Monday Morning Musing: Heart Care

Earlier this year I was introduced to the idea of taking a three day retreat in every season. The person suggesting it noted that it is not only good, but that it is necessary.  I gave it a try in the middle of summer, over the dates that included our wedding anniversary and found such a sense of peace and renewal through the experience.  I learned that it is, in fact, both good and necessary.  Good to step away, outside of one’s normal rhythms to find a centered space again.  It isn’t sight seeing and it doesn’t necessarily have an itinerary, these retreats.  Instead, it is intentional time apart.  And it is in fact, necessary to be able to fill one’s cup back up.

While I was on that retreat last summer, I was invited to spend some time over this past weekend on the land where Earth Funeral uses the remains of those in their care to reforest a piece of Creation located about an hour outside of Olympia, just south of Port Townsend.

So it was that my autumn retreat found some sense of place and I headed out to Port Townsend for some time of reading, writing, and renewal (see previous post).  On Saturday I drove to the land – located at the end of a winding lane. 

I was uncertain what I would find, but a warm welcome awaited me and the few of us who had reserved our spots for that particular hour.  My guide told me how they’d acquired this land, showed me the areas they’d already begun to reforest, and invited me to hike the path through the part that has been cared for thus far.  She noted that there were benches along the path should I choose to sit along the way.

Which I did.  Mostly because I just wanted to be quiet in that space – surrounded by lots of old growth, but not far from the new growth Bruce’s body is helping sustain.

Side Note:  Human Composting is relatively new.  Bruce and I talked at length about what we wanted to happen to our bodies after we die.  Neither of us wanted to be buried.  Neither of us were keen on the idea of cremation.  Leaving human composting or aquamation as our most reasonable choices. About a year and a half ago we made and paid for our arrangements.  If you’re curious about this I invite you to visit Earth Funeral’s website here.

I’m still processing the visit, to be honest.  As one other man there said to me “It’s hard to know what to think.”  And it is.  Although the visit did feel right, it still felt….new.  unfamiliar.  Of course it did.

But it is also absolutely right that Bruce would be helping things grow, just as he helped others grow.  Being there that day also brought a measure of peace and somehow some added meaning to the ancient words: earth to earth.

I took a lot of pictures; I’ll share some below.  It was a beautiful Fall day, within my Autumnal Retreat. 

It was also just right that after leaving there, I went to stay with my grandbabies and their parents for a couple of days.  We played and read books and laughed a lot.  We learned that if we run our hands along the rosemary plant they smell really good afterwards.  We started thinking about Halloween and we gave and received lots of love and hugs and kisses.  As I said to their very good parents:  those babies are good for my heart. 

Dear Ones, I gently invite you to tend to the wonder that you are.  The world is a lot right now and life is unpredictable.  Offer yourself the space that you imagine might nourish your spirit.  Find calm when you can and when it seems in short supply, invite it in…search for it…make space for it to take root.  This sort of attention to ourselves will give us the grounding we need for the hard things and the difficult days. 

If you can find time to ‘retreat’, do it as often as your spirit needs it.  Even if it’s just for ten minutes in the course of a busy day. Close your door or your eyes and breathe into the time apart. If you can swing it for a few days, even better.  Mother Teresa said “To keep a lamp burning, we must keep putting oil into it.”   Tend to your light.

And finally, find something that does your heart good and do that thing.  Maybe it’s singing or calling your momma (thanks Tay), or going for a walk, or playing with babies.  But don’t neglect your heart. 

When our hearts are whole they grow in this way and when our hearts are broken, they need just this kind of care.