Last weekend, we had the pleasure of welcoming Bob Warner and Noel Marshall back to the Oracle Institute as Bob facilitated our final retreat of 2017. Titled Conscious Relationships: Creating Inner Peace During Stressful Times, this retreat is based on Marian Head’s book, Revolutionary Agreements: A Personal Path to Peace on Earth. It focuses on the Revolutionary Agreements, arranged into the three pillars of a good life. These, Bob told us, are agreements primarily with oneself and the important thing to take away from the material is how we can carry these agreements in the world as individuals and live them in our everyday lives.

Pillar one, the Truth pillar, relates to being one’s authentic self. The four Agreements that correspond with this pillar are:
(I agree to…)
- Live my mission
- Speak my truth, with compassion
- Look within when I react
- Keep doing what works and change what doesn’t

Pillar two, the Acceptance pillar, corresponds with accepting others for who they are. The Agreements that fall under this pillar are:
(I agree to…)
- Listen with my heart
- Respect our differences
- Resolve conflicts directly
- Honor our choices

Pillar three, the Gratitude pillar, deals with feeling and expressing gratitude. Its agreements are:
(I agree to…)
- Give and receive thanks
- See the best in myself and others
- Look for blessings in disguise
- Lighten up!

Everyone struggles with at least one of these Agreements, so there is potential for everyone to learn and grow from this sort of workshop, and focusing on these Agreements can be used to improve the relationships in one’s life and the quality of one’s life overall.

One of the first revelations of this workshop was how similar these three pillars are to our motto at the Oracle Institute, “Truth, Love, Light,” which is about seeking and speaking truth, living with love and service to humanity, and spiritual evolution and enlightenment. As the weekend progressed, we became more and more certain that we need to include these Agreements in various capacities in our work. For instance, by integrating them into our community conflict resolution process, adding the class and/or book to the Path of the Peacemaker curriculum (read more about our Paths here), and renewing our intention to begin our meetings with an opportunity for clearing for anyone who may need it.

Not only that, but I can’t wait to use some of the tools and exercises we learned during the retreat at home, especially with my son. Of the many exercises and tools shared, such as a mock debate, homework questions, group discussion, and opportunities to work through personal conflicts or problem areas with oneself or with other members of the group, participants were enabled to discover the essence of our personal missions and of the Agreements themselves so that we can each live those essences in our daily lives.

Bob and Noel have a unique energy about them. It makes creating safe space seem so easy, and they certainly achieved cultivating such a space at this retreat. They did a great job of fostering a space where people felt trusted and supported, which allowed for heartfelt sharing between those in attendance. We witnessed (and participated) as walls came down and people discussed their shadow sides, egos, and insecurities. This was the first time Bob has facilitated this material in the style of a weekend retreat, and he did an amazing job of holding space for us that allowed for powerful, deep communion. Breakthroughs were reached (“major breakthroughs every five minutes,” one participant playfully stated) and tears were shed as guilt was disburdened and relationships improved. The weekend was filled with introspection and epiphany as powerful lessons were shared both by Bob and among those in attendance. And having Marian send the group a heartfelt message at the beginning of the weekend and join us in a video call as we concluded the workshop was yet another touch that took this retreat to another level.

I know those of us at the Oracle Institute will be reflecting on this weekend and the lessons we learned for a long time to come. I certainly feel further empowered to live my personal mission and Oracle’s mission with these resources at my disposal (and I’m quite confident I’m not the only one coming away from this workshop feeling that way). For that I thank Marian and Bob, both of whom have my deepest gratitude.