NOVEMBER 2009

Isn’t it amazing where life leads you?

My friend Janet, and I went to Bali in September for a week long Women’s retreat in Ubud. On the plane over, Janet said that I should run a retreat in Perth as it is so needed. I just looked at her and laughed!

By the time we came back 12 days later. I had the name of the retreat and many ideas swimming and formulating in my head. Within 2 weeks of coming back I found the most perfect venue in Chittering Valley Retreat, and so many other things have fallen into place.

I am so excited about this weekend I am planing for May next year. I already have bookings and I can only take 18. Everyone Janet and I speak to about it are very enthusiastic and interested. Janet was right, there is a need.

Women forget how wonderful they are. We get bogged down in all the roles we play and forget about the most important person in all of that, US.

This retreat will give women time to peel back the layers of all the roles, and remember what a wonderful, unique, and strong person they are.

I hope you can join me on this wonderful adventure.

Love,Grace and Gratitude,

Robyn

I am sure you, like me get many emails sent to you. Every now and then one touches a cord in me and resonates at just the right place.

I have been doing a lot of reading and research for the upcoming retreats and this email really fits with the “feel” of the retreat. I thought it needed to be shared.

MAY WE ALL BE COFFEE!

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again. 

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up, She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. 

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word. 

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners.. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.' 

' Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied. 

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg .

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, ' ‘What does it mean, mother?' 

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity:boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they  had changed the water. 

' Which are you?' she asked her daughter. ' When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? 

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? 

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? 

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest  do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? 

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy. 

May we all be COFFEE!!!!!!!

The inaugural retreat

After 7 months of planning, researching and organising the first Fragrant Spirit Women’s Retreat ran over last weekend.

We had 18 wonderful women who came together at Chittering Valley Retreat on Friday afternoon and left much calmer, more focused and for many, feeling quite differently about themselves on Sunday afternoon.

The weather was perfect and the setting serene, you couldn’t help but relax the moment you arrived.

Our bodies were nourished with the most divine vegetarian meals (that we didn’t have to think of, cook or clean up after!)

Friendships were made around the meal table and around the fire with a glass of wine or tea.

I thank all of those who encouraged and supported me in my vision for this retreat, and thank you to the 18 phenomenal women who we part of the first of many more Women’s        Retreats.

Love, Grace and Gratitude

Robyn