Yesterday I spent time at a workshop learning about the business of email marketing. There were lots of tips about how often to send out the messages, what was a good format and size, how to include pictures and graphics and how to overcome the ultimate culprit from robbing us of realizing the fruits of our labor. While the workshop organizers were encouraging us to “push send” so that our finished product could be emailed to potential readers, I was trying hard to place a fellow student who looked so familiar to me. I had this sense that I’d spent a great deal of time with her, yet I couldn’t recall her name or our connection. Finally, at the end of the day I couldn’t stand it any longer and approached her with a very uninspired line, “Have we met? You look so familiar but I can’t place you.” To which she replied, “You do too, but I don’t remember your name.” We laughed at the situation, exchanged names and quizzed each other on where we lived and what organizations or circumstances we had in common. Almost simultaneously it clicked. We both have attended the same women’s retreat – a silent retreat for several years.  Stepping over the threshold of Santa Sabina, I always feel as if I’m entering another world. From the fountain’s gentle spray in the courtyard, to the serene silence in the chapel and all the blessed spaces in between, Santa Sabina offers salve to our world-weary bodies and calm to our over-stimulated minds and I am eternally grateful.  In another life Santa Sabina was a convent where women turned their backs on the outside world to reach inside themselves to find a world of spirituality. Today, we come seeking Santa Sabina’s soul-soothing atmosphere to not only reach inside ourselves, take stock of our lives, reflect, refuel, and emerge refreshed, recharged and renewed.

Taking time for ourselves is not always easy, but it is important. If you only have 15 minutes to sit alone with a cup of your favorite beverage in the back yard to breathe in the summer sunshine, then that is wonderful. With this message, I am planting a seed of creating time for you by attending a weekend at Santa Sabina. You may spend time writing, reading, perhaps sitting and dozing in the sun. Or you may spend your time doing all three! I know I have found my creative spark reignited while on retreat. My dear friend Carolyn Foster facilitates the wonderful weekend retreats I have attended at Santa Sabina. Visit her web site at www.creativechoices.net to find out about the one she has coming up September 18-20. You’ll be glad you carved out the time. I know I savor every moment I’m there!