Beginning The Journey by asking 'What is next'?

Leaving in the very early morning for a week long retreat in the warm embrace of the Caribbean Sea off Tulu’um, Mexico. I will be joining Beloved friends for sunrise meditation on the beach, yoga and everything a retreat offers. My sweet salty friend davidji, who is facilitating the retreat, took this photo below, from there this morning. Yes! I will be sleeping in a thatch covered cabana right on the beach. Ahhhhhh…

Tomorrow is the dark of the moon… The new moon. With The Winter Solstice arriving with the dark of the moon next month. A perfect time to let go of what no longer serves me and embrace what does. I consider tomorrow the first day of a personal Journey of asking my Heart & Spirit… What is next? What is seeking expression through my own unique voice? 

After next week I return to Portland for a couple weeks. I will work my last two shifts at The Family Birth Center in Olympia, WA and then facilitate a retreat at Harmony Hill Retreat Center in Union, WA. (We provide retreats for people living with cancer at no cost to participants). Then I go to my second hOMe on Kauai for a month long personal retreat… Being present every day with Mama Pacific, as my Heartbeat syncs with the rhythm of hers.

What will I hear as my Being becomes ever more silent in these next many weeks? I will hear the sound and voice of my own precious Heartbeat. I will embrace and remember Who-I-Am. 

I will continue writing as I explore my personal Journey and reflect-on and observe the path. Some of what I will be writing about is: ‘The Art of Retreat’. I have experienced and facilitated ‘Retreat’ for a long time and I want to further explore ‘what’ it is and how we can integrate the aspects of retreat into our daily lives. I will also continue to explore the value of cultivating ‘Presence’. For years ‘presence’ as a modality, was central to the retreats I offered to nurses and other health professionals. I want to take it deeper. And I will continue to explore ‘Dancing with Shadows’… Being with the difficult parts of our lifetime. 

When I return to Portland in the middle of January, I will have explored, played-with and created the ‘what is next’. My Gratitude for this lifetime and the people I share it with remains what leads me… What frames my day. Coupled with Gratitude I continue to ask the three soul questions, some version of which, I enter my daily meditations with:

Who am I?
What is my clearest desire?
How can I best serve?

So Be It