Thank you to all of our dancing monks who shared their word of guidance for the year with us here.  Congratulations to our winners of the random prize drawing: Please email Melinda at dancingmonk@abbeyofthearts.com to claim your prize. 

In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to the divine and to their own inner struggles at work within them. The desert became a place to enter into the refiner’s fire and be stripped down to one’s holy essence. The desert was a threshold place where you emerged different than when you entered. Many people followed these ammas and abbas, seeking their wisdom and guidance for a meaningful life. One tradition was to ask for a word – this word or phrase would be something