To embrace Slippery Joy is to respect and honor our sorrows while recognizing that poignant beauty coexists with grief.

My approach is founded on practices and values common to Benedictine monastics and contemplative poets, offering a way of life that has worked for longer than 1500 years in communities committed to the thriving of every individual.

THE SLIPPERY JOY WAY is a path into whole-y-ness.

With threads of wisdom,

we weave our days

into a tapestry

of beauty and hope. 

Background image credit: Wool & Silk Dutch Tapestry ca.1600 — Table Carpet with Unicorns,

from the public domain collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Slippery Joy Way weaves four important elements…

Practices

Craft

Community

Compassion

…the rhythms we make of our days will shape us. Routines power our lives. Repetition is the potent carrier of transformation. Our community offers gentle, time-tested wisdom-practices that work to bring meaning, joy, and sacred connection into our lives. 
…the process of making things reveals us to ourselves and enriches our communities and society. We work with words, songs, art, and movement to access our inner wisdom, crafting our experiences into art in order to strengthen our felt sense of connection.   
…we will welcome you with the reverence you deserve. All systems of life thrive on diversity, and we will appreciate and admire your uniqueness. While many organizations survive by demanding individuals fit in to support their goals, this community exists to support individuals in being and becoming themselves.  
...we hold careful, nonjudgemental  space for the tending and mending of our wounds and fears. We want you to be seen, heard, and validated so you experience safety and belonging here, to support you in practicing self-compassion. Which takes us back to "practices..."

Studies in liberal arts, creative process, spirituality, embodiment, and an apprenticeship in trauma-sensitive scope of practice for teaching artists with Dr. Shannon Michael Pater (M.A.R., M.Div., Psy.D.) have prepared Tracy Rittmueller to be with pain and suffering when it arises, holding gentle, brave space for unhealed hurts to be witnessed and met with compassion. She does not offer therapy, counseling, or spiritual direction. She has connections and relationships with a diverse roster of trauma-informed providers and will facilitate a referral for professional care, when needed.

By weaving spiritual practices, artful living, a felt sense of inclusive belonging, and a radical acceptance of complexity, we can live with unsolvable issues and still experience our days as meaningful and good.

Step into a circle of love.

Are you in need of a calming oasis? Sign up for my monthly offering of lyrical writings and contemplative practices that will help you notice what is beautiful about your life.