Having trouble viewing this invitation in its proper format? Read it online at http://www.aweber.com/t/HrP3a
.
Dear ,
"Remember," the 13th century Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic Rumi tells us, "the entrance door / to the sanctuary is inside you." So close, and yet so far away, it often seems, because here in the 21st century, we are so bombarded with information and things to do, it's hard to create the time and space to enter the sanctuary. And not only you, but everyone in your life loses out when you don't spend sometime with the best part of yourself.
That's why I'm inviting you to join me for a weekend retreat at Sunset Beach the weekend of February
22nd - 24th or March 1st - 3rd. Call (Full details below or click here.) Well, that and the fact that I think there's nothing better than bringing "kindred spirits" together to write and share and dream at beautiful Sunset Beach, North Carolina, and I'd love the pleasure of your company!
Now, I know you may not be able to make it, so I'm going to share a "sanctuary" writing gift with you that you can enjoy whether or not you can say "yes" to this invitation. It has to do with this beautiful phrase I'm pointing to: "Om Namah Shivaya."
Yes, this is me just a week ago, in the gardens of a haven I found while exploring the streets of my "other" hometown, Denton, Texas. It's called the Landmark Ashram, and I had the good fortune to attend a few yoga classes here.
While I haven't yet found a writers' community in Denton, my writer self felt so at home when I saw these words, "Om Namah Shivaya!" You see, I first came across them in Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love
(Number 37, to be exact), and I liked the passage it was in so much that I immediately shared it with my writing classes. It starts with:
When I was growing up, my family kept chickens. We always had
about a dozen of them at any given time and whenever one died off-taken away by hawk or fox or by some obscure chicken illness -- my father would replace the lost hen. He'd drive to a nearby poultry farm and return with a new chicken in a sack. The thing is, you must be very careful when introducing a new chicken to the general flock. You can't just toss it in there with the old chickens, or they will see it as an invader. What you must do instead is to slip the new bird into the chicken coop in the middle of the night while the others are asleep. Place her on a roost beside the flock and tiptoe away. In the morning, when the chickens wake up, they don't notice the newcomer, thinking only, "She must have been here all the time since I didn't see her arrive." The clincher of it is, awaking within this flock, the newcomer herself doesn't even remember that she's a newcomer, thinking only, "I must have been here the whole time.. . "
This is exactly how I arrive in India.
And ends with:
...I have not meditated in four months. I have not even thought
about meditating in four months. I sit there. My breath quiets. I say the mantra to myself once very slowly and deliberately, syllable by syllable. Om. Na. Mah. Shi. Va.
Ya. Om Namah Shivaya. I honor the divinity that resides within me.
Then I repeat it again. Again. And again. It's not so much that I'm meditating as unpacking the mantra carefully, the way you would unpack your grandmother's best china if it had been stored in a box for a long time, unused. I don't know if I fall asleep or if I drop into some kind of spell or even how much time passes. But when the sun finally comes up that morning in India and everyone opens their eyes and looks around, Italy feels ten thousand miles away from me now, and it is as if I have been here in this flock forever. I invite you to read these words slowly out loud -- you may even want to get hold of a copy of Eat, Pray, Love
and read the whole passage. Then close your eyes and enter the sanctuary inside you, through the mantra here or any other phrase that is meaningful to you. (One of mine is "God is love, and all who dwell in love, dwell in God.")
And then give yourself at least ten minutes to write about a time you felt as if you had been in a particular place "forever." Where have you felt at home inside yourself, and within a "flock"?
Enjoy your time in the sanctuary, and join me at one of these two coastal retreats if you can!
Honoring the divinity inside each of us,
Maureen
Upcoming WordPlay
COASTAL WRITING RETREAT AT THE SUNSET INN,
SUNSET BEACH, NC
(Writing as Renewal and Inspiration)
Back by popular request: a weekend writing retreat full of activities to reconnect you to your creativity. Renew yourself, whether you are a practicing writer, closet writer, or as-yet-to-pick-up-the-pen writer. $378 includes writing sessions, two nights' lodging, two breakfasts and Saturday lunch (hotel tax and Saturday dinner at a local restaurant not included).
WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, February 22 - Sunday, February 24, 2012
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). Register soon -- this is a popular event and spaces are going fast.
PROJECT: BOOK AT THE SUNSET INN, SUNSET BEACH, NC (Writing as Renewal and Inspiration WITH a bonus: Resources and Information to Help You Complete Your Book-length Writing Project) / 1 weekend session
In addition to the fun, stimulation, and satisfaction of creating new work through a variety of prompts and techniques, there will be support offered for writers who would like to write and/or publish a book and 1) don't know how, 2) don't get around to it, 3) feel a) intimidated, b) confused, c) overwhelmed, d) uninspired, 4) all of the above! In a beautiful coastal setting, you will gain knowledge of the steps you need to take to write and publish a book and begin creating your own personalized plan. Note: Class doesn't include critique of your book manuscript.
WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, March 1 - Sunday, March 3, 2012*
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). Register soon -- there are only 5 spaces available.
For details about more 2013 offerings, visit www.wordplaynow.com/current.htm.
|
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! |
|
