Consider these words:  "Without inner peace, it is impossible to have world peace."  attributed to The Dalai Lama.

What can you do these days to find some quiet time?  Wait, don't stop reading!  I'm serious.  How much time are you willing to set aside to increase a sense of wellness in your life?  We are all so attached to our busy schedules that "time out" may seem like an impossible task.  How can we work something else into our overloaded days?  My answer:  There are many ways to get a minute, an hour, a day or a weekend retreat.

An affirmation often quoted from A Course in Miracles, is:  "I can choose peace, rather than this."  Say it out loud.  How long did that take?  Stop ad think wherever you are at this moment.  I'm not suggesting that you make instant life-changing decisions right now but it is very important that you recognize the power of your thinking.  We spin into chaos on some days, and it can become habit.  Many of us are quite good at responding to chaos.  But it takes a long-term toll on our health. 

We must learn the life-restoring technique of retreat.  The peace question above gives a momentary retreat.  It's a beginning.  Can you take an hour?  Rest your eyes, or take a walk in a beautiful environment.  Notice small things:  a bird hopping, a leaf falling, the shape of clouds or stars that you have not looked up to see in many days.

Wellness experts say that a full day to yourself is not "luxury."  It is an important means to regain your personal balance in the world.  And then, a weekend retreat, well...we will visit that next time.

Until Next Time:  Take good care of yourself so that you will be ready to do some caretaking of others.  Reaching out from emptiness does not benefit anyone.  But reaching out from awareness can change the world.  Here's a quote from a SARK calendar which I have posted at the top of my computer screen:

                                   "Your creativity is an immense force that is inside every cell of you.

                           The value of that is immeasurable.  Your creativity in action is so needed

                            by our world and the people in it." 

                                                                      BE WELL !! 

                                                                                               Barbara Carnal and The Patchwork Family(R)

                                                                                               www.patchworkfamily.com