Quote: “This is where that fear transforms into an adventure – when we recognize that the fear is both fully allowed and… it’s a teacher that points us back to love.”
Below, you’ll find my after-retreat reflections, where I share some thoughts and appreciation for the retreat we just finished in Portugal.
For this Monday InSight Letter, I want to expand a bit on my major but simple takeaway: humans are beautiful. During the retreat, I was blessed to have the experience of connecting one-on-one for an hour with all 13 participants. Some of us took a slow walk through the trees, while others found ourselves on the beach with our toes dancing in cold waves. A few of us simply rested on the grass at the house and watched as the blue sky melted into the ocean.
There was a common theme among all that I simply could not ignore. As we dove deeper into the authenticity of the human journey, I kept thinking to myself, “My goodness, you’re such a beautiful human.”
Beautiful how? It’s quite obvious that, even in your understandable pain and struggle, there is a genuine love that desires to be seen, felt, and shared. As I listened intently, what I heard were stories of courage, stories of deep life learning, and stories of innocent fears just waiting to be seen through. In each person I shared space with, I saw the epitome of “the raw heart within the human journey.” It was glorious.
Even though the stories were unique, the endings were the same. In some way, the conclusion was, “Yes, I am scared and that’s okay. I am here to be human, here to have the full human experience, and I’m more ready now than I have ever been, to embrace that and recognize a deeper love for it all.”
This is where that fear transforms into an adventure when we recognize that the fear is both fully allowed and… it’s a teacher that points us back to love. We discover that our fear can be met with our love, rather than our fear being met with more fear.
See? So beautiful.
Within myself, I recognize profound gratitude for this work and this opportunity to share my heart and connect with open-hearted humans. Just saying that creates a tiny, love-filled lump in my throat. I’m so open to more of these experiences, on retreat and elsewhere. It’s quite clear that this is my passion, this is my purpose, and this is why I am here: to hold space and love people.
Even if I never get to meet you in person, in some cosmic way, I feel connected to you. I feel that, in our shared interest in seeing life, ourselves, and others more clearly, our hearts are forever intertwined.
Thank you for being you.
