大象传媒

From Dave Tomlinson,听writer and Vicar of St Luke鈥檚 Holloway in London:

听

I鈥檓 off to Italy for a week tomorrow, leading a retreat in Umbria 鈥搘ell,

someone鈥檚 got to do it! Retreats are sometimes strict and abstemious;

ours is more of a bad Christian retreat with a swimming pool, a drop or

three of wine, lots of lovely Italian food and sooo much fun!

听

But there鈥檒l be time to be quiet and reflect too. Our theme is 鈥楲isten to

Your Life鈥�, which may sound a little weird, but actually most of us are

not very good at it 鈥� paying attention to what鈥檚 going on in the back our

minds, or with our feelings or relationships. Life鈥檚 a treadmill so we just

keep running.

听

I鈥檓 told the Victorians had slutteries 鈥� shambolic rooms where you

dumped all the stuff you didn鈥檛 want to deal with (my wife would say

that鈥檚 a description of my office!) Most of us have mental or emotional

slutteries too 鈥� parts of our life we choose to hide away even from

ourselves, but which affect our sense of satisfaction with life, and even

our mental health.

听

If I鈥檓 honest, I don鈥檛 find it easy to sort out my office 鈥� much less to

confront my suppressed emotions and thoughts. Denial is the default

policy. Yet despite the pain or effort involved, once I face them, life

becomes simpler, more pleasing.

听

Betty was 104 when she died. At her funeral, her granddaughter told

how she was diagnosed with cancer at 60 and thought her life was over.

But she survived and had what she called her second life. She

apparently decided to stop pretending, especially to herself; she would

stop living the life other people wanted her to live and be who she

wanted to be. 鈥楩rom that time鈥�, her granddaughter said, 鈥楤etty never

stopped growing on the inside. She was tiny but became massive as a

person.'

Right there, I decided Betty was my spiritual role-model.

For me, it鈥檚 not about going on retreat (though try and stop me!); it鈥檚 the

readiness to enter that mental and emotional sluttery鈥�.be brave enough

to see what鈥檚 there, and then do something about it.

Life鈥檚 too short not to live all of it!