An Excerpt I've always Loved

For many years, Spring and Fall, I lead a yoga retreat to an amazing house In the North-West Catskill Mountains in Upstate NY. Many wonderful students and teachers and healers have been to that house and it is one of the few places that I think about often and miss deeply.  It was called "The Waterfall House" because it was perched on a hill overlooking a waterfall and river, and from the back bedrooms of the house you could hear the water rushing and feel instantly relaxed and nourished and at peace.  Leading weekend yoga retreats there was always fun because there was a lively game room with darts and shuffleboard, a japanese soaking tub for post yoga recovery, and, rumor has it, some other-worldly activity (ahem....ghosts!).  The house was huge and old--the upstairs living room was at least 50 feet long and filled with numerous couches and overstuffed chairs--and the locals say that it used to be an old boarding house for weary travelers with some special comforts to be had (ahem....prostitutes).

Anyway, we had many years of wonderful retreats there and every year I would read this amazing excerpt from The Desiderata which was framed in one of the bathrooms. I always loved it and I think you will too.

This is only the last bit, but I think it's really lovely.

"You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.  And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.  Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.  With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world.  Be careful. Strive to be happy."

--Max Erhmann, 1927 (excerpted from The Desiderata)