On the last day of my stay in Chicago last week, I had the pleasure of waking up to a late-spring snowfall one morning. The city was blanketed in white, and I had the day off, with nothing to do but stroll around, wide-eyed and giggling at the wonder of it all. Having just left San Antonio (a city where it's only snowed four times in the sixty years I've lived there) on a balmy spring day with temperatures in the mid-80's, it was a topsy-turvy experience, like living inside one of those glass snow-globes for sale at tourist shops.
AN OBSERVATION
But most of the Chicagoans around me weren't the least bit interested in sharing my delight with this unseasonably late snowfall. For them it was mostly just a nuisance, an unwanted extension of a long, cold winter, forcing them to haul out the salt to sprinkle on slippery sidewalks one more time. It felt like I was the only one in the whole city walking around slowly with mouth agape, catching snowflakes and making little snowmen, just because I could, while other folks were busy navigating rush hour traffic.
A QUESTION
The details of the situation may have been a bit unusual, but that feeling is one I know quite well: I often feel like I'm walking around in wide-eyed amazement at the sheer beauty and wonder of the world around me, trying to get other folks to slow down and enjoy it with me. That's on the good days. Other times, it can feel overwhelming, as if everyone and everything is spinning by at hyper-speed on some turbo-charged carousel and I'm begging for help in slowing things down a little to a more sustainable, life-affirming speed... Do you ever find yourself feeling like that?
AN INVITATION
If so, please consider giving yourself the gift of attending our Spring Retreat next weekend,
May 4-6. It is a truly magical opportunity to slow down, relax and spend time in nature, meditating, reflecting, resting, eating great food, listening to (or making) upbeat music - all while being surrounded by kind, caring people who are focused on seeing the best in themselves, each other and their surroundings.
Of all the wonderful gatherings and events that the Celebration Circle has shared over the past 26 years, I believe our weekend retreats at Slumber Falls Camp are among the very best, because they provide such a low-key, low-cost, casual setting for extended contemplation and reflection. It's not a meditation-intensive weekend, nor is it a self-help workshop or a spiritual study group, and yet it offers some of the best elements of each, combined into an opportunity to nurture your spiritual side, to embrace yourSelf with a long, slow, gentle hug, from the inside out.
A SUGGESTION
If that sounds good to you, you'll find more details and registration information by clicking here. And whether you attend this particular retreat or not, I sincerely hope you'll give yourself an extended period of time for nurturing yourSelf sometime soon. You deserve it - and the rest of us will receive the benefit and blessings of it, too! At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
With joy,
Rudi Harst
THANK YOU for holding the Circle in your heart by visualizing a generous flow of financial abundance. Thank you for supporting us as we continue our work of fostering a creative, inclusive approach to spirituality. We are deeply grateful.
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