SNOWED IN...

Quick post (and thoughts on climate crises) from my retreat center

Hello Friends —

I am going to start sharing shorter posts here—the kind of short bursts of insight or inspiration, with images, that I usually share on social media. As many of you know, things are shifting quite dramatically in the social media realm, and I am not sure I want to remain connected to a platform like Meta, which does not have pure motivation at its core. We need to stay mindful of the energy we are transmitting at all times, and I want to stay aligned with an energy that comes from a place of truth.

I’ll share these shorter posts on the sub-newletter “INNER NECESSITIES.”

INNER NECESSITIES is a reader-supported publication. If you have the means and you value this work, I’d be so grateful if you’d consider becoming a paid subscriber. This will help me sustain these offerings and continue writing.

1/22/25, posted from a tiny rustic retreat center in South Carolina:

I’ve literally been snowed in to my retreat cabin because we got about 7 inches of snow in South Carolina, and apparently there is only one snow plow and the entire county. And the center where I’m staying doesn’t have plows or shovels or snowblowers or salt to clear the pathways for us to walk around or drive. I’m not complaining… I’m just illustrating that snow is a rare occurrence in the south, but due to climate change, suddenly we are facing freezing temperatures and unexpected blizzards. The center is delightfully rustic, and there is no Wi-Fi and barely any cell service, which is one of the many reasons I love to take retreats there. And I spent the entire day yesterday sitting in front of an old-fashioned gas heater, waiting to figure out when the roads would be safe enough for me to leave. (The roads haven’t been plowed yet because of aforementioned lack of plows). I also had to wrap my socked feet in plastic wrap because I don’t have waterproof snow boots with me (I left those up north, which is where one usually needs them,) and every time I have to walk out to the bathhouse through the snow my shoes gets soaked.

Again, I’m not complaining—nor am I discounting the hardships of those who faced the fires in LA or the floods in Asheville or the wars everywhere—but the experience got me thinking about hardships, and my ancestors who endured the great depression, and hearing stories about people having to wrap their feet in extra layers of newspaper for a sort of warmth if they had holes in their shoes, and I think about this new regime consisting of misguided billionaires who are serving the needs of other misguided billionaires and I wonder who is going to take care of the poor as the winters get colder and the summers get hotter.

And of course that is our job: to take care of one another. And it is the job of the divine ones to guide us. And usually the most efficient way to connect with divine guidance is not to worry but to trust. And so as the sun rises I wrap my feet in these weird plastic raiments and prepare to step into this cold unknown, I hope I can find a way to be of benefit, moment by moment.

#retreat #climatechange #retreat #meditation #contemplation