People say that what we’re all seeking in life is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experience on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.
Joseph Campbell, interview with Bill Moyer, The Power of Myth
I see a phenomenon happening in the world of spiritual guidance. The eternal truths are emerging, over and over again, in different yet equally urgent forms. Maybe God is desperately trying to send each of us the same information, packaged in a way that we can grasp (and be grasped by). Each book, video, and teacher seem to be saying similar things. Gunilla Norris does this in Sharing Silence:
Politicians and visionaries will not return us to the sacredness of life. That will be done by ordinary men and women, who gather neighbors and friends together and say, “Remember to breathe. Remember to feel. Remember to care. Remember life.” Let us do this together for ourselves, our children, and our children’s children.
Slow down. Be present. Breathe deeply. Act from your heart. Be in touch with your feelings. Be kind to yourself. Think how your action will affect the next seven generations. This is the way we are trying to live. A retreat is simply another way to do this.
Cynthia Gale, a ceremonial artist, believes, “Ideally, we would all live lives so balanced we wouldn’t need retreats. Most people I know retreat to reconnect with themselves, so ideally that disconnection wouldn’t happen.” Live the belief that yes, I am not perfect but here I am, doing the best I can. I am enough. And my enough is connected to everyone else’s enough. And so goes the precious whole, the cosmic Internet.
Creating a lively, grace-filled, flaws-and-all global community of women who are exploring how to creatively, joyfully, fully live their lives is one of the joys of my life. Be part of that community by visiting http://www.comfortqueen.com and by subscribing to my free e-zine newsletter The Self-Care Minder. Our cozy couch of a site features a soothing, informative mix of community, more than six hundred articles on all aspects of creating your life, free e-cards, the wonderful interactive Inner Organizer, and more.
You can also reach me at P.O. Box 10065, Bainbridge Island, WA, 98110.
May you retreat often. May your retreat deeply. May your heart be opened with grace.
I ask the Great Mystery that each of you be blessed on your journey into self-acceptance and balance.
Remember to breathe.
Namasté.