WHO AM I?

Hello dear friend,

My name is Tal Sadeh. I live in Israel; I’m a mother of two girls and a practitioner of what is commonly known as - Meditation.

At the age of 38, when I became a mother for the second time, I suddenly became interested in meditation. At the time, meditation was an unfamiliar and foreign idea that I had some notions of but no living example. No one I knew or heard of practiced meditation, and the only spiritual tradition I came across was the Jewish tradition, which I found unconvincing.

I eventually familiarized myself with this unfamiliar idea through myriad causes and conditions that are impossible for me to fully understand. But among all the other things, what pushed me was a constant rumination that serves as a background to one's life experience - is this all there is to life? What is this life, and who am I? (and also a little recurring dream of which I already wrote about in this blog: Why start with it anyway)

I was born a Jew and became a Buddhist, but as I grew older, I came to realize that none of these labels genuinely define me.

As a full-time mother dedicated to the task, I believed that a mother is who I am. Parenthood treasured my life meaning for some time, but eventually, I had to admit that although the lessons kids can teach you are indispensable, there is so much more to who I am than being a mother.

Faith is a personal matter. Everyone believes in something. Even those who define themself as non-believers, this is their belief. I have no intention of converting anyone’s faith. It’s not my business. My business is getting to know the truth of who we are, why we are, and if we really are at all. This kind of investigation cannot be done anywhere and by anyone except one’s own mind. The only way to explore profound and crucial questions is through meditation. Only when the mind is not distracted by thoughts, feelings, memories, ideas, and prejudices does some clarity arise, as the teaching describes it -like the sun coming from behind the clouds.

Meditation brought to my life many benefits. It brought joy, confidence, understanding, the ability to judge less and have more love and compassion, patience, resilience, and reassurance.

I'm delighted to share my sources of inspiration and make authentic wisdom accessible through links and recommendations.

I hope my personal meditation stories pique your curiosity. I hope it will make you smile, slow down a bit, take things easy, or at least not too seriously. And most of all, I hope it inspires you to try exploring for yourself.

“All we are is our thoughts,” said the Buddha, “with our thoughts, we make the world”.

May your thoughts be your path beyond thought.