May in Amonines
Nâm Retreat House & Loving kindness
The name Asharum Amonines has been changed to Nâm Retreat House. This name gives a better understanding of who we are and what we do.
Loving kindness is the basic attitude of how we live, but how do we understand it? There are many aspects to this and one of them came to the fore in an interesting conversation with one of the guests. She asked how we interact with each other in Amonines. For many people it is hard to understand that we do not discuss personal opinions, expectations or irritations. If you do not discuss these, might they not go underground? Yes they may, and there they may start to have a life of their own. The key is to acknowledge them, see them for what they are and to not hold on to them.
Coming back to love and kindness, this way of (not) dealing with each other allows people to be who they are, they don’t have to occupy themselves with what is expected and how to behave. Though it might take some time before it is realised, this already has its effect in making people feel at home and welcome.
The joy of beauty
Most of April was cold, grey and wet, but the few hours of sunshine did not stop the flowers from poking their heads above the ground. Since a few days it is getting strikingly greener everywhere, with an intense kind of green that is not shy to announce spring.
It is beautiful to see the naturalness with which people employ their qualities which shows they feel at home with us. It is another aspect of loving kindness to give people the freedom to do things around the house as they see fit and not be too quick to intervene.
When a guest has a certain skill and sees that something in the house or garden needs to be done that involves this skill and offers to do it, this is also loving kindness. Little jobs in the garden were taken care of in this way and all our roses have been pruned. In the journal of June or July we will show you our happy roses!
We changed the idea about growing vegetables in Amonines. We already bought the seeds, so for this coming year we will sow them, but the work is very demanding compared with the results. We also do not have nearly enough space to grow sufficient food for our household. The garden in Amonines remains mainly an ornamental garden, which gives much joy to the visitors.
Instead of vegetables we have decided to grow more herbs and also put our focus on growing cut flowers that can be used in the house.
The Beauty of Cooking
The creative proces in the kitchen is ongoing, with our love and enjoyment as our main focus.
Welcome
With spring, we would like to welcome everyone that likes to enjoy the beauty of this place!