Inspiration House » Spiritual Practices http://www.inspirationhouse.org Nurturing Spiritual Vitality for a Just and Sustainable Planet Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:21:25 +0000 en hourly 1 NEW WORKSHOP – An Introduction to the Deep River Within http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/13/new-workshop-an-introduction-to-the-deep-river-within/ http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/13/new-workshop-an-introduction-to-the-deep-river-within/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:56:37 +0000 Carol Hohle http://www.inspirationhouse.org/?p=963 Chicago women – come and nourish your soul.  Experience what a little bit of slowing down can do to bring balance back into your life!  In this workshop you’ll be introduced to the core practices outlined in Abby Seixas’ book, Finding the Deep River Within — A Women’s Guide to Recovering Balance & Meaning in Everyday Life, that nurture a deeper meaning in everyday life.

Workshop Leader, Carol Hohle, MA, is an educator, environmentalist and spiritual activist.  She speaks, leads workshops and retreats on spiritual practices and eco-spirituality.  Carol has taught Deep River classes and been trained by the book’s author, Abby Seixas, to teach courses based on her book.

Sunday, February 12, 2012, 3:00 – 5:30 p.m.

Fee:  $35.

To REGISTER, visit The Awakening Center’s website.  The Awakening Center is located at 3523 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL.

Please note:  In addition to this introductory workshop, Carol will be leading, beginning February 26, a seven-week woman’s group in the art of slowing down at The Awakening Center.  For more information about the woman’s group CLICK HERE.

]]> http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/13/new-workshop-an-introduction-to-the-deep-river-within/feed/ 1 NEW – Art of Slowing Down Group in Chicago http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/13/new-art-of-slowing-down-group-in-chicago/ http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/13/new-art-of-slowing-down-group-in-chicago/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:55:00 +0000 Carol Hohle http://www.inspirationhouse.org/?p=961 Within each of us flows a deep river of creativity, clarity, and contentment.  Sometimes we lose connection to it as the busyness of everyday life pushes in on us and find ourselves going through the motions of life without a sense of balance or meaning.

“Finding the Deep River Within: A woman’s group in the art of slowing down” is a new program being offered at The Awakening Center in Chicago, IL.  Over the course of seven meetings we will experience what slowing down can do to bring balance back into our lives!  With the help of readings and meditative exercises from Abby Seixas’ book, Finding the Deep River Within — A Woman’s Guide to Recovering Balance & Meaning in Everyday Life, along with discussion, creative expression, humor, and each other, we will explore ways to free ourselves from the tyranny of our “to do” lists, and so to rest with in our deeper selves, while embracing the gift of life.

Group Facilitator, Carol Hohle, MA, is an educator, environmentalist and spiritual activist.  She speaks, leads workshops and retreats on spiritual practices and eco-spirituality.  Carol has taught Deep River classes and been trained by the book’s author, Abby Seixas, to teach courses based on her book.

Sunday afternoons, 3:00 – 5:30 pm
Seven classes convening weekly between February 26 – April 15, 2012
February 26; March 4, 11, 18 & 25; April 1 & 15.  (No class on Easter 4/8.)

Fee:  $250.

To REGISTER, visit The Awakening Center’s website. The Awakening Center is located at 3523 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL.

For more information about this group please CONTACT Carol.

]]> http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/13/new-art-of-slowing-down-group-in-chicago/feed/ 0 What Gratitude Looks Like http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/11/what-gratitude-looks-like/ http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/11/what-gratitude-looks-like/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:09:27 +0000 Carol Hohle http://www.inspirationhouse.org/?p=967 This is one of those timeless and timely messages that if we watched everyday and then lived – then we would be truly at peace!

Thank you Louie Schwartzberg for creating this presentation, and thanks to Margaret Imrie for sharing it with Inspiration House.

