A Fork-in-the-Road Book for Personal Growth
It started with a newspaper article, of all things.
I live in a small community on a small island, so our weekend paper is small, quaint, charming even, and reading it all the way through on a Saturday morning has become a favorite pastime of mine since moving here.
One Saturday morning, my breath caught when I spotted an article about a women’s retreat in Bar Harbor.
“What? What is it?” my husband wanted to know. “A women’s retreat and I really want to do it,” I told him. And before I had even finished reading the whole article, I had found the retreat page online and sent the hosts a message. I asked if they were local and wanted to get together sometime. One of them said yes and a week later, we met on a trail for a sunset hike and ended up chatting for hours.
“Tell me about the retreat—what’s the agenda like? what will you do with the women who come? I’ve actually been wanting to host a retreat for my readers,” I told her. And she told me about the personal growth marathon she’d been on for years and how it had completely transformed her life, how she had a vision for providing space and guidance for other women who want to grow, and how she and her friend had taken over Yellow House Inn in Bar Harbor and created their first retreat for just that—and that she hoped there would be more retreats in the future, too. (That was Sara, who you met in last week’s email. She’s a big dreamer like us.)
I loved her vision. It was actually so close to my own that it made my head spin a little.
I knew I needed to get myself to her retreat, but in my mind, I recognized my regular objections—I didn’t know how I would be able to take time away from my busy family; I really didn’t have extra money right at that moment; I felt selfish for doing something so extravagant just for myself. But something told me I had to be there.
I signed up a few days later. Then, when October came, I was surprised at how nervous I felt about going to the retreat. “I’ve been to plenty of retreats,” I told myself, “I’ve hosted a million of them for work.” But this felt different.
It felt like a fork-in-the-road moment.
As it turns out, it was.
That retreat marked a change in my life, a significant event I can look back on in my memory, read about in my journals, and point to on my life’s timeline when a lot of things changed both inside and out for me and my family. Every time I run across my original Instagram post from that weekend and the blog I wrote when I started processing all I had learned,
I’m blown away by the magic that happened just because I said yes.
I’m not a crier, especially not in public. But I still tear up thinking about it. Actually, I cried that first night at the retreat welcome dinner—right in the middle of introducing myself, right there in front of everyone. One reason was that I suddenly realized that in all of my caring for everyone else, I hadn’t been caring for myself very well and it felt so incredibly good to be in a safe space full of positive women learning, growing, and getting to know each other. Another reason was that I knew I was seeing one of my biggest dreams happening right in front of me—a retreat space full of women—and I couldn’t ignore how emotional I felt about it.
The book we talked about that weekend was Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by David R. Hawkins.
It’s a book I bought and read on my own after coming home from the retreat and one I’ve picked up several times since.
It’s a powerhouse of a book about recognizing our own negativity and negative patterns and learning how to let them go. It’s meaty and honestly, deep enough to feel like heart surgery is happening in almost every chapter. But if you’re in the market for that sort of thing and happy to take what fits and leave the rest, I do recommend it.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:
“It takes courage and self-honesty to see negativity and smallness in ourselves. . . By accepting it, we can transcend it.”
“It is often beneficial to look at some commonly held beliefs and let go of them right in the beginning, such as: (1) We only deserve things through hard word, struggle, sacrifice, & effort;
(2) Suffering is beneficial and good for us; (3) We don’t get anything for nothing; (4) Things that are very simple aren’t worth much. Letting go of some of these psychological barriers. . . will allow an enjoyment of its effortlessness and ease.”
“Could it be that, beyond the turbulence of the world and our own mind, there is silence? A realm of peace that is always waiting?”
“Letting go of negativity frees up inspiration to create an endless flow of creative ideas.”
“The overall attitudes we hold about another person are influencing that other person’s feelings and attitudes about us whether we express them or not.”
If you read last week’s email, you know that Sara asked me to co-host this year’s retreat with her at Yellow House this October — the Creative Reset Retreat.
And you also know you’re 100% absolutely, enthusiastically invited. (& yes, it still feels like a dream to be able to tell you that)
Last Friday, I found myself back at that same retreat house with tears streaming down my face again as I sat with Sara during our weekly retreat planning meeting and shared the activity I’ve been working on for the opening session. Tears started streaming down her face, too. (& again, since neither one of us are really criers, especially not in front of other people, it meant something.) It was another fork-in-the-road moment for me to realize how powerful personal growth can be with other women.
“Wow. Maybe if we do this a couple of times before October, we won’t cry in front of them,” she said.
I guess we’ll see!
💛
If you’re a woman who wants to. . .
Find creative inspiration and a personal reset
Explore the ocean paths and mountains of Acadia & Bar Harbor
Connect with like-minded women in a small group environment
Journal & paint with watercolors as creative expression
Learn techniques for personal growth
Enjoy a weekend of healthy cuisine & outdoor exploration
Engage in intentional daily practices
Ground, clarify, visualize, rejuvenate, & spark creativity
Make new friends
Create bonds that will last well beyond our time together
Find joy, play, laugh, slow down, & have fun
Soak up the beauty of Maine!