I went into retreat with as few expectations as possible as this was my first retreat. I was most stunned by the opportunity to observe just how noisy my mind actually is. It’s easy to get caught up in the strong, consistent flow of thoughts and this time in silence really helped me identify this habit. The most powerful outcome of silence was coming to find that the thoughts and stories are not what is important while in practice, it’s the pausing to acknowledge and be with what is actually arising in the moment and learning how stay present by bringing the attention to the breath, body sensations or sounds. In this way I stay present instead of caught up in stories and limited beliefs…