]]> http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/11/what-gratitude-looks-like/feed/ 0 Relief from stress http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/05/relief-from-stress/ http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/05/relief-from-stress/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:13:51 +0000 Carol Hohle http://www.inspirationhouse.org/?p=951 “For fast-acting relief from stress, try slowing down.”
— Lily Tomlin

]]> http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/05/relief-from-stress/feed/ 0 Listening to the rain http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/05/listening-to-the-rain/ http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/05/listening-to-the-rain/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:58:42 +0000 Carol Hohle http://www.inspirationhouse.org/?p=949 “The rain surrounded the cabin … with a whole world of meaning, of secrecy, of rumor. Think of it: all that speech pouring down, selling nothing, judging nobody, drenching the thick mulch of dead leaves, soaking the trees, filling the gullies and crannies of the wood with water, washing out the places where men have stripped the hillside.

What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone, in the forest, at night, cherished by this wonderful, unintelligible, perfectly innocent speech, the most comforting speech in the world, the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges, and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows!

Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants, the rain. As long as it talks, I am going to listen.” — Thomas Merton from “Rain and the Rhinoceros”

]]> http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/05/listening-to-the-rain/feed/ 0 The High Price of Materialism http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/05/the-high-price-of-materialism/ http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/05/the-high-price-of-materialism/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:19:04 +0000 Carol Hohle http://www.inspirationhouse.org/?p=946 In this short animation from The Center for a New American Dream, psychologist Tim Kasser discusses how America’s culture of consumerism undermines our well-being. When people buy into the ever-present marketing messages that “the good life” is “the goods life,” they not only use up Earth’s limited resources, but they are less happy and less inclined toward helping others.

To learn more about the relationship between materialism and well-being, read this interview with Tim Kasser, “Consumerism, Values, and What Really Matters.”

]]> http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/05/the-high-price-of-materialism/feed/ 0 Breezes from a whole other world http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/02/breezes-from-a-whole-other-world/ http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/02/breezes-from-a-whole-other-world/#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:44:22 +0000 Carol Hohle http://www.inspirationhouse.org/?p=939 “We spend most of our time and energy
in a kind of horizontal thinking.
We move along the surface of things…
but there are times when we stop.
We sit still. We listen,
and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.”
― James Carroll

]]> http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2012/01/02/breezes-from-a-whole-other-world/feed/ 0 S-L-O-W-NESS http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2011/12/20/s-l-o-w-ness/ http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2011/12/20/s-l-o-w-ness/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:17:34 +0000 Carol Hohle http://www.inspirationhouse.org/?p=933 “There is joy to be found in the most minuscule of choice, in the pockets of slowness concealed inside each ordinary day: 10 minutes in the morning in which to write down our dreams, 5 minutes in the late afternoon in which to stand by a window & watch the changing colors of the sunset, another pause before bed for a brief moment of prayer. Such things do not demand an inordinate commitment. From outside, our lives may look much as they have always done. We alone will recognize the small, rejuvenating pleasures…” — Christian McEwen, World Enough & Time

]]> http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2011/12/20/s-l-o-w-ness/feed/ 0 Stillness http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2011/12/19/stillness-4/ http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2011/12/19/stillness-4/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:51:00 +0000 Carol Hohle http://www.inspirationhouse.org/?p=777 In the rush and noise of life,
as you have intervals,
step home within yourself and be still.
Wait upon God, and feel her good presence:
this will carry you evenly through your day’s business.

– William Penn

]]> http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2011/12/19/stillness-4/feed/ 0 Stillness – as a spiritual practice http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2011/12/19/stillness/ http://www.inspirationhouse.org/2011/12/19/stillness/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:00:02 +0000 Carol Hohle http://beta.inspirationhouse.org/?p=198 The holiday season in December is rich with activity and traditions.  Most of us need to wrestle with the abundance — making choices to keep in balance and seeking the original intent of the holidays in order to find and feel meaning.

The spiritual practice of Stillness can be of great help.  It doesn’t require us to make another appointment on our calendar or to drop an activity from our day.  It is a mental attitude, an approach to life that centers and brings us back in balance.

If stillness is an idea you’d like to explore you might like to begin by asking yourself these questions:

  1. What does stillness mean to me?  How do I define it?
  2. What does stillness include?  (listening, openness …)
  3. Where and when am I able to be still?
  4. What are the benefits from being still?  How can stillness be of benefit to more than my own coping mechanism … how can it play out in the world?
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