Good morning from Paris, a bit « late » again. And again, thank you all for your participation in this retreat, each in your own way. And thank you for the many kind birthday wishes you have offered me. Please contribute again today; it’s all so beautiful. (I’ll try to post again tomorrow, too, just so we can have a place for « closure, » as it were.)

It has been a profound and rare pleasure to meet you here this week, to offer my words and receive yours. Now, today, on what is « officially » the final day of our retreat, what might be the appropriate words? I hope you will tell me!

I love that the accidental late posting of my words yesterday, with only the image appearing for hours, led to so many different reactions and interpretations. How wonderful! I could never have planned that! That’s life, as we say: never knowing what will arise, even when we think we know, and never knowing what will arise from what has arisen… I love to remember what James Joyce said about his writing process: « I’m like a man who trips on something in the street. When I bend down to see what it is, I realize that it’s exactly what I was looking for. »

Pay attention today to what you trip on. You never know what you might find.