Since the past 2 days I discovered a facebook application called My Fairyland. You will not believe the number of hours I have spent looking after my online garden. I have had a lot of fun but also felt tired, obsessive and unable to logout and get on with work. Today I had lots of work on the computer. Every time I took a break I checked up on my online garden.


In the evening I took a break and went out into my real life little terrace garden. It’s cloudy these days and the setting sun gave everything a yellow glow. It was so lovely to look at the colours of the leaves and flowers accentuated by the yellow light. In ten minutes I felt fully charged and energized. As much fun as an online garden can be, it really doesn’t compare with the real thing!


I was just wondering why I wasted so much of my precious time and then I remembered something Osho had said in one of his discourses. When a baby cries, the mother hands him a toy to distract him. Similarly mankind is crying as we feel disconnected with nature and ourselves. The world says - Here, look - a television!


My fairyland is my obsessive distraction from reality for the moment. Once that’s boring, the mind will come up with something else! What can I do? Sit for 2 hours of Vipassana, do my asana and pranayama practice and try to stay in the present moment with what is real as much as possible.


It’s difficult as for 32 years the mind has had free reign to wander all over the place. Hopefully my practices will slowly change the habit pattern of the mind!