TAKE ME TO: Events & Workshops | Featured Article
Our Upcoming Trips at a Glance | Post a comment!
WHAT’S NEW? The Four Agreements in North Georgia!
If you LOVE The Four Agreements – you’ll want to hop on up to Ellijay, Georgia in the mountains north of Atlanta, May 18-20th for an awesome mini-retreat focusing on “Living The Four Agreements: Attaining Personal Power and Freedom.” My fabulous friend, Joann Antonelli owns the absolute coolest property called The Martyn House where the retreat is going to be held.
There are glamping tents (glamping is short for “glamorous camping”) and also regular housing options. Personally I adore the tents – so fun! The retreat is $495 USD and includes a meal package (dinner Friday night, breakfast, lunch and dinner Saturday, and breakfast Sunday). Lodging is separate depending on what you choose – with either single or double occupancy in our various accommodations.
Prominent thousands of years ago, The Toltec were known throughout southern Mexico as women and men of knowledge. At the heart of the Toltec teachings on personal freedom are “The Four Agreements” by don Miguel Ruiz. He believes that everything we do is based on agreements we have made – agreements we have made with ourselves, with other people, with God, with life – and these agreements control our lives.
Our personal power is tied up in our faith in what we believe about ourselves and our world and in upholding these agreements. The result of this is that we often feel powerless to change our life, with just enough energy to survive each day.
I’ll be revealing this powerful code of conduct and sharing this profound philosophy of immediate, radical transformation, which is at the cutting edge of transformational work in the world today. If you’re ready to be liberated from old, restrictive patterns, I’ll expertly guide you through these four very powerful agreements.
By adopting these four new agreements, you will create enough personal power to change the entire belief system of your old “contractual arrangements.” By the end of this retreat you will have a deeper and more complete understanding of this masterful book and have taken your first steps toward your personal freedom!
–> GET ALL THE DETAILS HERE! <–
Blessings & love, Sheri
Connect with me: Email | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
EVENTS, JOURNEYS + WEBINARS!
Guatemala: Unconditional Love In Action
July 30th – August 8th, 2018
Panajachel is where Kaleidoscope Child Foundation has created an exciting alliance with Jabel Tinamit School one of the finest immersion language schools is throughout the country.
In 2017 Kaleidoscope proudly joined forces with its founders Candalaria and Gregorio Garcia to deliver more than 100 5 gallon fresh water filter dispensaries to 100 Guatemalan village families. These families are committed and enrolled in ongoing literacy classes both for adults and children.
Kaleidoscope will work on a variety of initiative based projects yearly with Jabel Tinamit to bring literacy, health and leadership to the innumerable rural villagers engaged in quality of life improvement programs.
Our service activities will range from village fresh water initiatives, to classroom educational support and other community needs
Trip tuition: $2,275 USD based on double occupancy, single occupancy supplement: $795 USD.
Finding YOUR Way on El Camino de Santiago:
A Magical, Mystical, and Miraculous Healing Journey
September 14th –25th, 2018
Has walking the el Camino been on your bucket list way too long?
But you can’t take the 2 months off from work and truth be told… you really have no desire to walk 500 miles and yet you want the sacred experience.
Walking the el Camino de Santiago is the perfect way to illuminate key areas of your life – including health, self-care, relationships, career, creative expression, and even your relationship with the Divine that are calling out to you.
Make no mistake this will be a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to connect with your soul’s deepest longing and truths. Offering you time away from the stresses of everyday life to breathe, think, feel and gain fierce clarity.
Surrounded by breathtakingly beautiful and fragrant lavender that lines your winding path, you release a deep sigh of relief as the fragrance soothes your body and your shoulders drop away from your ears. Bright sunlight warms your hair and you feel all the tension that you’ve been carrying for years leave your body. You smile, knowing you have an entire day to cover the next 6-10 miles. You start walking again, happy, content and contemplative. Ready to go? Then join Cara Andershock on this special journey of the heart.
Trip tuition: $4,497 USD per person double occupancy – many meals included.
Details for El Camino on Cara’s Website!
OUR FEATURED ARTICLE
The Essence of Mindful Prayer: “May this Suffering Awaken Compassion”
When we are suffering and turn to prayer, no matter what the apparent reasons for our pain, the basic cause is always the same: we feel separate and alone. Our reaching out is a way of relieving ourselves of this pain of isolation.
Yet the bodhisattva’s aspiration radically deepens the meaning of prayer by guiding us to also turn inward. We discover the full purity and power of prayer by listening deeply to the suffering that gives rise to it. Like a great tree, such prayer sinks its roots into the dark depths in order to reach up fully to the light. This is what I call mindful prayer—opening wakefully to our suffering and allowing ourselves to reach out in our longing for connection.
Irish poet and priest John O’Donohue writes: “Prayer is the voice of longing; it reaches outwards and inwards to unearth our ancient belonging.” The more fully we touch our pain and longing, the more fully we are released into boundless, compassionate presence.
Mindful prayer awakens us from the imprisoning story of a suffering self. Resisting pain only serves to solidify the notion that “I” am suffering. When we perceive pain simply as pain, rather than “my pain,” and hold it tenderly; we are no longer the beleaguered, suffering self. The fear, shame, grief and longing no longer feel like a mistake or an oppressive burden.
We can begin to see their universal nature: this is not my grief, it is not my fear, it is not my longing. It is part of the human experience and being willing to hold it tenderly is the doorway to compassion.
A beautiful Sufi teaching shows us how our pain is not personal, it is an intrinsic part of being alive:
Overcome any bitterness that may have come
because you were not up to the magnitude of the pain
that was entrusted to you.
Like the Mother of the World,
Who carries the pain of the world in her heart,
Each one of us is part of her heart,
And therefore endowed
With a certain measure of cosmic pain.
Our sadness, fear and longing are universal expressions of suffering that are “entrusted to us,” and they can be prayerfully dedicated to the awakening and freedom of our hearts. May this suffering awaken compassion. May this suffering awaken compassion.
As we meet our pain with kindness instead of bitterness or resistance, our prayer is answered. Our hearts become an edgeless sea of loving awareness with room not only for our own hurts and fears, but also for the pain of others. Like the Mother of the World, we become the compassionate presence that can hold, with tenderness, the rising and passing waves of suffering.
An excerpt from “The Essence of Mindful Prayer: “May this Suffering Awaken Compassion” by Tara Brach
Want to see our whole line-up for the upcoming year?
Visit our Trips at a Glance page.
