The Restory Retreat Centre

Conducive To Creativity   The Conversation Elements From The Conversation Video Be open. Be creative. May your ideas sprout forth.  With our love. George & Matilda

  Thoughts Pried Loose By A Birthday Picnic against Tafelkop on my birthday. The Conversation Elements From The Conversation ` Music This past year, I have heard Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, properly for the first time. It touches me deeply and I've caught myself listening to it often. The older I get, the more I become aware of my clumsy efforts and tattered plans being carried by an infinite Gentleness.  With our love. George & Matilda

Maybe I'm exaggerating. But what's left of a good account if you can't stretch it? And somewhere in there is a kernel of truth, and the elements for a solution, if you listen carefully. With all the space we have, it feels as if I’m limited in movement. Here at Tafelkop it rains and rains and rains in summer. And if it's not raining, there's the mist. With the result that anything that can handle that much moisture, and the cold of our winters, thrives. Which is mainly the grass in general and Kikuyu in particular. Like a wave it rises around the orchard and the garden. Our mowed lawn ends against a wall of green. It is a weekly effort to hold back the tide. It is beautiful to behold, but it hampers movement. You feel like you’re going on an expedition just to reach the base of Tafelkop. It’s the same in whatever direction you venture. It’s a challenge for the dogs as well. They totally disappear in the abundant growth. Molly has developed a leaps and bounds style o...

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 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