Life is Better With Compassion
As I mentioned last week, I was on retreat from Tuesday through Sunday. The setting couldn't have been more beautiful, peaceful and favorable for reflection and learning. It sat up on a mountain in northern Georgia and since it was just recently built, everything was new and fresh. All in all, the surroundings were perfect.
Every afternoon, there were several trails in the woods to explore, all clearly marked.
Three meals a day were provided with great care taken in the preparation and selection of ingredients. I was really impressed with the twenty-five participants who all made themselves available to the group as a whole. This nurtured a bond, an openness and the ability to feel free to dive into the content in a safe environment.
All of this conspired to seduce us, however, it was the topic that promised to bring about change and it delivered. For nearly six days we made our way through an intensive about "Mindful Self-Compassion". As a student and teacher of Mindfulness for many years, I felt like this offered the opportunity to expand my base. I was not disappointed.
On Monday I posted the following quote along with my response ...
"Be thankful for your struggle because without it, you wouldn't
have stumbled across your strength." - Les Brown
"Everything you've endured has brought you right here,
standing in your space, holding your own." - BLC
When I sent this to my assistant, as with all my Monday Quotes, I believed in it. After the retreat I realized that there was a missing ingredient -- while our conflicts and efforts are the stuff that build character, self-compassion is what makes it meaningful and helps it stick.
I'm still digesting all the content while I'm also driving back to Massachusetts so that I can pick up my Dad and take him to his new home in Florida. I will be sharing more about the retreat and the richness of self-compassion in future blogettes. I also intend to add this "new" component to the retreats I'm creating. I was able to experience the healing and the promise of completion of the process making every bit of the battles, difficulties, and life's stresses totally worth it and validated. This is what I also wish for you.
Babs
