Arrival at the Villa
Click the image above for a quick tour of the outside of the Villa at the start of the retreat.
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So Many Gifts About to Be Opened
Just a few hours from now, we’ll be meeting with our group participants at a nearby spot in Central Florence (close by, but with luggage, still requiring a taxi to get there) to catch our shuttle to the Villa. On our group What’s App thread, people have been checking in, sending pictures of negative Covid
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Moments in Florence
Sniffing the roses. Rose garden, Florence. Perfect spot for a jet-lag induced catnap. This is my favorite moment in Florence so far. I just love street musicians with absolute talent. He didn’t have his name out front but I left him a generous tip! TURN UP THE SOUND! He has a fantastic voice. Another shopping
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I Didn’t Get a Pedicure, But I Am in Florence!
Well, too many fires burst into flame in the days leading up to our departure and my toes remain unpainted, my usual travel ritual woefully incomplete, my toes bare, but we did get on the plane and arrived in Florence last night. I am doing my best to get in this time zone right away.
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Compostable in Paris
Made it on the overnight flight to Paris. Waiting for our connecting flight to Florence. Both with or Air France breakfast on the plane and with the piece of flan I just bought, we were given compostable bamboo silverware. Why don’t they do it everywhere?
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All I want is a pedicure.
It’s my ritual for getting ready to go overseas on a long trip, something I like to do before any big event (like a wedding) or before teaching a major retreat. I’m leaving for Tuscany tomorrow and “get a pedicure” has been on my list for several days now. But it has dropped off my
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Italy, Here I Come!
A week from today, Karyn and I will be heading to the airport to fly to Tuscany for the 2023 Write, Travel, Transform retreat at a 15th century villa. This morning, I got up early and had a couple of hours before my morning class, so I went to my closet and started pulling out
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Writing as a Pathway: Re-entry Into Real Life
In the little rap I give my students about re-entry into “real life” after retreat, one of the things I recommend is not to talk too much about the experience, but rather to practice their newly-honed listening skills on their loved ones back home. I caution them not to make any hasty decisions—like quitting their
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Writing as a Pathway: Farewell
After last night’s celebration and Claire’s wonderful chocolate cake, it’s finally the last morning of the Writing as a Pathway Through Grief, Loss, Transformation and Change retreat. And what I see around me is laughter, hugging, connecting and yes, some tears. The tough part of a retreat is always when it’s over. So we always
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Writing as a Pathway: Meditation Hut
Before I left Commonweal, I had to take one last trip out to the Meditation Hut, aka the Chapel, aka the Shrine and probably a dozen other pet names. I like to lay on the straw mats out there, flat on the floor and talk to my mother. It’s one of the places I hear
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Writing as a Pathway: Sacred Time
We’ve entered the most sacred time of the retreat, what I like to call “the heart of the retreat.” It’s the time when people are open and connected to whatever it is they need to write about, and those stories are being written. There is a tenderness and vulnerability in the air and the whole
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Writing as a Pathway: Transformation
This morning, I told everyone in the workshop how proud I was of where they started on Day 1 and where they are today. Faces that arrived guarded and tight have grown relaxed and open. The power of mourning—sharing our losses, pain and uncertainty—in the midst of a loving, accepting community has worked magic. As
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Writing as a Pathway: Sitting In Uncertainty
We are at the heart of this retreat—the time when the writing gets real and down to the bone, when true words are spoken, when risks are taken, bonds formed, when we become a living, breathing creative community. We are tracking each other hour by hour. Laughing and crying and hiking and eating and writing
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Writing as a Pathway: Words on the Page
I’m writing this from my annual Writing as a Pathway Through Grief retreat at Commonweal. Commonweal is a large, comfortable retreat center in Bolinas California, butted right up against the cliffs and the Pacific Ocean. It’s a center that focuses on healing gatherings for cancer patients, and the sacredness and energy of those gatherings can
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Writing as a Pathway: Diving Into The River Of Grief
Much of today was spent writing stories of grief and bearing witness to each other. In the morning, Evelyn talked about the difference between grieving and mourning, a distinction I hadn’t really understood myself. I’ve always considered them synonyms. Grieving is our own private experience of loss, the way we experience it in our own
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