SpiritRest 2017 has come to a close

Post by Rev. Sharon Wylie, worship leader

Friday: Gratitude
Our 2017 SpiritRest Retreat has come to a close. My heart is so, so full.
 
We spent Friday morning together at a two-hour gathering to break our silence, do some processing about the week, and to prepare ourselves—to the extent that we can—for re-entry to the world from which we had retreated.
 
For me, Friday morning was a delightful time of discovery: what had people’s experience been? How were they feeling? I do not work with retreatants as a spiritual director during the week, so I do not get to hear what is happening for them until it is almost time to leave.
 
What a pleasure, then, to learn that retreatants had had a meaningful, powerful, transformative experience at the retreat. All of them would return, and all of them would recommend the experience to others.
 
On a survey we ask people to fill out at the end of the retreat, we ask them how they are feeling at the end of the retreat. Here are excerpts from some of their responses:
 

• Calm and reenergized
  
• Sad to go back, but refreshed and ready
  
• More contemplative, less reactive
  
• Renewed, refreshed, recharged!
  
• Joyfully calm
  
• I have experienced a vibrant joy of just being
  
• Spiritually fulfilled
  
• Relaxed, energized, inspired
  
• I feel like I have not had this much energy for YEARS!
  
• Is it possible to feel energized and tranquil at the same time? My answer today would be yes!

 
One of the things that touched me deeply is hearing how many people appreciated that the week unfolds in a Unitarian Universalist framework. Several of our retreatants had attended similar weeks of deep spiritual practice, but never before with a group that identifies primarily as UU. And that makes SpiritRest uniquely precious.
 
Offering deep spiritual engagement and practice for Unitarian Universalists is the mission of SpiritRest. It is gratifying to know we are hitting the mark, and that people are just as hungry for and appreciative of the experience as we had hoped.
 
(It is also good to know that non-UUs who attend the retreat also have an extremely positive experience, and we do know that!)
 
Many of us are already looking forward to next year’s retreat: August 12-17, 2018. Registration opens February 1. If you are looking for an experience that will support you in your own spiritual reflection, practice, and growth, you might consider coming.
 
Bright blessings, Sharon