My Retreat

Stillness is "about creating a clearing.  It's Opening up an emotionally clutter-free space and allowing ourselves to feel and think and dream and question."  Brene Brown (The Gifts of Imperfection)



"When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself.  When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world.  Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness."
Eckhart Tolle (Stillness Speaks)



"We need to try to see silence as a living presence for itself, which is primordial and primal, and then see all other things- now experienced deeply- inside of that container."  Richard Rohr (Silent Compassion)


{My room for three nights}

"Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves." Thich Nhat Hahn (The Miracle of Mindfulness)



"There is place where words are born of silence, a place where the whispers of the heart arise." Rumi


{One of the delicious, made with love meals I enjoyed each day}

"Silence precedes, undergrids, and grounds everything.  We cannot just see it as an accident, or as something unnecessary.  But unless we learn how to live there, go there, abide in this different phenomenon, the rest of things- words, events, relationships, identities- all become rather superficial, without depth or context.  They loose meaning." Richard Rohr (Silent Compassion)



I'm not sure I can really put my three night retreat into words.  I read, I painted, I wrote, I walked, and I ate the most nourishing food- but most of all, I was quiet.  Still.  I lit candles, I sat, I listened, I meditated.  I was once again reminded of the importance of taking care of oneself.  But above all else I was reminded of the healing, revitalizing, inspiring and creative power of going within.  Four days later I still feel different.  More peaceful.  Happier.  I am still meditating.  I hope it continues.