Retreat

I recently arranged a Women's Retreat with a group of women who were mostly strangers to each other. I have wanted to participate in a retreat for a long time but haven't been able to find one close to home and with the principles I hold dear to; Spirit, Nature,Mother Earth & Drumming. I found a lovely lady on the net who just happened to live in the same sate as me which in it's self is amazing. I contacted Jane and asked her to run a weekend in the North of the state and so our retreat started to take place. We arrived on Saturday morning with an open Heart, good cheer, friendship and food!! The day started with an individual of each participant, which for me was a whole new experience. An experience which I might say was very pleasurable and grounding. We sat in a circle and passed the talking stick and that was another first for me but again very pleasurable and grounding. When the last participant had finished two hours had gone by. My, how a bunch of strangers can talk. the afternoon session was spent singing and drumming on medicine drums, what a connecting time. The second day started with the talking stick and then straight into drumming and singing. The morning was drawn to a close with a long visualization and meditation and then silence for the next 2 hours until the afternoon session was ready to commence. The silence was deafening, I was so amazed at the amount of sounds that a person can hear when there is no conversation to enter into. At the end of the weekend we, who started the previous day as strangerswho shared some intimate stories, singing, drumming and dancing were bonded into a friendship of kindred likeness.

A mid week holiday

I have reached an age where I no longer feel I need to do things with other people. I have learnt that I can have ME time and not have to share my space with another human being if I don't want to. Today I did something I have been promising myself for a long time; I spent a day mid week at the beach all by myself and feel inspired to do it again. The weather was perfect, the water was perfect, the shells were perfect, the sand was perfect and the seagulls were perfect. I walked the beach and quickly found myself in the familiar pose of a frustrated beach comber; head down, hands behind my back looking for treasures in the sand. I found things that no-one else would treasure but me. A piece of brown sea glass to add to my ever growing collection; a beautifully worn shell with a perfect spiral inside to remind me that sometimes life can spiral out of control and I need to take myself off somewhere quiet and reflect on life and gently bring myself back to the centre and move on. Two shells that were so fragile that they broke into pieces before I finished my collecting, then I found a couple of stronger shells. The shells reminded me that life can sometimes fall to pieces unexpectedly but if you look around you can find something strong to replace your broken pieces.
While sitting on the sand the seagulls came to visit looking for food. I noticed one of them only had one leg and he was just ah happy and capable as the others with two legs. He reminded me that life continues no matter what. Just suck it up and move on!!