everything here is sacred
volunteering at a Buddhist temple in Spain, plus the moments that caused me to reflect
i didn’t expect to spend twenty-plus minutes saving ants.
we were cleaning the temple at Centro de Meditación KMC España, an extensive process involving a five-person sweeping and mopping system, moving the furniture from one side of the room to the other before we even started, all tasks meant to be done with gratitude and presence. then, when we were almost done with the most demanding part of the cleaning, someone noticed a cluster of ants inside near the windows. what happened next genuinely surprised me. the leaders and a few of the other volunteers started carefully scooping them up with their hands and paper towels, moving them outside one by one. apparently a core part of Buddhist philosophy is to not harm any living creature, animal or insect, big or small.
i’ll be honest, at that point i was tired and ready for the lunch break after cleaning since 9:30 am with only a short rest around 11. i wanted us to push through and finish, and this felt like an unnecessary detour between me and my meal. but out of respect for their way of living, i found myself helping... grabbing extra materials, assisting with the scoop, joining in. we relocated every single one. carefully, deliberately, like it mattered. because here, it did.
that was the moment i understood where i was and the gravity of committing to a lifestyle and mindset oriented toward the benefit of all living things. we can say we want to protect the world, but are we, myself included, willing to stop and tend to the little ones? the beings we walk past, and maybe step on, just to get through our day. that question is bigger than ants.
maybe we could all use a gentle reminder to treat every being we encounter as worthy of care, regardless of where they rank in our world or what they can do for us. maybe next time i see ants in a building, i’ll hold back my instinct to sweep them out and keep moving. this is one of many lessons i feel i absorbed during eleven days volunteering at a Buddhist temple in southern Spain.
i arrived on march 16th through Worldpackers, a volunteer exchange and board program, expecting a straightforward housekeeping placement. it’s considered one of the better placements on the platform — not only for the amenities but because meals were included daily. i was relieved and genuinely curious to learn more about the spiritual beliefs and way of life that come with living inside a Buddhist community.
the role itself required day-to-day flexibility. each day, you could be assigned to a new role, depending on where the coordinator needed you most. tasks included making beds and cleaning the bathrooms of the living facilities, deep cleaning the kitchen and communal eating areas, tending the garden, and preparing the entire space for an upcoming festival. the work was physical and unglamorous…trust me, by the end of a nine-hour shift, my body knew it had done something and then some!
but even with the physical output required, the space carried a peaceful energy you could feel the moment you stepped on the grounds. the more time i spent there, the more i found myself processing and feeling my emotions, thinking about life and my contributions to the world, and what it means to be present somewhere that requires something extra of you... a willingness to release what you thought you knew, even if only for eleven days, even if only as a glimpse into another way of moving through the world. i found myself more at ease, laughing more freely, not performing for anyone. after my previous placement in Granada, that was a welcome relief... but more on that another time.
if you want to read about what happened when a volunteer placement went sideways in Granada — what it took to hold my head up, stay out of people pleaser mode, and leave with my peace intact — subscribe and stay close.
breakfast, lunch, and dinner were provided, all vegan, all prepared with an attention to flavor that quietly dismantled every assumption i had about plant-based eating. you see, i’m a southern gal, born and raised in south carolina with some family roots in alabama... aka the country. we season our food for taste, and it’s not always the healthiest but it is damn good. in fact i find myself craving my mema’s turkey wings, rutabagas, cabbage, and cornbread just writing this. lol but don’t let my cravings take away from the main takeaway: the vegan food was absolutely delicious and had a sista reevaluating her food choices.
i found myself finishing meals and going back for seconds, feeling full in a way that didn’t weigh me down. after three days of eating this way my skin was noticeably clearer, and i was getting compliments on my skin specifically... i hadn’t added a new skincare product or removed one.. so i was thinking, what’s going on?! then i realized the most significant change was my nutritional intake. i kept wondering if this was a sign that i should be eating vegan full time. but of course there’s a difference between learning to make vegan food this flavorful at home versus having a professional chef do it for you at a Buddhist temple in southern Spain. levels upon levels on being vegan.
i’m not saying i left a vegetarian convert, or a Buddhist one, either for that matter. but i left with a question i didn’t arrive with... could i be happy and content, contributing to less animal cruelty in the world, simply by being more intentional about what i eat? i still love a good burger, a steak, and obviously those turkey wings, so i genuinely don’t know what going forward looks like. but we’ll take it one day at a time. Buddha did it again... left me with something worth savoring.
during my stay i attended two of the community sessions, where the teacher walked us through aspects of Buddhist philosophy and invited written questions, submitted in a box in the kitchen, to be answered every wednesday. the first session i attended without having submitted anything beforehand, i didn't know that was part of the process, so i sat and listened, genuinely surprised by how the questions others brought forward opened up perspectives i hadn't considered. hearing how people were trying to reconcile Buddhist teachings with their everyday lives made the philosophy feel less abstract and more tangible, like something you could actually carry into your daily life.
one evening, after reflecting on the teachings longer than i expected to, i wrote my question down on a sticky note, and put it in the question box:
i know you’re eager to read the teacher’s answer... i was eager to hear it too.
unfortunately for all of us, the next wednesday came and i was too tired to attend. this may have been a gardening day, which is hard work but deeply satisfying... there’s something healing about seeing the direct result of your effort in the very moments you’re exerting it. especially when so much of my energy over the past year has gone into applications that weren’t approved, opportunities that seemed certain then disappeared without warning, and the ongoing work of growing this publication and keeping my commitments to myself and to you as a reader.
