nfpteaching

🌄To retreat…not to run, but to reflect. To step away and acknowledge what you feel and be with your thoughts. This weekend I took a break. I retreated to the desert of Sedona and took time to think, feel, and listen to God. It is in the stillness that I find I hear Him best, and I don’t remember the last time I stopped to listen.
✨This was not my traditional kind of retreat. I signed up to hike and do yoga with 8 strangers. I was reminded how to breathe. I cried. I encountered the beauty of humanity—that we’re all just doing the best we can with what we have—and none of us are perfect—but we continue to strive and hold each other up in the process. I was vulnerable. I was given tools to reset nervous system. I cried. I took time to stretch. I was reminded of the importance of personal affirmation. I cried. I felt my body let down waves of emotion I didn’t realize I had been holding. I felt physical pain in my hips vanish. And now I journey back home with a strange sensation that I would call peace—a realization of the importance of letting go and taking hold of what is in front of me. A desire to be present in each moment instead of thinking ahead 6 steps at all times. A desire to slow down and be more thoughtful in my words and actions. A rekindling of innate joy that has been missing for some time.
🌱I will do this more often. There’s never time, there’s always something else, and it’s never easy to get away—but if that’s you then more than ever you need to retreat—not vacation—but take a day or a few days to rekindle your soul, be with God and remember you are loved for who you are and not what you do.

Learning and building relationships at the Marquette Summit! What am awesome group of healthcare professionals focused on the whole person!