Last weekend, from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon, I was most fortunate to be in residence at Bend of Ivy Lodge, a retreat center about 20 minutes north of Asheville, North Carolina. The photo you see is the view from the seat I always chose for each meal we ate together. See the sky between the slender trunks of the pine trees at the top of the ridge? That's why I sat in the same seat, over and over. I could see the sky through the trees.
Just being in this marvelous natural area of over a hundred acres is wonder enough. I was even luckier, as I was able to enjoy this place and to also participate in a retreat facilitated by Patti Digh and David Robinson.
For those of you who are not yet aware of Patti's new book, Life is a Verb, you are heartily advised to go buy a copy. It won't give you the experience I was blessed with over a period of only 44 hours from late Friday to Sunday at 1 pm, but you will have in your hands the best substitute.
I will post later in the week a detailed look at my experience in becoming part of the community Patti and David built in a matter of hours. For today, my Tuesday edition of My Sacred Life, Sunday, it is enough to simply say, buy the book. Or, ask your library to buy a copy and check it out (I did exactly that: the Denver Public Library has two copies in their system now).
This world needs people like Patti and David. More than ever, we are polarized, eaten up by fear and uncertainty, frozen in place by a lack of leadership here in the United States. We can take our country back, even if it takes a generation or 50 years or longer, by leading from the bottom, up. Patti and David are opening the door to personal responsibility and authenticity, 15 people at a time. I don't know about my 14 community members, but I have already begun to work what I learned into the life I was leading prior to the retreat.
What if all 15 of us influence only 100 people over the next few years? What if each of those 100 tell 100 about what they had learned of the path to recovery from fear-based leadership? You can see where I am going with this: it will take time, but we also learned patience at the retreat. We took a walk to China, and in ten minutes, no one had gotten more than two feet of the way there. Some had moved only half an inch. We are okay with it taking time.
It is inevitable that we, as a people, will learn from our mistakes and correct the course America is on today. I'm on board. I hope you will join me.
3 comments:
How exciting, Rick! I am intrigued by many things in this post, many things, and cannot wait to hear more details.
First of all---YES---I want to join you!
I'm not sure how this will be done, but I WANT TO JOIN.
Secondly, I am excited that close and intense community was built in 44 hours. I know this can happen! You were blessed, incredibly, it sounds like, from the people you were with and the experience you had.
I am wistful when I read, "for each meal we ate together". I remember my days of eating with others (I used to go to a yearly retreat for a raw foods cleansing) and miss those days.
I'll look forward to finding out and hearing more. But please, count me in!
Love, O
Boy this is where my habit of procrastination really bit me in the butt! I totally meant to sign up for that retreat and would have had the chance to meet you and Patti. Grrr.
I've been thinking a lot about personal responsibility and hope these days. I too will join you-:)
Ladies, thanks for visiting and leaving me a note.
O--I don't know how, exactly, either. I'm not worried, though, as I don't have to know how. Just show up, that's the message I have been getting. Just show up.
Lately, we have opted out of our responsibility (I don't mean you or me or any one person individually, but the 'we' which is the American people as a group) and failed to be accountable.
America has a long history, and it was never a country known to do things like invade a country on the other side of the planet for no better reason than that no one could prevent us from doing so. That's not my country. I'm glad to hear it is not yours.
Julie--next time I am going to be in Atlanta, I'm going to ask you to drive to the airport so we can have a cup of coffee or something. This time, because Delta canceled my original connection from Asheville to Atlanta, I ended up on a flight which got into Hartsfield 26 minutes before my Denver flight was scheduled to leave. Needless to say, I was busy proving that I can still move quickly when I have to, as I was two concourses removed from where I needed to be! I was never in any danger of missing the plane--the flight was completely full (I'll bet there was someone sitting on the copilot's lap...that's how full it felt), so it took them extra time just to shoehorn everyone into the aircraft.
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