The first memory I have that might be called spiritual was when I was about 12 or 13. It was late at night, and I was lying on the grass on this big lawn where I was living at the time. It was dark, and I looked up at the sky, and the stars looked so vast. And suddenly this feeling came over me: of love. And it shocked me! It just came out of the blue and took me over. And I was like “What is this? I feel like I love everything.” Nothing brought it on, really, other than the immensity of the stars. It just was there. And then I went to bed, and it faded, and I went on with life. Most people have a story like this, a memory as a child of some kind of connection, or sense of something greater than themselves. We forget about it, but it’s our birthright. In some ways a spiritual path is just a step leading us back to where we were, to our inner home.
Diana Winston
Spirit Rock Residential Teacher
Diana Winston is the Director of UCLA Mindful, the mindfulness education center of UCLA Health. She has taught retreats at Spirit Rock since 2004. She is the author of Fully Present, The Little Book of Being, and Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens.