Just another variation on the cycle of life

For the cycle of being-doing is also the cycle of remembering-forgetting. Like Persephone in the myth of Demeter and Persephone, you blossom, you die, you are reborn again and again. You contact the knowledge of who you are and what you need, and then slowly, bib by bit, you forget, eaten up by life again. Then you descend and reconnect with yourself. You come back from a week's retreat full of love for yourself, your life and your relationships, and for a few weeks you meditate every morning, you eat well, you take a few hours once a month to be alone, do yoga, and write in your journal. But then you forget, get lost, lose consciousness. That does not make retreating worthless, nor does it mean you have failed. It is an organic spiralling process, and each time you retreat you retain another piece of knowledge, courage and purpose, slowly honing your life into what you want. It literally takes a lifetime. It is the process of life.

From Jennifer Louden's The Woman's Retreat Book