The Restory Retreat Centre

The practical How Soul nurturing Healthy habits (Cultivating a spiritual practice) Just as our bodies need nourishment and rest at regular intervals, so it is with our souls as well. We’ve mentioned a number of things that serve to nourish our souls, but to a large degree it is carried by a regular practice. Often the distinction is made between an informal and formal practice. The way you live your life consciously with awareness and applying all your senses is your informal practice. It takes place in the general daily living and doing. But it is important to have a formal or more structured practice as well. Where 20 minutes to an hour is set aside every day where you become quiet and silence the constant chatter of your mind. Through experience and trial and error we’ve found the following to work for us: To get up early in the morning before the day with all its activities and commitments starts in full force Light stretches or gentle exercise help to wa...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace The practical  How Soul nurturing Soul friendship (Spiritual direction) "It is easier to find guides, someone to tell you what to do, than someone to be with you in a discerning, prayerful companionship as you work it out yourself. This is what spiritual direction is.”                                                                      ~ Eugene H. Peterson In the previous posts Spiritual Direction - 1 , Spiritual Direction - 2 and Spiritual Direction - 3 we've dealt extensively with the subject of spiritual direction. (See also the label heading Spiritual Direction that leads to other posts that touches on the subject). Here, we are merely indicating its importance in the process of Soul Nurturi...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace The practical How Soul nurturing Walking One of the most powerful tools to reconnect us with our wider environment, nourish our soul, open us up and ignite creativity is.... walking. Yes, plain walking. No, you don’t need expensive shoes or fancy clothes. Don’t over-complicate things. Most of all, do not make it a competition of sorts in whatever disguise it may come. This is not a training session as such. This is taking your inner child for a stroll and feasting your senses. Most probably it is the best medicine in the cheapest form. But I’ve said enough. Let’s give the floor to some of the great lovers of and believers in walking. George

