One day I decided to go to the beautiful woods near my hermitage, the place where I live. I took a sandwich and a blanket with me, intending to spend a quiet day by myself in the woods.

 

That morning, before leaving the hermitage, I had opened all my windows and doors to the sun to dry things out. But in the afternoon the weather changed. The wind began to blow and dark clouds gathered in the sky. Remembering that I had left my hermitage wide open, I decided to return home right away.

 

When I arrived, I found my hermitage in a very terrible condition. It was cold and dark inside. The wind had blown my papers off the table, and they were scattered all over the floor. It was not at all pleasant.

 

The first thing I did was to close all the windows and doors. Then I lit the lamp for some light. The third thing I did was to make a fire in the fireplace to warm the place up. When the fire was lit, I picked up the papers from the floow and put them on the table and placed a stone on them.

 

Then I went back to the fireplace. The fire was burning beautifully. Now there was light, and I was warm. I sat there and listened to the wind howling outside. I imagined the trees tossing in the wind, and I felt very content. It was pleasant sitting next to the fire. I could hear my breathing, my in-breath and my out-breath. I felt very comfortable.

 

There are moments in our daily lives when we feel miserable, very empty and cold, and we are not happy. It seems that everything is going wrong. You too have probably experienced a feeling like this at some point in your life. Even when we try to make the situation better with things we do or say, nothing seems to work, and we think, "This is not my day." That is exactly how my hermitage was that day.

 

The best thing to do at a time like this is to go back to yourself, to your hermitage, close all the windows and doors, light a lamp, and make a fire. This means that you have come to a stop. You are no longer busy looking at things, hearing things, or saying things. You have gone back to yourself and become one with your breathing. That is what going back to your hermitage means.