I know in hindsight, David must have sensed my angst, my anxiety, my pain, confusion as an adolescent boy trying to make his way in the world.

I grew up in an intensely religious environment,

so I was struggling through a lot of what it means to be religious or not

and all of the implications that has with one's identity.

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