Snow day!

With the Royal Roads University campus closed because of mounds of fresh glistening snow and slip-sliding skids of black ice, I’ve been womaning my emails and phone calls from the warmth of home and hearth. Well, no hearth per se; make that a most reliable radiator.

Fewer cars on the road outside my window, fewer voices passing by. The silence is exhilarating and feels almost like a precipice as I lean into its core of expectant wonder. It’s in the peace of days like this that I most hear my heart’s longings. It’s a call to dream, to manifest, to turn inward and somehow fan the flames of alchemy, changing forever the metal of longing into the gold of knowing.

Winter calls for us to go inward and our upcoming courses offer a wonderful bridge to examine your own inner longings.

The Gift of Dreaming: Transforming the Mundane into the Sacred begins Sunday, January 29

Dreams are a valuable and powerful tool. They can be a magical and even mystical experience. When we have a vital, authentic relationship with our dreams, we become more of who we are meant to be. Life takes on a richer sense of meaning as we honour the mystery of our own journey.  Join Dr. Corrinne Allyson for this deep and powerful exploration of your relationship with your dreams.

Finding the Poem in Your Heart's Garden begins Saturday, February 4

Everyone, no matter what their skill level, can learn to write a poem, and you will leave with at least five poems to plant into your life and into the lives of others. Wendy Morton, author of five poetry books and a memoir, will guide you through the process where you'll learn what makes a poem, how you can pick a poem out of your experience, how you can write poems for others and how to become a poet or be a better one.

Meditating to Heal the Heart begins Saturday, February 4
Unconditional friendliness toward oneself is the foundation of all the transformation that arises on the human journey. Neil McKinlay is a meditation instructor and personal coach who will guide you through the various practices that can heal your relationship with yourself. Drawing from the Meditating with the Body® curriculum of Dr. Reginald Ray, you will explore both the body and heart in this deep and insightful program.

Whether snow or sun visited you today, wishing you a night of peaceful dreams.

Tess Wixted
Continuing Studies Program Associate

Visit our website at http://www.royalroads.ca/continuing-studies.

New beginnings everywhere

Sometimes I wonder how much goodness can caress one person in their life? Me for example. I have one of the best jobs in the world. An overstatement? Well, not to me. Every day I look forward to coming to work and help to bring people like Jane Goodall, David Whyte, Robert Bateman and Joanna Macy to people like you. I started at Royal Roads in the Continuing Studies department this past October and dove into the deep underspine of a cresting wave of over 300 courses. Lots of work met me the moment I sat down and just now, in the quiet interlude of winter’s arrival, I can breathe in the work lying ahead in the exhale of a new year.

Coming to Royal Roads has been part and parcel to stepping into a deep abiding of the call to service within me. When the opportunity came to work here I leapt at the chance. Like I said, where else do you get to work with such amazing facilitators, look out at the ocean, walk magnificent gardens and have lunch with peacocks. Wow.

It’s traditional to look back at the year that has passed and examine the path with eyes now far down the road of time. This was my first year in Victoria having moved last December from wee Cortes Island, BC, my home for nearly three years. I smile at the realization of how rich and welcoming Victoria can be to a new arrival. Friends grow into communities, discoveries of secret beaches, favoured farmers’ markets and the riot of azure blue spring camas exalting from Beacon Hill. Coffee houses and music festivals, dragon boat races and busking festivals. Victoria is my home and every day I treasure its embrace of me and my life.

I’m looking forward to bringing you bits of information and inspiration from the warmest spot in Canada. I hope you’ll join me on the journey.

One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things ~ Henry Miller

Tess Wixted

Continuing Studies Associate

http://www.royalroads.ca/continuing-studies