Imagine this scene. There is the beautiful beach. You can see it. But there are bars and a screen between you and the beach. How do you get there? This is a familiar position in my life. I can see or feel where I want to be. But, I am not clear HOW to get there.

Detoxing my Soul has been a similar puzzle. After I retired I was full of regrets and angers. I could feel how unhealthy they were. I knew I wanted to be peaceful, calm and serene. But, I had no idea HOW that state was to be had.

I was fortunate. A good friend invited me to go with her to Snowmass — a Benedictine Retreat Center in Colorado’s mountains. I went . . . with only a little experience in the stillness and silence of Centering Prayer. As Father Keating explained it: as we sit in silence (for 30 minutes at a time) we put ourselves in God’s Loving Presence and release all thoughts from our Very Busy Brains. One at a time we turn from them and return to our Sacred Word.

While we do that the Holy Spirit goes with us on an Archeological Dig. Some memories are released back into the dust . . . others are placed in God’s care. And as we continue day after day our perspectives slow shift.

God brought compassion into my heart. Compassion for those I blamed. Compassion for myself who had not know what to do or say. Compassion and understanding as to why things had happened. Judgments were loosened. My heart was softened. And very slowly my Heart and Understanding were expanded.

I think this Silent Retreat was my first major encounter with how my Soul might be helped to detox — to release toxic regrets, toxic judgments, toxic anger. I returned home healthier. I did not experience the Major Illness that I “felt” was approaching.