Whole People Whole people live life to the fullest—balancing personal, professional, and community-service commitments—and work productively, with passion and integrity. CRWHE’s approach to renewal and wholeness in education involves creating space for personal identity and integrity to flourish. The rigors of academic life and the projections of others can cause educators to become cut off from their own emotions, beliefs, and values. By participating in retreats, dialogue groups, and other renewal activities, individuals rediscover and affirm all of who they are. Whole people—renewed in heart, mind, and spirit—are more effective in their work and more authentic in their relationships with students and colleagues. Renewal activities provide opportunities for contemplation and solitude, away from everyday pressures and distractions. Poetry and stories from various wisdom traditions, as well as movement and the arts media, are explored in silence and in dialogue with others who listen deeply, without judgment. Retreats and retreat series are organized around themes related to renewal and wholeness. Retreats for faculty and staff contemplating retirement and retreats for students are two of the newer offerings created by CRWHE-prepared facilitators.
. . . At the same time, embracing one’s wholeness makes life more demanding—because once you do that, you must live your whole life. Parker J. Palmer
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