Now that's an interesting question because we say death reflection will help us let go of future worries and thoughts, right? So why are they saying "my mind worries and plans about the future, is this due to doing too much death reflection?" OK, it could be! It could be if it's off balance. Now, later in this retreat one of the special mindfulness activities is going to be related to death reflection. At Wat Kow Tahm in the first 20-day retreat that we did, I gave the special mindfulness activity of reflecting on death every time that you walk past a coconut tree. As everyone knows coconuts can fall. It was very simple, there's a dozen or more coconut trees in the walking track areas near the dorms, and it was simple, just reflect slightly about death as you walk past the coconut tree. One of our students misunderstood me and they thought I said every time you see a coconut tree. Now seeing coconut trees and walking past them are two different quantities. Walking past them you do it maybe ten times in a day, seeing them you do about 100, 150 times a day. They're everywhere, you can't not see them. So this student was doing nothing but death reflection for two days until the next interview. Boy were they worried, boy were they upset and they were just frazzled, they had done too much death reflection.
So we don't want to do it that way, we want to have some balance. Every time that we're really worried about the future and we use death reflection wisely, it will help us let go of the worry. Which is one of your biggest problems during the day? For most of you, since you're men here, one of your problems is getting to that shower when nobody else is in there. Women have it a little nicer at the moment, the men's showers still aren't quite as nice. That's like one of your big worries of the day. And for all of you, what's another big worry of your day, is there going to be enough sweet at the dinner or meal or something, or lunch, whatever. It's a big thing in retreat, isn't it? Getting that food, getting to the bathroom, these are future thoughts, aren't they?
OK, use death reflection when those thoughts come up, use it in retreat. Use it for those thoughts and worries. Use the food reflection, too, that can help you when the food is there. How many of you got caught yesterday at lunch, the veggies were not out with everything else, there was just a little bit. There was the rice with some other stuff, but the main veggies were not out. Most of the people I noticed got the other stuff and the veggies came later. What were your thoughts like? Did some aversion come up towards the cooks? Were you worried that you didn't get the cauliflower, that yummy cauliflower? All this sort of stuff, this is where you can do your practice, right there in the dining hall. The minute you reflect on death where does it all go. What does it matter if you ate the cauliflower or you did not eat the cauliflower? If you died that night, what does it matter? What does it matter if you had all the time you wanted for your shower, or whether someone was banging on the door when you were halfway through? What does it matter if you died that night? What does it matter? So the more you use your death reflection the more you can let go of worries and fears and all concerns of the future, but it does have to be balanced.