Greetings
Sacred Path Community,
The best
and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great
powers around us and in us. If you can do that and live that way, you are
really a wise man.
~ Euripides
The Spring Sacred Path and Call to Adventure Retreat gets
underway next week. We have a great group of men and boys that have
signed up for both Divisions of the retreat. Steve Branker is shepherding
the CTA flock and I will be devoting some intimate time to the participants
that are registering for the men’s Division. Dan Franklin will be
facilitating a breakout session on relationships. You can read a statement from him in this
newsletter. And Nick Rath will conduct a
session on fathering and issues surrounding parenting. The CTA retreat is shaping up nicely.
We have a good compliment of fathers and sons, boys and mentors coming in
from the suburbs and urban areas of our community at large. Boys and
their mentors are linked up in triads so that they will have the ongoing
support when they’re off the hill. Both sides of the retreat will be
united in the morning and again in the evening. That will allow us to
share the unique experience that each participant and each team will have had
during the day.
I am
moved to assist participants during my time with them in examining how their
minds work. It’s not uncommon for people to find themselves submerged in
a continuous flood of mental noise. Many complain that they cannot stop
thinking and that their thoughts tend toward the negative. Inner peace
and balance are at low ebb these days. I have encouraged a number of men
recently to come on retreat just for the opportunity to take a break from their
day to day lives and catch a breath. It’s true that if we always do what
we’ve always done, we’ll always get what we’ve always gotten. If we don’t
interrupt the pattern, the pattern will continue to interrupt our equanimity,
wreaking havoc with our serenity and peace of mind.
Retreats
offer us the opportunity to get away and take an accounting of what’s going on
in our lives. What’s working and what’s not? What do we want to
change and how will we go about it? Retreats provide the breathing room
to stretch and relax, to reflect and process, to assess what we want to change
and how we’ll initiate and carry forth the transformation.
There’s a
lot of research being done on our brains and how Mindfulness training can
affect the neuroplasticity of our brain’s circuitry. I intend to discuss
these findings and provide information and processes supporting your
understanding and capacity for making a positive difference in how your mind
impacts your brain and therefore your entire nervous system. Changing
your thinking can actually change your physiology and in turn have a positive
effect on changing your life. There are ways to reduce your anxiety and
lift yourself out of a depressed mood. I will provide some tools to
assist you on your journey to wellness and wholeness.
It’s not
too late to register for this upcoming retreat. If you’ve been thinking
about it and just haven’t made the final decision I encourage you to clear your
calendar and take the leap. Whether you’re registering for the CTA part
of the retreat of choose to be with the men, don’t let resistance hold you back
from giving yourself something that can make a difference for the rest of your
life. As Euripides admonished, be the wise man you are destined to be and
sign up now to join your brothers on the Sacred Path.
On
another note, I have invited Leonard Orr, my friend and mentor of 38 years, to
return this June (the 1st through the 3rd) to present four events for men and
women at Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino. There will be a public
presentation on Friday night followed by two seminars on Saturday and a
Rebirthing workshop on Sunday.
We are
alive today in the period that has been called the “Quickening,” also referred
to as “The Great Awakening” or “The Shift”, and each and every one of us
is called to move beyond self-limiting thoughts, to expand our awareness and
join the ranks of those who are enlisting to make a positive difference where
it counts.
Included
in this newsletter is information about Leonard and the entire program that he
will be offering. Also included in this issue is another article by
Leonard. His events are open to both men and women.
I
encourage you to not miss this opportunity. Leonard likes to suggest that
learning and mastering the simple and pleasurable principles of spiritual
purification can “be hazardous to your misery.” I can attest that my meeting
and working with Leonard during the 70’s and 80’s made a tremendous difference
in the quality of my life, both personally and professionally. He will awaken
you to a higher realm of awareness regarding your true self, your relationships
and your purpose for living on Earth at this most turbulent yet
transformational time.
Read
about the 4 events that Leonard will offer to our community and take advantage
of the 10% early registration discount. More information and the
registration form can be found in this newsletter.
In
brotherhood,
Stephen
Stephen
