A YEAR OF HOPE

I hope that this week has unfolded with relative ease for you. I’ve heard a lot of people in my environment using the phrase “it’s a busy time” — and all the more reason to pause and drink the glass of water slowly…

According to Chinese astrology, this is the year of hope and so this will be the theme for our next retreat. I assess that surrender and hope are inextricably linked. One could say that surrender is similar to acceptance and certainly the mood of acceptance lays the foundation for stepping into a mood of radical hope.

Radical hope is a mood that in which one holds a commitment to possibility. This is an unusual kind of commitment: it is a commitment to something completely unknown and unimaginable: “The commitment is only to the bare possibility that, from this disaster/discomfort, something good will emerge.”

I recently guided my first retreat of the year and had an opportunity to practice surrender. Surrender (acceptance, letting go) has never been easy for me. And yet, I have had experience of this and it has been oh so sweet. If you’re up for a longer (quite graphic) read then here we go! (I have shared some helpful points at the end of the blog too.)

Sweet Surrender - A personal story.

Picture this…12 hours after arriving at Temenos in McGregor for my first retreat of the year I am half lying/half sitting in a tiny bathroom with my head over the toilet bowl retching… Lovely right?

Magically, the retreat in January unfolded as it should. There was much flow and I listened to my intuition carefully. I felt at ease and more calm than I had in weeks.
” Liberating, educational, joyful, compassionate, reflective…” (some feedback).

What would our days be like if we came out of hiding and brought our fears, loves, hopes and dreams directly into the sunlight – into our daily lives, into our workplace?

A Year of Hope | #theselfcompassionbreak | Temenos, McGregor 17-20 March 2023

“Recognise the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment and embrace them with courage, curiosity and hope.”

I invite you to come into stillness and go inward — breathe, meditate, move gently, declare yourself a learner and immerse yourself in a creative process that will help you centre, let go of anxiety and begin to cultivate a mood of radical hope.

POEM OF THE WEEK

What I really need is to drink
a glass of water slowly,
because there is enough —
there is enough fast in this world.

And every real thing
is found inside the soft arms
of a moment.

And because, in the midst of so much
trauma and terror, it is vital
to bow to such holy, ordinary things.

~ Julia Fehrenbacher

Go gently.

With love and many blessings,

Yours in inspiration,
Karen