Yes, the meditation groups could be really nice sometimes. So much so, I've sometimes had beautiful dreams about imaginary meditation groups that didn't actually exist.

The only downside to them that I ever felt was that I didn't always like some of the more spiritual things people would talk about. Some of it would seem like nonsense to me. But the whole thing of being in silence with people, then having a little quiet chat afterwards about our experiences, I loved that. I loved that more than the taste of cold water on a thirsty hot summer's day.

There was one I used to go to back in 2013-2014. It was a bit of a long drive to get to, but it was lovely. We would spend half an hour meditating about a colour, a different colour each week. Then we'd spend half an hour talking about out experiences during the meditation. It was in a nice outbuilding to somebody's house, with lovely comfy chairs in a room that smelled nice and had nice colourful things in it. There were usually only 4 or 5 of us, which was lovely. Then afterwards I would spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the surrounding countryside on my own. Perfect.

I once attended one meditation group just a few miles from where I live, in a converted barn in the middle nowhere in a big valley. I only went the one time, because they stopped doing it after that. But it was really nice. It was on dark evening, with dimmed lighting, and warm. We did walking meditation, sitting meditation, then a sharing circle where we each took it in turns to say some personal things uninterrupted. Then we drank herbal tea. I think that was the basis for a beautiful dream I had about a meditation group in a similar type of place.

I had dreams about my own outdoor mindfulness group, too.

I wonder how many other introverts realise there are other ways to be with people. Ways of sharing moments with other people that don't involve noise and constant chatter.