Deep Fun, Deep Fire

My BFF and I chose a rural location half hour south of Sedona for this year's winter retreat.  For the past 23 of the 45 years of our relationship, we've gone away together once a year.  On good years, twice. Time out of time, our retreats have been sanctuary.  An antidote to the speeded up, pressurized world of busy lives, big families, too much to do.  We grew a way to make it cost efficient, so that money wouldn't be an excuse.  Made it as short as we could, so that time wouldn't be the excuse, either.  Still, it seemed a luxury and an indulgence.  We didn't know it when we started, but our retreats kept alive our creative fire by seeding work we didn't have time for in day-to-day functioning.   We were able to step onto "the donkey's path" - the slow meander of time and space to paint, write, read, music, talk, walk - that seeded the most vital growth of our lives - who we are and why we are here, and deeper levels of relationship with ourselves and our loved ones.  Emilie Conrad used to say that the information we receive when we are in "fetch wood, carry water", survival mode, is limited to what we know already.  New information, creative solutions become possible when our systems "rest and settle". That is when our capacity to receive deep healing comes online. Deep rest, deep work, deep healing, deep sharing, deep fun, deep fire. 

p.s. the painting is D'vorah's.