i have started to see some fruit sprout, like reaching 100 subscribers this year, being one of them, but i envision so much more. fruit trees of growth, from readers who resonate deeply with my writing, to people who benefit from my mindset coaching, and beyond. it can be hard when you have a vision that spans years and you’re deep in the digging phase... planting seeds, watering them consistently, shining light on them, and trusting that the trees will eventually blossom and the effort will feel worth it. maybe there’s wisdom in finding satisfaction in the progress and the journey too. but let’s keep it real… that takes a whole lot of patience and foresight.
but in the temple’s garden, pulling weeds from previously overgrown ground and leaving behind clean brown earth ready for new beginnings... i found something worth cultivating: gratitude for the process, and pride in showing up for it anyway.
i think that's another lesson worth noting from this volunteer placement: make time for the things that show you progress quickly. it helps balance out all the faith-based work that takes longer to bloom. Buddha strikes again.
nine hours of physical labor, breaks included, has a way of winning arguments with your curiosity... rest won that day, and i only semi-regret it.
so i never got my answer. and i’ve been reflecting on that question since.
there was another layer to this experience that has become a recurring theme throughout all of my spain volunteer placements... nearly everyone at the center spoke spanish fluently. i know, i know, surprise surprise — i am in a spanish speaking country. lol don't think i'm casting judgment here like a typical one-language-speaking american traveling abroad expecting others to curve to my language structure, just sharing my experience honestly. i was the anomaly who didn’t speak it fluently, at least not yet. being able to fully express myself with those who knew enough english to get by, and taking opportunities to practice spanish when my energy level permitted... that part was genuinely a pro of staying there, and one that has been slowly building my confidence in the language.
but every pro carries the possibility of a con, if you look close enough. hopefully that doesn't read as pessimism, but it's just true. by the end of a long day, completely exhausted and yet expected to show up for the collective joy of a day well spent, the inside jokes, the get to know you conversations, the easy back and forth between people who share a language, there’s a special brand of loneliness, designed just for you, that comes from being surrounded by conversation you can follow at maybe forty to sixty percent. close enough to participate, far enough to feel the gap.
because i'm not really a morning person, i took the initiative to start protecting my mornings by honoring the journaling and saying affirmations ritual i already had in practice, eating an apple and drinking some mint tea, creating a quiet buffer before the day asked anything of me. in situations where you're still learning the language, it can feel isolating when you can't quite keep up with the speed and ease of those who are miles ahead of you... moving through conversations so effortlessly while you're still mentally translating in real time.
sometimes i took lunch alone too. i did worry briefly about coming off as antisocial, but growing into my thirties has meant slowly releasing the need to manage what others think of me, and instead tending to what i actually need in the moment. as long as i'm not doing anything to directly harm others, i've come to believe this is a worthy philosophy to live by.
if my cup isn't full, how will it ever overflow when i keep pouring out what little i have left? i should be sharing myself from a place of abundance, not drought. filling my cup is something worth fiercely protecting, and this experience at the temple helped me honor that way of living in both thought and action. the more i practice it, the more natural it becomes.
working on filling your own cup? i have a few offerings, related to implementing boundaries, tending to yourself emotionally so you can thrive no matter the setting, that might support you on that journey.
it wasn't until three days before i left that another american arrived who was also still learning spanish. we had so many good conversations and it felt like an immediate relief, we already understood each other without having to explain ourselves. sometimes we'd eat lunch together so we didn't feel so alienated in conversation, and other times we'd just sit near each other in comfortable silence, parallel play in its purest form. no pressure to play the translate game, no mental effort required. just two people existing near each other and finding that enough.
even with the language barrier woven throughout the experience, it was genuinely lovely, meeting people from different cultures living on the same campus and learning to express myself through other means, like smiling more intentionally, holding eye contact, leaning into hand gestures in ways i never would at home where my native language dominates my conversations. when words aren't available, you're almost forced to show up differently, to connect on a frequency beyond language. and while that was tiring at times, it was also unexpectedly charming... especially when the other person would be patient enough to let me fumble through my attempt, and then both of us lighting up when they understood. the feeling of those moments felt like something worth sharing.
i left KMC España on march 27th with more thought-provoking questions than immediate answers, a genuine appreciation for vegan cooking, and a new relationship to slowness... an at-ease way of moving through the world that i didn't fully arrive with. the temple didn't hand me a transformation. it just kept showing me a possibility within possibilities… how life can be lived differently, what convictions it takes to cultivate that kind of life, and what it really means to think and move through the world with intention. and how our lives, how we interact with the world, and every single one of its inhabitants, is worth treating as sacred.
i’m still deciding what to do with that.
#MMGYGlobal #BlackTravelAlliance #BlackTravelGrant
interested in volunteer travel exchanges? want a chance to connect deeply with the locals and cultures where you are visiting? i’ve been using Worldpackers to find meaningful placements across Spain. use my code [BRITTMCTIER] for a discount on your membership.
🫖 If this stirred something in you, or helped name something unspoken… consider fueling the next cup.
What a beautiful reflection, thanks for sharing! And wow, 11 days of volunteering in Spain sounds like a vacation for your soul! So sad we couldn't get the answer to that question, but definitely putting volunteering abroad on my bucket list after seeing these photos 🤩
What a read 😄☕! This place actually looks really beautiful and sparkling on the inside. it would have been such a lovely experience being there for almost two weeks