Hello there,
I hope this message finds you well.
I have a few things to share with you. First is news of our up-coming retreat from 31st July to 3rd August. Second, I am very excited to say, is the first of our Notes on Living interview series. And finally, I wanted to share some of my own reflections from recent weeks. I hope you enjoy.
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Weekend Workshop – July/August 2026
Living Well in Unwell Times
Our next workshop will take place from Friday 31st July to Monday 3rd August. Guests will once again be hosted in the Slieve Aughty Centre, with a daily programme in The Happy Pig.
This workshop is designed to offer space for open and honest conversations about the world we live in, and to explore how we can respond to the social and ecological challenges we face.
As with previous retreats, the weekend prioritises reconnecting with ourselves, others and the world around us, so that we can identify the actions we wish to take from a grounded, compassionate and courageous place.
Guided meditations and our tailored yoga programme will help participants to slow down, while the digital detox will support deep rest and reflection.
Full details and booking information are available here: https://anradh.ie/weekend-workshop-julyaugust-2026/
Feedback from past retreats:
“The retreat really helped me to find some clarity around the life I want to live and how to go about changing that.”
Notes on Living
Grief, acceptance and being comfortable alone.
A conversation with Mark Harte
We live in a world that idolises wealth and celebrity, often irrespective of the character or values held by those individuals. With these interviews I want to profile people who I think are worthy of our admiration – wonderful people, with good values, who through their actions, big and small, make the world, and the lives of the people they meet, better.
Anyone who has met Mark Harte will understand why he fits that description. A warm, kind person, Mark’s openness and honesty gives others permission to be just as they are. He listens patiently and without judgement, creating a space that few of us give even to ourselves. Mark’s kindness towards the experience of others has no doubt been reinforced by his own experience of personal loss. In our conversation, he speaks about the death of his sister Michaela, in 2011, at the age of just 27.
Marie-Therese:
One of the things I most admire about you is that you always seem to see the good in people. I’m interested in what you think brings out the best in people?
Mark:
The first thing that comes to mind is that people have to be themselves in life. That’s all I ever try to do. We have to accept that we are human and that we all have faults and imperfections. I think if we accept that other people have faults and failings the same as we do, it allows us all to be a bit more real.
Read the full conversation here.
Scarraveen
If you have emailed me recently, you may have noticed that I am not in the most responsive state. My list of apologies is long and yet my energy for sending emails and checking off my to-do list is similar to that of a two-year-old – full of beans one minute, in need of a nap the next.
There are good reasons for that of course, in addition to the simple fact of the matter, and yet I feel frustrated by my body’s somewhat spluttering emergence into the energies of spring and summer.
Normally I have a lot of patience for the ups and downs in my energy. I am well able to cocoon and rest and I enjoy the quiet periods of reading and reflection, but this year, for some reason, I feel like I haven’t fully shaken off the cloak of winter yet and I desperately want to.
Fortunately, after a not unrelated rant about the weather, a friend reminded me of a well-known Kerry term, scarraveen, The word comes from the Irish Garbh Shíon na gCuach, meaning rough weather of the cuckoo and it describes the period of very changeable weather between mid-April and mid-May, when the hints of summer are interspersed with biting winds and cold, grey days. We find comfort in the strangest of places, and there was something in knowing that even the meteorological system hasn’t yet left winter behind, that reassured me.
I may be longing to feel the warm, positive energies of summer but I am not there yet and feeling frustrated at that simple fact, will get me no closer to where I want to be. Ultimately, the best I can do is to accept what is and to explore what is needed in this time.
Unsurprisingly, the first thing that comes to mind is patience – that perennial nugget. The second is something I learned from Mari Kennedy. Mari emphasises the importance of good endings, of closing things out well. It occurs to me now that perhaps before I go forward into the energy I am craving, I need to think on what endings I need to honour from this past season. What have I not shaken off? What do I need to let go of so that I can go forward, supported by – rather than clinging on to – lessons of the past few months?
Invitation for personal reflection
Some of you may already be feeling the bright, warm energies of summer, but for those of you who aren’t or for when you might need it, this is a gentle remind to sit with what is, to give yourself permission to be just as you are, and to ask yourself what is needed before moving forward.
That’s all for now folks. If you have any questions or just want to say hi, I would love to hear from you so drop me an email at marie.therese@anradh.ie
Le gach dea-ghuí,
Marie-Therese
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