Dear ,
Just wanted you to know that there are two openings left for this weekend's "The Healing Power of Words" Retreat (details here and below) in case you would like to come spend a few days with kindred spirits and explore writing as a healing tool. This particular work is near and dear to my heart and I would love to share it with you! (The weather report is looking quite decent :) and there will be plenty of metaphorical sunshine in our writing room if the clouds don't part for us.
If you are interested in learning more about writing as a healing process and
can't make it, click here and here for two very helpful resources, an article and a book. And keep your eyes peeled for more opportunities. Here's one in Woodstock, Illinois!
And if you want to work further
with this week's word, "walk," perhaps you'd like to create your own photo illustration of the word "path." A past Coastal Retreat participant shared a Lenten Photo a Day Project with me, and I have loved snapping photos and
writing a small "piece" to go with it. While Lent is a Christian practice, this exploration is a great way to explore any and all faiths...
May each step you take bring you peace, love, and fulfillment,
Maureen Path
On this day that the freezing rain falls and falls, I contemplate the sandy-bottomed shoes that wait patiently outside the door of my room here
at the Sunset Inn until the next walk. And I remember, at last weekend's writing retreat, quoting a line from a poem of Antonio Machado's
to a woman who did not know how to begin work on her book:
"Traveller, there is no path The path is made by walking."
When it comes to writing, and so much else in life, we need to set out even when we are
unsure, forge our own way through 'trail' and error. And yet, with each step, we can listen, we can look, trusting that
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." ~ Psalm 119:105
THE HEALING POWER OF WORDS (Writing As a Healing Process) Only two spaces left! What benefits can writing provide –physically, mentally, spiritually? Are some ways of writing more healing than others? And can we create quality literary work as we heal? In this retreat that incorporates recent discoveries in the field of mind-body-spirit connection and Dr. James Pennebaker’s ground-breaking ideas on writing as a way to move through loss and grief, you’ll learn methods of writing that
help navigate loss and grief on your life path of growth and wholeness. You will choose your ideal balance between community time and solitude as you use writing as a transformational tool in any way that best serves you. And, if you’re looking, you’ll find the genesis of new poetry, creative non-fiction, and/or fiction. Note: Tears honored. Laughter likely. Inspiration guaranteed. WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, February 27 – Sunday, March 1, 2015 TO REGISTER: Contact the Sunset Inn at 888-575-1001 (if you would like to handpick your room, view your choices here first, then call). Because the Inn is holding rooms for you, our participants, they are blocked off as unavailable online. Register soon by phone — this is a popular event.
More WordPlay opportunities here. Covenant
In the sand, a scrawled promise
--
throughout all the falling and rising
all that enters and
departs
I am with you forever more
MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and two collections of poetry, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water. She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one another."
Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best learn -- and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with intentionality and focus, is, after all, serious fuel for joy. Here's to yours! |
|
|
