Setting our intention for 2008

Hi everyone!

So I just got back from a 'service' retreat up at Foxhollow. Aside
from having a newfound appreciation and deep respect for the 'process'
it takes to feed everyone and put it all together, I also deeply
appreciate the experience of the authentic collectives intention that
swept me away.

Just being with the folks up there showed me what it is really like to
be a part of the bigger picture and I see that context and intention
is everything, just like Andrew always says.

We were instructed to really focus when we were with the food. To
notice not only the colors, textures and smells of the foods but also
the energies that we brought to the process. On numerous occasions I
was reminded to slow down, stop talking about personal things, and
pace myself. When we did this all together, the results really did
show a difference,in so many ways.

I got to talk to beautiful people whom shared transparently everything
that they had experienced visiting and living up at Foxhollow. The
perspectives were really great!. For instance there was a beautiful
young women basically raised there by her parents (and the many others
who shared in that same process). She told me all the highs and lows
of being a kid at Foxhollow. What it was like to be with Andrew. What
it was like to realize that her parents had realized something more
important than even her and the countless times she had to wait,
sometimes hours for them because they were detained with 'practice and
engagement'. She did say that she is happy that although she naturally
rebelled at that developmental stage that we all do, she feels that
she has come full circle and that she on her own wants to be a part of
this great 'process' unfolding. I thanked for sharing so openly with
me all she had. Shes quite the incredible young woman. Very real!.
And so it was like that with everyone. Young and old alike.

I had another experience that was a humbling and eye opening, that I
suppose I should share with you all. (My ego right now is screaming at
me but I'm ignoring it).
Being behind the scenes we got to be around the many people who work
there and a lot of them are men. Beautiful men. I never really noticed
how beautiful till this weekend. Of course they are. They have a
common goal, they are transparent, they are intelligent and they look
good. Of course, being a single, deeply conditioned, woman, I
naturally noticed this. The 'Queens girl ' in me blurted out,on
numerous occasions, something about how 'fine' they were and
fortunately my girl, Kim, set me straight. She pointed out that what I
was saying 'put out' there something that was unwholesome. That we need
to as women, whom are all the same, to start to change and create new
ways of being together, with men,that are representative of what we
know now as something higher and stay true to that. Afterward feeling
very ashamed, I certainly do see what she said as truth and how I
mis-represented myself. My true self. I'm not focussed on men. Im
focused on 'truth' and thats much more important.

The coolest thing that happened, was that I was feeling a bit removed
from the 'real retreat'. As I said so, to one of my new friends,(whom
was giving me sneak post views of the engagement that was going on in
the meditation hall with Andrew) it became apparent to her and I that
all the issues and stuff that was going on in my service retreat was
actually being spoken about and possibly happening within the same
'force field'!! of her retreat!
People were asking the same questions about 'relationships' , and there
was identical things happening. Andrew apparently spoke regarding how
women and all of us in general should be less caddy and less 'know it
all' and more real towards one another especially there at Foxhollow.
How we discover that things change when we do this.
It was true! And happening right there in that collective force field.
I certainly felt it. Even though I was dead tired and sore all over my
body, I was able to go out after a long day in the kitchen and see
Andrew and his great band of musicians play their music. I felt that
energy all the way and back to my room as a highly palpable and
energetic vibrational force that kept me meditating instead of
sleeping. I even kept that energy all through the New Years Eve event
at Alex Grey's and it was inspiring to watch Andrew and all of us
partying and dancing and joyful all night long.
So lets keep that intention and clarity of vision that we all have to
make not only the New Year but every day a new, wonderful expression
of what Andrew has taught us as the Authentic self.
Love to everyone!,
Nancy