NEWSLETTER December 2017
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Bethel community centre inc. NEWSLETTER December 2017 Hello to all of our friends across the spaces. As we all Celebrate the gift of LOVE at Christmas may we take some time for ‘time out’ simply to walk this time with peace and in harmony with all who touch our lives. I am aware that this can sometimes be a time of stress for many of us. However, maybe this year we may be able to be gentle with ourselves and bring it all down to size. Maybe our gifting can be simpler so that we cut back on financial stress. Is it time to BE THE GIFT in simple ways through our compassion, peace, forgiveness, happiness and kindness? May we leave our HEARTPRINT in the lives of those we love. The things that unite us are so much stronger than those that divide us so we can focus on ALL the good that is in life. It is a time for deep GRATITUDE that we have come to the end of yet another year and we have so much to be grateful for. It is time for each of us to focus on the way in which we have lived our reality…..LOVE and thereby have been a blessing to so many along the way. Most of all this is a time in which I forgive myself perhaps for the times that I have been less that I have wanted, needed and expected myself to be for others and of course I can give the greatest gift to my loved ones by forgiving them for not being what I have wanted, needed and expected them to be for me. No time for carrying resentments etc., which only eat away at me. I am Life here in Bethel has continued to flow. Because some of the units in Oceanside have been Gift purchased for owner occupiers they are no longer in the rental pool. This means that we are restricted to 16 guests for each retreat. We are trusting that this is the way LOVE is walking with us but it sometimes means that people are disappointed that they have to wait an extra few weeks for their turn. You may choose to give a loved one a Healing Life’s Hurts Retreat as a Christmas gift. It will then be a great idea for the recipient to make a booking as soon as possible. The dates for 2018 are in the newsletter. In this newsletter we are offering some reflective readings to enrich you at this time. We offer it with love so take what you like and leave the rest! It may even lead you to take to Love some of the reflections that touch you. Many find this to be of help when needing time of quiet and rest….even if only for 20 minutes. I have included some beautiful thoughts for those of you who have experienced the death of a loved one or the death of a relationship. Christmas is such a painful time for so many and my hope is that the writings included may lead you to peace as you continue to walk a painful time of life. Again….take what you like and leave the rest. BE the It is also a great help to simply stop and sit with Love for ten minutes or so and allow ourselves to FEEL the power of LOVE deep within. This can so often break the cycle of stress and allow us to Gift reconnect with my TRUE SELF... I AM LOVE and therefore I AM GIFT. Thank you to each and all who have blessed us through your giving, enabling us to continue into yet another year. A miracle of love in itself!! Thanks for your Love Energies of your time... your physical and I am financial energies. Love You have left your heart-print in the lives of many. I thank you on their behalf. Know that our love is wrapping each and all as we connect across the spaces. Though each is different - we are ONE – We are LOVE expressing through our uniqueness. This is our reality worth celebrating. Thanks to all for BEING a BLESSING. With Love ….Julie & Bethel Team 1 Living A New Way of Life - Following Healing Life’s Hurts Retreat : Most of our guests who arrive for “Healing Life’s Hurts Retreat’ come because a friend has told them of their experience. Most arrive with feelings of anxiety and even fear. However they know that they are looking for something to enable them to claim some healing of the past pain and discover new ways of living life more freely and happily. As each of our guests arrives we (the team) are deeply aware of the courage that has led them to our doors. We are in awe of the human spirit within - calling each guest beyond - to a new place. We are always excited as we begin because we know that as each guest walks the process of the retreat each will be gifted uniquely beyond their expectations. One of the many gifts of the retreat is the discovery of the presence of the power of LOVE deep within our own heart. It is then that we are able to risk listening to a ‘different voice’. No longer do I need to be controlled by all of the voices of the past living within my head. These voices of so many people of my past who condemned me to guilt: fear: shame: anxiety: perfectionism etc., nagging at me through all my waking hours. The power of finding the ‘voice of love’ deep within my own heart brings me to a new space within which to live with ME in my everyday. Love’s voices of kindness: gentleness: compassion: encouragement: courage: peace and so much more are the voices I begin to hear in the beautiful silence of the retreat. As our guests return home ‘healed and healing’ (no one is zapped in this retreat) they walk in a new awareness for living life in a new way. The energy of love that I AM enables me to begin a new way of listening to and caring for myself. This then leads me to a new way of responding to others. Life will continue and there will be times when I am hurt again. Our guests take with them the new skills in the process of the Mini-Retreat. As each one practices this new way of responding we are always surprised at the gift we receive. There are also times when we will slip back to the old familiar behaviours. New ways of living take time to practice. It is then that we come to Love in dialogue and allow Love to bring us home to ourselves again. This is what leads me to forgive myself for not being who I want – need and expect myself to be for me and for others. Another gift we receive is to come to the realization that I do not need to ‘find peace etc., out there’. The older I become the more I am CLAIMING all the courage: hope: patience: peace: joy: forgiveness; love: that is always WITHIN MY OWN HEART awaiting me to take and use in my everyday. There are times when I forget to ‘’Come home to Love’. However usually after a while I awaken and the power I need is always there awaiting me. Many of our guests who have walked the Healing Retreat come back to deal with current issues that are calling for attention. When they return they commence the retreat at a different place. These guests are always surprised and excited to find that the issues they dealt with in their first retreat no longer hold any energy and they realize that these wounds of the past are ‘healed and healing’. 2 We give more attention to the ways in which we have treated ourselves and often neglected ourselves. While also giving attention to the hurt that others have caused we are able to walk our way into healing. Those who return for another retreat are grateful for the opportunity to come to a deeper connection and awareness of the reality that LOVE is the breath of my living. They are delighted for the opportunity to COME HOME again out of the busyness of life and to simply REST in a new place of peace. Committed Relationships: Through the experience of many over the years we have come to the realization that (wherever possible) it is a powerful experience for couples to come for the same retreat. Each will be in separate units and of course will have no contact during the retreat. Many have told us that the experience of walking through the process of the retreat at the same time gives them wonderful gifts for their own communication etc on their return home. In fact there are some who say that in their opinion it is one of the best things they have done to enrich and refresh their relationship. Some couples who have been experiencing difficulties in their relationship come for the retreat to enable them to come to a place of healing and a new beginning. LOVE certainly does surprise us when we give our best energies to all the retreat offers. Love Changes Everything BEING LOVE The basic quality of our being is love, so what you’re practicing here is not how to love but how to activate it. No one is incapable of love, or he/she wouldn’t exist - afraid of love, maybe, but not incapable of it.