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace The practical How Soul nurturing Treat-time Next up - FUN! And not just any fun, but tailor-made-for-you-and-you-alone fun. Sounds too good to be true? Read on. Again, we draw on the wisdom of Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, and introduce you to Artist’s Dates. We prefer to use the term Treat-time for the same concept, because we have experienced that many people’s immediate reaction when confronted with Artist’s Dates are to visibly shy away. They say something like: “I’m not creative”, “I’m no artist” or “I can’t draw or paint to save my life”. This is not about being a painter, potter, writer, dancer or actor. Nor will you need to take up any artist’s tool if it is not your inclination. This tool was created by Julia Cameron whose area of expertise lies in the unblocking of creativity, which she refers to as the inner artist or the inner child. We will in due course...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace. The practical How Soul nurturing Wake-up notes So let’s get started. For this game of hide-and-seek we need some writing paper and a pen or pencil, crayon, or whatever takes your fancy to write  with. Now, don’t take fright. This is no writer’s course. We are into soul nurturing, into seeking out the hidden child within. Only the most gentle and undemanding probing will be met with a favourable response.  So we start off by listening, pen in hand and paper to catch the sounds on. Julia Cameron, writer of The Artist’s Way is famous for the genius of her tools of creative recovery, which she calls Morning Pages and Artist’s Dates. We can do no better than her and having experienced the transformational potential of these tools for ourselves over many years, we give her the credit and share it as she so generously advises us to.     Morning Pages, in our context, w...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace. The glory of God is a human being fully alive. - St. Ireneaus The practical How Soul Nurturing Living a contemplative life starts here. In this place, at this time, with this body, mind and soul known as Me. It can happen in no other way. Nothing more is needed. We have everything we need (and more) to move in one instance from being nowhere in particular, to being on the contemplative way. All it takes is a waking up to it, as we have pointed out in  It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing . The notes from a different drummer, like rain, had fallen onto the pregnant soil of your soul. Soon a tender shoot starts showing. The seed of the Essential You is sprouting. How do we tend this into growing into a life that will bear the incredible harvest only you are capable of?  By careful and deliberate nurturing, like you would a rare sapling or a new-born baby. T...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace The practical How. In our previous post Strange companions we said that we'll follow it up by introducing paradox as well. True to our word, here is that introduction.  “Nobody goes to that restaurant because it is too crowded”; “Your mission is not to accept the mission. Do you accept?” or “Don't go near the water 'til you have learned how to swim” are humorous examples of paradox. A paradox (taken from the Greek para and dokein meaning “to seem contrary to”) is something that at first glance appears to be a contradiction, but looked at from another angle is not a contradiction at all. All fine and interesting, but what does it have to do with us? Everything. One of the major elements in the contemplative life and spirituality is a tolerance for ambiguity, uncertainty and being comfortable with paradox. For that reason much of its wisdom comes in the form of paradox: ...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace I will give you treasures from dark, secret places;  then you will know that I am the LORD  and that the God of Israel has called you by name.                                                             Isaiah 45:3 (Good News Bible) The practical How . The notes from the drummer have reached your inner ear. You are waking up and gradually you realise something is being born. There is no reason for panic. But it can still be a very confusing experience. And it can be made all the more difficult if you are not introduced to some strange companions that will accompany you on the journey. You are sure to encounter them and should you not be told that they are to be expected, their presence can indeed lead to anxiety and fu...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace The practical How . The notes from the drummer have reached your inner ear. You are waking up. Now what? Don’t panic.  You’re not going mad, although it might feel like it. Some might even say you are rocking the boat. After all, there is the adjective different before the drummer whose music you are tuning into. And although there are days when you wish that your soul has never been stirred and things could be just as it was before, a seed lying dormant for years has cracked the soil.  Of course, you can choose the business-as-usual-route. You can play it safe and don’t let your life be disrupted. You can pull out the new seedling by its roots and turn the volume way down, silence the notes.To stay in your comfort zone is a very tempting possibility. Millions of people do it.  But if you want to live, you’ll have to tend to the new life that has sprouted in your soul. It ...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace "There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power. We seek to awaken in ourselves a force which really changes our lives from within. And yet the same instinct tells us that this change is a recovery of that which is deepest, most original, most personal in ourselves. To be born again is not to become somebody else, but to become ourselves."                                                                          Thomas Merton So, to the practical How. To begin with: Become aware that you are waking up. I imagine you thinking: “The very last thing I need at the beginning of a new year, is yet another program to follow which promises to make me thinner, healthier, richer, more ...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace In the course of the past week we’ve given the bigger picture of our approach and we’ve zoomed in on the different aspects of our diagram*. We’ve introduced you to the skeleton as it were. Now it is time to add some meat and expand even more on the different issues. In our approach we want to be as practical as possible. How does all this that we are talking about play itself out in ordinary life? There is the common misconception that mysticism has to do with pie-in-the-sky, airy fairy stuff. From experience we want to differ. Mysticism does not mind in the least to get its hands dirty. On the contrary, it thrives in the nitty-gritty – often the mess - of the ordinary. To convey that right from the start, it is important to write from the right angle. After all has been said and done, more must have been done than said. Looking at our diagram it might seem as if we disregard what has gone befor...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.                                                               Henry David Thoreau Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."                   ...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.                                                         Henry David Thoreau Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."                         ...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.                                            Henry David Thoreau Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."                                      ...

Notes from a different drummer Learning the unforced rhythms of grace Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.                                                                               Henry David Thoreau Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."    ...

Notes from a Different Drummer Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.                                                                            Henry David Thoreau Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.               ...

At the beginning of this particular year we are quite excited here at The Restory. We foresee that many things that have long been in the germinating phase will sprout and show its leaves in 2015. The Restory is becoming operational this year. We are starting with our retreats (See our Retreats page at the top of the blog) in February. On the dates not set aside for specific retreats we are receiving people for quite days and personal retreats. This all takes place against the backdrop of us being committed to live what we preach here at Barrowfield – a life with specific focus on simplicity, nature, creativity and silence. We shall therefore still be busy with our own creativity and projects in workshop and studio, seeing people for spiritual direction and our writing.  Speaking of writing: practice, mistakes and experience have helped us to consolidate our thoughts of the last couple of years and do some fine-tuning that we hope will help you, our readers, as well. ...