Health Update from Christine

Dear monks, artists, and pilgrims,

I continue to feel deeply grateful for your loving prayers and circle of care. I truly feel held and lifted during this time of illness with COVID-19.

Thankfully I am starting to turn a corner on symptoms. My congestion and coughing are quite a bit better now although I am still very fatigued and sleeping a lot during the day.

If you enrolled in one of our upcoming programs you will have seen that we are cancelling some things and postponing others, all to give myself the most spaciousness for recovery possible. It has been a gift to be able to make these choices for my well-being and feel such support from the community. (One program we definitely are planning to go ahead with is our upcoming Virtual Celtic Pilgrimage starting January 31st). 

I actually have surgery planned at the end of March (not Covid-related) and count that as another gift in terms of timing as it has definitely prompted me to be sure I am fully well before trying to return to usual rhythms of work. It is seductive to try and push a bit now that my symptoms are easing, but I am holding a firm boundary for myself. Rest is the most essential thing.

My hope and desire has been to be as healthy as possible by the time my surgery comes. Now with Covid intruding I feel that desire even more keenly and the commitment to doing what is needed to take exquisite care of this vessel of mine.

If you are sick now or someone you love is, I am sending healing blessings your way. Hopefully if Covid visits you it will be manageable as mine has been. I am incredibly grateful to have contracted it this far into the pandemic and have the gift of the vaccines to help ameliorate the severity alongside other modes of care. It is humbling to know how much suffering and loss this virus has caused.

With great and growing love,