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Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Michael Landon

I am delighted to share another guest post from one of our wonderful Wisdom Council members! This week we hear from Rev. Dr. Michael Landon.  I first met Michael a couple of years ago when he participated in our Awakening the Creative Spirit intensive and found kinship with him through his work with grief and lament.  He has a written a beautiful book, Grieving Hearts in Worship: A Ministry Resource, which explores the essential role of ritual in healing from losses of all kinds. Read on for Michael’s reflections: When I sit at my computer in my home office, my eyes are frequently

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Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Roy DeLeon

Time for another guest post from one of our amazing Wisdom Council members!  This week we have Roy DeLeon sharing his reflections with us on being a monk in the world.  I first met Roy at St. Placid Priory about ten years ago, where we are both Benedictine oblates. Roy is also a yoga teacher with a true monk’s heart. We collaborated on a retreat several years ago on praying the Hours through yoga. Read on for Roy’s reflections: Open Heart in Hell A Buddhist teacher said, “The practice is about keeping the heart open in hell.” Somehow, this statement stuck with me. As a yoga

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Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Cheryl Macpherson

I am delighted to introduce our next Wisdom Council member to you, Cheryl Macpherson.  Cheryl and I met about ten years ago when we were both in the same spiritual direction formation program, the Pacific Jubilee Program.  I remember being impressed by Cheryl’s quiet strength and wisdom during that time and was delighted to later reconnect when she participated in the online class Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist.  Now she brings her gifts as monk, artist, and spiritual director as co-facilitator of this class along with Stacy Wills,  another Wisdom Council member.  Read on for Cheryl’s reflections: Christine’s invitation to write

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Give up your endless searching (a love note from your online Abbess)

Give up your endless searching Lay down your map and compass, and those dog-eared travel guides. Rest your weary eyes from so much looking, your tired feet from so much wandering, your aching heart from so much hoping. Lay down on the soft green grass wet with morning dew, and watch as the tree heavy with pendulous pears bends her long branches toward you, offering you perfection in every sweet bite. Give up the weight of knowing, for the reverence of quiet attention and curiosity, for the delight of juice that runs in generous streams down your chin. —Christine Valters

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Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Melissa Layer

I first met Melissa Layer in person at a workshop I was leading at St. Placid Priory, as she lives in the beautiful Northwest as well. She took several online courses, including the very first one I ever taught on Benedictine Spiritual Practices, and then she then participated in the Awakening the Creative Spirit intensive and in monthly supervision groups I was co-leading for soul care practitioners, and later I asked her to assist me in the Sacred Rhythms Writing Retreat last summer.  She is a kindred spirit on many levels.  So I am delighted she is a part of the newly formed

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Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Richard Bruxvoort Colligan

Time to hear from another of our amazing Wisdom Council members!  I first met Richard Bruxvoort Colligan through his wife, Trish (another Wisdom Council member) several years ago in my very early time of blogging (under the name Sacred Art of Living – a few of you are still around from those days!)  I fell in love with the music they co-created as River’s Voice (which has been featured in several Abbey online retreats), and then got to work with them in person at the Spiritual Directors International conference in San Francisco, and fell in love with both of them even more. I love how they live out their partnership

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This is what it is like to yield (a love note from your online Abbess)

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) To hear Christine read the poem and love note to you, listen below (you do need flashplayer for it to work) or download the file here: [audio:http://www.mediafire.com/download/lned8f3di2n220f/This_is_what_is_it_like_to_yield_-_July_1%2C_2013.mp3] This is what it is like to yield: to finally feel that place of tightness – your left shoulder, the crick that has been in your neck for as long as you can remember, the hard point between your eyes – soften, and all that is left is the overwhelming desire to dance, to stop resisting the

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Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Stacy Wills

I am delighted to introduce our next member of the Wisdom Council to you: Stacy Wills.  I first met Stacy through the Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist online class.  She continued on with the community for several classes, and I had the pleasure of meeting her (and her delightful husband) in person when I went to Mississippi to lead a workshop for spiritual directors in the arts.  Stacy now brings her monk, artist, and spiritual director gifts in service to the Abbey through co-facilitating the Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist classes (along with Cheryl Macpherson,

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Beside the Sea . . . on the wild and sacred west coast of Ireland. . . (a video and a pilgrimage)

Ireland is calling so many hearts, souls, and bodies to dwell in her landscape.  In my last newsletter I put a small note at the bottom of the calendar that I was planning a Monk in the World pilgrimage to the west coast of Ireland and to drop me a note if you wanted advance notice.  I received many responses, and last Saturday we opened advanced registration for 11 pilgrims to come May 20-28, 2014, and yesterday – just three days later – we have filled those dates!  That is amazing (and please email me if you want to be on

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Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Ronna Detrick

I am thrilled to continue this weekly series of summer guest posts from each of the Wisdom Council members, with their reflections on what being a monk in the world and an artist in everyday life means for them, in the context of their own work and ministries. I first met Ronna Detrick in person as I was in the throes of selling my home in Seattle a year ago and preparing for this great life adventure I am on now.  I had seen Ronna’s work and felt a kinship to her spirit, so I am grateful for our chance to

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