Willowcreek Homestead Retreat

07/11/2024

instead of saying, "i know what it feels like", let's say "i cannot imagine your heartbreak".

instead of saying, "you're strong, you'll get through this, let's say " you'll hurt, and I'll be here.

instead of saying, "you look like you're doing well, let's say, "how are you holding up today?"

instead of saying, "healing takes time", let's say "healing has no timeline".

instead of saying, "everything happens for a reason, let's say "this must feel so terribly senseless right now".

and when there are no words to say at all, you don't need to try and find some. love speaks in silences too.

~ 'words' by Ullie Kaye Poetry

~ Art by Jennifer Yoswa

06/12/2024

Send a message to learn more

04/25/2024

Losing someone is a journey, not a one-off.

There is no end to the loss, there is only a learned skill on how to stay afloat, when it washes over.

Be kind to those who are sailing this tempestuous sea, they have a mission ahead of them, and a daily shock to the system each time they realise; they are gone, again.

You don't just lose someone once, you lose them everyday, for a lifetime.

Because you love them every day, for a lifetime. ❤️

✍️ Donna Ashworth
Artist: Lisa Aisato

03/18/2024

x

02/15/2024

HEART CHAKRA: A FIRST PRACTICE
I want to share with you a practice - to begin. You don't need a retreat for this, and when we come together, you can share your experience with this practice. Use it, when things get hard in your head and heart and life:
1- identify the emotion (name it) that you are having. (PM me for a list of emotions if you need).
2- find where it exists in the body. Put your hand on that place.
3- breathe in and out consciously in that place of tension and recognize the challenge of this difficult experience and emotion for example "This is hard".
4- recognize to yourself that others have or are having this experience "Other people have had this hard experience. I am not alone",
5- ask yourself what you may need in this moment to feel better (PM me for a list of needs if you want)

SELF COMPASSION is the focus of the Heart Chakra retreat. Once we learn it for ourselves, we are better able to share it. We cannot give to others what we don't have for ourselves.

You can use a journal for this practice.

It is called a PRACTICE for a reason: Keep working on it, it will come easier and more naturally.

We seek Progress - not perfection.

Om shanti.
Josee

02/07/2024

Charlie Mackesy ❤️❤️
(Pinterest)

https://amzn.to/2O1aaDN
https://amzn.to/2O8lwWi

01/11/2024

https://youtu.be/quZ-WZa-fbI?si=onD9-zzKHqfCKbFL

This amazing view of the world....from Michele Kingston down under :-)
We are connecting the world one beautiful thing at a time :-)

A little clip about our future planet,we need to take care of it for the new children....the star children are here!

12/21/2023

Sometimes I wake up sad. For no reason. And I know, as soon as my eyes open, that today, I am sad. I can choose positive thoughts, have a cold shower, run on the treadmill, but I will still be sad.

And counting my blessings, on days like this, makes me even more sad.
How lucky I am and how tenuous that is. How others are not so blessed and how unfair that is.

And I’ve learned to accept these little bouts of sad, or soul-flu, as I have now come to call them. They are not within my control, this I know. I don’t fear them anymore, they can’t harm me - because I don’t ‘become’ them.

I just let my ‘sad’ in the door and say “hey, how are you, take a seat…but don’t stay too long please, I have things to do.”

And I rumble along in my mental kitchen, making tea, emptying the dishwasher. And my sad sits there and just exists, without judgement or acrimony. Just acceptance.

I know she is many things, you see, other than just sad. She is love, she is grief. She is fear, she is weariness and worry, and really, she puts up with rather a lot in this life.

So I give her a cup for tea. And listen to her sorrows, until she’s ready to go back outside again.

Sometimes I wake up and sad has already let herself in. But I don’t scold her for that. She’ll go soon. And really, she deserves a warm place, every now and again, this world gives her much to bear.

Sometimes, I wake up sad.
For no reason.
And that’s okay.

P.S: when sad is visiting, I look like exactly the same. You would never know I’m hosting her…unless you ask.

Written so eloquently by the amazing Donna Ashworth ❤️
linktr.ee/donnaashworth
www.donnaashworth.com
🔆The Sisterhood of SHE

Beautiful Art: Bettina Baldassari Bettina Baldassari - BettiPigna ❤️

12/20/2023

I’m leaving you here. For one night I want to forget. And maybe smile.

Grief: You can’t leave me behind.

I’m tired. You are heavy. Sometimes you are just too much to bear.

Grief: I am a part of you now.

I can shut the door. Forget you for a few hours.

Grief. That is not how this works. I will always catch up to you.

Why are you doing this to me? It’s not fair. You are much too dark to take everywhere I go.

Grief: Maybe we need another way to think about this.

How would there be any other way?

Grief: Well..for starters, I am only here because of love.

No. You are here because my loved one died.

Grief: But you still feel love.

Always.

Grief: You just renamed me. That is why I am here. I am Love always. You can’t just leave me. I’m a part of you.

But it hurts so much. No more phone calls. Hugs... Plans. Empty chairs. Holidays… I can’t take this pain.

Grief. Running from me only makes it harder for you. Sit with me. I am only the love you still have to give. So feel it. Give some of it to yourself. Carry me with you. Picture me as only love and light.

So why have I been so afraid of you?

Grief. Because reality is hard to accept. This is the hardest thing to do. It takes time to get used to me. But I am here to help you remember.

I just want to be over this.

Grief: The pain you feel when a memory crosses your mind will someday make you smile. It’s because the longer you carry me with you…the wonderful memories will stay with you too.

So instead of carrying grief…I can think of it as carrying my love?

Grief: light a candle within me. Love isn’t dark. I’m only light. I remain because all your love your person still remains in you. I am love you wish to still give. I cannot be left behind. I carry on with you until the day you reunite.

So hold that light in your hand. And carry that love with you. To the very last of days.

12/10/2023

Hello. A post for a Monday. Hope you’re ok wherever you are.

12/04/2023

Each one of us is alone in the world. It takes great courage to meet the full force of your aloneness. Most of the activity in society is subconsciously designed to quell the voice crying in the wilderness within you. The mystic Thomas a Kempis said that when you go out into the world, you return having lost some of yourself. Until you learn to inhabit your aloneness, the lonely distraction and noise of society will seduce you into false belonging, with which you will only become empty and weary. When you face your aloneness, something begins to happen. Gradually, the sense of bleakness changes into a sense of true belonging. This is a slow and open-ended transition but it is utterly vital in order to come into rhythm with your own individuality. In a sense this is the endless task of finding your true home within your life. It is not narcissistic, for as soon as you rest in the house of your own heart, doors and windows begin to open outwards to the world. No longer on the run from your aloneness, your connections with others become real and creative. You no longer need to covertly scrape affirmation from others or from projects outside yourself. This is slow work; it takes years to bring your mind home.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the book, Eternal Echoes

County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

12/02/2023

While in the tub or shower give this a shot, then imagine everything going down the drain, leaving you fresh and clear.
*even more effective if you're using salts in the tub*

11/29/2023

wednesday focus!