Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Carry On

These are challenging, bewildering times in our democracy, and the midterm election and its aftermath seem to bring still more causes and occasions for heartbreak – and hope. How do we hold it all? How do we deal with people with whom we disagree? And now that the election is over (with the next cycle already beginning), where do we find the hope and motivation to stay engaged, the stamina and courage to carry on, the strength and grace to contribute to the necessary work of healing?

Prairie Oaks Institute invites you to begin 2023 with a new sense of purpose and possibility, and to join us for this timely and life-giving series of mini-retreats: “Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Carry On.”

Guided by experienced Circle of Trust® facilitators Chris Commers, Patricia Hoffman, and Chris Johnson, these Courage & Renewal® gatherings will help us to:
• Name and hold our heartfelt responses to the significant challenges of our time.
• Practice crucial skills and capacities – “habits of the heart” – that help us live into these challenges, and help to make democracy possible.
• Treasure the wisdom of diverse perspectives and the power of open & honest questions.
• Deepen our understanding of what is being asked of us on the way toward a “more perfect union.”
• Be held by a remarkable community of support, inspiration, and positive relationship.

Our gatherings will include a nourishing mix of solitude and silence, conversation, and opportunity for reflective practice (writing, drawing, movement…). They’ll be grounded in your own experience and fueled with insights from poets, scholars, artists, naturalists, musicians, scientists, and various wisdom traditions. (The retreat title, and much of what we’ll do in the sessions, is based on Parker J. Palmer’s book Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit. While it’s not required, if it’s possible for you we encourage you to read it ahead of time, or throughout the series.) Strictly confidential practices of deep listening, discernment, and mutual support will be a key component.