Updates for GilChrist COVID practices in 2022
We’re all looking forward to the return of our retreat groups at GilChrist in the new year, alongside our continuing solo retreat guests!
Sacrality Practice: Visualizing Spirituality
Last year, we released “What Does Spirituality Mean to Us? A Study of Spirituality in the US,” a groundbreaking study designed to help us explore what spirituality means to us and how it influences our civic lives. The study revealed that:
Depolarization Is Everyone’s Responsibility
As we approach the end of another tumultuous year, many of us are anticipating reunions and restoration. Looking forward to time with family and friends, we recognize the challenge of our separations and the need for human connection. But as we reunite, there are differences we may be burying. In fact, 45% of our nation’s adults now say that they have stopped talking about politics with others, either in person or online[1]. For good reason, some may argue.
November Practice: Appreciate Where We Come From
It is important for all of us to appreciate where we come from and how that history has really shaped us in ways that we might not understand. —Sonia Sotomayor
Sacrality Practice: Noticing the Silent Lives Around Us
This month, we revisit the practice of connecting with what you find sacred, hoping it continues to be helpful to you as you support others and savor the only moment we really have: the present now.
Sacrality Practice: Front Porch Drawing
When we go through difficult times, it can be helpful to unplug from the rhythms we’re normally used to and introduce some self-reflection. We’ve been demonstrating this more and more thoroughly in our series on practices that tie us closer to the sacred. If you’ve not had a chance to try them out yet, we invite you to review the list.
American democracy is in a partisan death spiral. Here's how we can save it.
Originally published in USA Today July 25, 2021
Love means having the humility to see how much we need to learn from those whose experience of America has been different from our own.
I am persuaded that love is the only practical strategy for saving our democracy.
Sacrality Practice: Play at Work
Play touches and stimulates vitality, awakening the whole person—mind and body, intelligence and creativity, spontaneity and intuition. —Viola Spolin
Do you shy away from “play” as something frivolous--not to be part of your work life? In the video below, Bill Vendley, our senior advisor for world religions, reminds us of the importance of play. This is from someone who dedicated his life's work to resolving conflicts!
Sacrality Practice: Bringing SacredLove to What We Do
It’s easy to forget how impactful the daily, ordinary moments of our lives can be. Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison, Zen teacher, psychotherapist, and president of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care shares what a door person in his building said that moved and reminded him of the impact our most ordinary activities have on others.
StoryCorps Conversations Celebrate Longtime Fetzer Staff
From those who tend Fetzer's physical workplace, library, and mission, we learn of the importance of love, humor, and humility in the work we do together. We found these short clips from some of our longest-serving staff to be delightful and hope you do too! Many thanks to our friends at StoryCorps for this special opportunity.