Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold or other precious metals. The object is more beautiful and valuable after being put back together. The Franciscan Spirituality Center (Prairiewoods’ sister center in La Crosse, Wisconsin) has hosted multiple retreats focused on this practice, and we are able to bring this retreat to…
According to Columbia University researcher and psychologist Dr. Lisa Miller, an Awakened Brain is an aware brain. It is available for new opportunities, surprises or even new information that turns our heads. She writes, “We are not alone. Life is always reaching out to us. Through integrated awareness, we’re available to see, feel, and know life’s hand…
After the festive month of December, January often feels like a slog. The fun is over, and now we’re left with just winter. True, the light is returning, but there are still months before the green time—months of snow, ice, mud, and melt. Culturally, we’re told to start anew at the New Year, to remake…
As we move into the new year and the light steadily grows, I find myself reflecting on the fullness of life that emerges through connection and balance—within ourselves, with others, and with the natural world. It is a process of embracing the richness of existence: the beauty, the challenges, and the quiet moments that call…
Want to learn more? Join Dr. Lisa Miller in Cedar Rapids or virtually on May 5 or 6 for Spirituality in the 21st Century: The Awakened Brain. Learn more here.
They walk a rustic, sandy footpath toward countless unknowns, flanked by mesquite trees, their branches intertwining overhead. In the searing, dry days of summer these branches can offer life-saving shade from the brutal Sonoran Desert sun for those on this passage paved in uncertainty. Here, near the Mexico/United States border, the Arivaca Creek Trail is…
Join us for the Pathways to Peace: Food as Relationship Retreat Jan. 24–26, 2025. Learn more and register on our website. “What would happen, for example, if we were to start thinking about food as less of a thing and more of a relationship?” —Michael Pollan Peace, as defined by the Earth Charter, is the…
Traversing a Franciscan Hiking Route I’m fortunate enough to work for an employer with a structured (and mandatory) sabbatical policy, so over this past month, I’ve been enjoying the blessing of rest. There’s been plenty of reading, a surprisingly fruitful period of writing, and increased time spent with my family, all without the lingering anxiety…
As we approach the beginning of a new year, I’ve been reflecting on simple actions that might just impact the state of the world. Jeremy Lent, a past speaker at Prairiewoods’ Spirituality in the 21st Century, extended an invitation to do just that! We invite you to engage his Pause for Peace. It’s simple! Stand…
I recently found a collection of nature essays by Thomas Merton called When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature, edited by Kathleen Deignan. The title really caught my attention. How can that be, I asked? The trees talk to me every day. I cannot imagine a world when they say nothing, one where we…