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April Salon

April 23, 2002

ENTERING INTO THE SELF

This Salon is about imagining what it would be like to create the immediate Inner Retreat space -- so read with your imagination in full gear.

Introduction: Re-examining the meaning of Retreat

Our March Salon focused on the dual meaning of the word "retreat": to run away from the enemy, or to enter the self for spiritual investigation and silence. This is not just an amusing verbal coincidence. The most common reason why people are inspired to seek out a spiritual retreat is that they are exhausted from hostile or stressful dynamics in their personal world. They indeed want to retreat from their "enemies," symbolic or otherwise, and find comfort by realigning with the tranquility offered by the interior self.

Where do you fit into this description? What motivates you to want to go on a retreat? Recently I had dinner with an old friend whose spiritual practice encourages retreats on a regular basis. Her type of retreat is one of silence, sitting for hours on end clearing all inside distraction. I asked her to describe her interior work, explaining exactly what takes place within her while she sits in silence. Does she enter into "nothingness," for example, and if so, what is that like and how does it benefit her?

BEYOND DISTRACTIONS, THE ART OF JOY

Imagine going on a retreat for the sole (soul) purpose of finding untapped resources of creativity, of energetic potential that is longing to enter physical form, and of magnetic connections that are yearning for animation. Embrace the possibility of discovering the intuitive impulses that are your directives for what to do and where to go next. It is even possible to retreat into your interior for the purpose of finding the humor hidden within your life. Why not?

IMAGING RETREAT SPACE

First essential step: Create a beautiful Inner Retreat space, an image that you can call up instantaneously. You want your space to be uncomplicated, a room that can come instantly to mind in a single breath. It could be a realistic physical place, like a medieval chapel or a garden in bloom, or it could be a place of fantasy that exists only in your mind.

Second essential step: Your intention upon entering your Inner Retreat space is to become energetically outrageous. Here in the privacy of your spirit, you have no limitations, no boundaries, no fears to block your thoughts. Breathe yourself into spiritual dream space. Anything and everything is possible. Don't just visit this perception. Live in it. Breath in it.

Third essential step:

Fourth essential step: Come up with something that makes you laugh.

Fifth essential step:

Sixth essential step:

Seventh essential step:

Now then, as for May's Salon -- I'm still thinking. I haven't decided which of the three ideas I'm tossing around fits in next, so you're just going to have to wait until next month.

As always, I thank you deeply for being a part of my monthly Salon. I am warmly hugging all of you.

With love and may God bless you,
Caroline

P.S. Oh, by the way, have any of you been attacked by this latest flu virus? I have to tell you, it ain't a pleasure cruise. I've been dealing with this thing for almost eight days now -- ugh. During days one through three, this virus held me captive in a New York City hotel room -- what a dismal experience. To amuse myself, I continually ordered room service and ended up eating nothing at all. One night I ordered a 24-ounce steak (something I don't eat), a baked potato, salad, shrimp cocktail, and, for some reason I still can't figure out, a side of cottage cheese. Then I added iced tea and coffee. Forty minutes after I phoned my order into room service, this poor woman arrives at my door maneuvering an overloaded cart with my dinner on it. She said, "My, you must be hungry."

"Nope," I said. "I just needed the company."

I had nothing else to do all day but order room service and lie in bed and channel surf. I ended up watching the most horrible daytime programs. Who are those people "out there" who watch these shows??? Where are they??? What is with the American public that they are entertained by adults throwing chairs at each other on prime time TV? I almost wrote a column begging for some e-mail company as I began to lose my mind somewhere in the midst of the second day. By that time I had listened to the news about forty times, watched six cooking shows, ordered three in-room movies, and read three newspapers. In between I slept and felt sorry for myself. I am convinced, of course, that my getting this virus has absolutely nothing to do with a "negative thought-form." It has to do with the fact that some unkind person sneezed on me on a flight from San Francisco to New York. What is with people that they just sneeze without covering their mouths? Naturally I told him that he was rude, not to mention ill-mannered. By the time he got over the shock of being so directly addressed, I had walked away in desperate search of Bactine or something similar. Even bug spray would have calmed my nerves by that point. Sneezing makes me crazy for some reason -- the image of germs flying through a contained air space gets me every time. Well, enough. You can tell that I am still dealing with having been held in hotel captivity long past my breaking point. My advice to you: avoid any one who sneezes in public.

Love, C

Oxygen Network Renews Caroline’s Contract.
“The Journey” 10 more Shows!
We will keep you updated...

Oxygen Media's "The Journey with Caroline Myss" is currently looking for guests to participate in our next round of shows. Some topics include: Awakening Sexual Passion, Making Peace with Your Body, Motherhood Panic: Career vs. Motherhood, The Turbulent Twenties: How to Handle a Quarter-life Crisis, and Toxic Mother Daughter Relationships. Are you facing problems in any of these areas? Would you like Caroline's help? Please send your name, age, geographical location and story as well as your contact information to myss@oxygen.com

Important:

Coming soon to myss.com… Streaming Audio – Video.
We will be bringing Caroline’s live workshops in their entirety.
Please take a moment to answer the one question regarding what type of internet connection you have.
Take me to the question…