Thursday, June 25, 2009

Day 18: Transition, Transformation, New Aspirations

Last year my dear friend, Kathryn, "re-engaged" from teaching students who are blind and visually impaired in Minnesota. During the summer (in the month of August) of her last 2 years of teaching, she was a steadfast participant in a retreat I facilitated at ARC for educators. I organized the retreat due to my own personal need to revisit my purposes in teaching before the school year got underway in its usual "speed of light" fashion, to "give back" to ARC, and to spend "time apart" in a beautiful and peaceful place. Kathryn's choice to also spend time in retreat with me, gave me a deep sense of support.

After the second retreat and thinking about her upcoming last year in teaching, Kathryn asked me to facilitate a retreat on "transitions" the following June. She had discussed it with Jan, ARC's Director, and already had the week-end on the calendar.

Kathryn and I have this terrific nudging relationship and friendship. Throughout our professional teaching careers, we "nudged" each other forward into professional activities to benefit our students and colleagues and at the same time, challenged our own knowledge and skills in really positive ways. So of course I said yes. So last year I facilitated the retreat with Kathryn's support...it was viewed very positively and Jan invited me back to facilitate the retreat this year.

Today I will be leaving for a week-end at the beloved ARC Retreat Center. This is very timely for me as I continue to manage my own transition. The title of today's blog is the title of the retreat and was my mantra during most of this past year.

This is the description of the retreat:
Transition, Transformation, and New Aspirations—How to use life’s major transitions – marriage, divorce, career change, retirement, among others – to redefine ourselves and shape a future true to your own inner voice. Suggested reading: Writing to Change the World by Mary Pipher. Facilitator Donna McNear returns this year to help open doors to new callings.

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