Put on a pretty pair of shoes for Buddha's sake!

So the women's retreat began last night. It began with a Dharma talk given by Roshi. She started the talk by asking us to take a look at the word"power".
Then she introduced the facilitators that would be leading the five day retreat with her.
There was a woman that stood up and was introduced as a facilitator...I cannot remember her name and there is no accident there let me tell you! The only reason I would want to know her name is so that I could avoid her like the plague for the rest of my life.
Anyway, this woman stood up and just started W-H-I-N-I-N-G about the world. Her "oh whoa is us...we are so screwed...the gas prices...etc. etc. seemed to be a DIRECT CONTRAST to power in my judgement. Her voice made me want to suffocate myself in the bowl of stinky incense ashes that lucky me was sitting next to.
To make matters worse, (yes it did get worse, hard to imagine huh?) she was a poet that wrote and read a poem dedicated to Roshi....I really did consider faking passing out cause being trapped and forced to listen to her was PAINFUL!!!!!!!

I tell you this has been such an enlightening trip so far....

Next, one of the residents here was telling me how Roshi told her that it is not good to be honest all the time...(can you imagine?). Yet during the talk Roshi specifically stated that the most important aspect to power was honesty. This resident was truly confused and saddened.
A lot of the residents here do not like Roshi and just about everyone here talks smack....
We are all the same. People are people wherever you go...even at a Zen center. One thing is clear though...gossip doesn't work in moving anything forward and I am really looking at how much I participate in it and why, how about you?

Finally, there are about 100 women here and I swear to Buddha that they have managed to wear the 100 most ugly pairs of shoes in the world. Why oh why does the enlightened path have to be so dark and desolate when it comes to having good taste? A women's retreat that is based on the power of the feminine has every woman wearing footwear about as feminine as a US Army combat boot. Do Not even get me started on the toe funk.....I just cannot go there.

When I come home, right after I get a pedi from little sis, I am wearing high heels for a month straight, no sh%&!

Big Kiss...