What an amazing response. A couple of weeks ago, we sent out a brochure to those who'd expressed interest in my first-ever "Water Retreat" in Moab Utah...

And it's already sold out.

So we've added a second session of the Water Retreat! Feb. 24 - 28, I'll be leading another small (very small) group to some of my most sacred spots in red- rock country. We'll hike, walk, sing, journal, take pictures, sit in silence, dine at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the entire valley, get a private guided tour of the backcountry of Arches National Park... it's really going to be special. A first-hand experience of the timelessness and beauty of our world... and of life itself.

Want to come along? Click the link below to view the WATER 2008 Brochure. And if you do decide to register, fax it in as soon as you can -- it looks like we're going to quickly fill the second session too.

I am so looking forward to that trip.

Actually, I've been reading a biography about someone ELSE who would love that trip to the canyon lands: Henry Ford. In addition to building one of the most sophisticated and successful manufacturing enterprises in the world, he also loved the outdoors. In fact, he and Thomas Edison, along with a couple of other friends and a coterie of reporters and hangers-on, spent many weeks on wilderness trips together. His friends were amazed at his strength, agility, and boyish enthusiasm even into his seventies, as he challenged his fellow campers to footraces through the woods, as he dared them to climb higher up a tree than he coud... He understood, perhaps innately from his childhood on a farm in Michigan, that communing with nature was a crucial part of a balanced, happy life -- especially a life predominantly spent in a modern city.

In that spirit, in a couple of weeks I'll be traveling to one of my favorite places -- Montana -- to contribute music to the Big Sky Retreat for the sixth time. And afterwards, an important ritual of mine: a few precious days in a cabin in Yellowstone National Park. Hiking amongst the buffalo and elk (not too close, though :-), breathing in the steam from otherworldly bubbling cauldrons of water and mud, standing motionless on the shore of Yellowstone Lake or at the unbelievably gorgeous Artist's Point... what an amazing place. It fills me up every time. (I think Yellowstone might be the next place I lead a retreat... but one thing at a time!)

I hope that wherever you are, you're taking a moment to appreciate the extravagant beauty that's all around us. I'm no expert at that, I admit; as a big-city boy, I can go days without taking a good look at a cloud, a flower, or a bird flying by. (That's one of the reasons my sabbatical was so important for me.) But whenever I do, the effect is predictable: I breathe a little deeper, smile a little bigger, sleep a little better, and remember with just a little more clarity who I am, where I come from, and to what I belong: A big, beautiful, ancient planet (and universe) in which I gracefully and eternally live, and in which, ultimately, no harm can come to me. It's a perfect, priceless place to be, truly a wonderful world, right where I am, and right where you are. Remember with me.

Enjoy your day. And thanks for reading.

Daniel

PS If you're feeling the call, please do join me in Moab in February. It'll be unforgettable, I promise.