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Breitenbush Retreat (and bringing joy back home)
I returned home last night from eight days away, five of which were truly on retreat — just meditating, bathing in hot springs, hiking, eating well, practicing yoga, and celebrating with dance and music. To see pictures, click here.The focus of the week was honoring the past and engaging in the present so as best to serve the future.
We left Breitenbush Hot Springs mid-afternoon on Thursday. Rather than take a red eye, I stayed Thursday night at an airport hotel and took an early morning flight home on Friday. I woke early Friday morning and rested in meditation to ease the shock of going from an off-the-grid community in the forest to an airport hotel. This rainbow glowed over the airport while I was waiting for the hotel shuttle to take me there for my flight.
The rainbow reminded me to carry the deep joy of the retreat home with me.
February House Practice Donations
This month’s recipient will be the Environmental Defense Fund. Why? Because in his State of the Union Address to much applause by Democrats (Republicans don’t clap for a Democratic President even if he is giving them everything they want), President Obama announced that part of the support for “clean” energy would be for nuclear power plants, “clean” coal (an oxymoron if I ever heard one), and off-shore drilling.
You might wonder why not have the February cause be an organization that is doing work in Haiti? I feel it is important to support organizations such as the American Friends Service Committee and Doctors Without Borders, who are doing yeoman-like work to ease suffering in Haiti and other places around the globe, and I have given some support. Following disasters or major incidents, though, society as a whole often experiences “donor fatigue.” I want to make sure that in the aftermath, the other changes I seek in the world do not go unsupported by me. So I try to give extra, and I try to remember all the things about which I care.




