CAKO

CAKO Retreats takes its name from an acronym that stands for Curiosity, Acceptance, Kindness, and Oneness. This represents an orientation toward life that we intend to cultivate through our retreats.

Curiosity

Curiosity is a willingness and desire to truly see and understand. It is inquisitiveness about ourselves, others, and the world. It may arise with excitement or dread, but what matters is choosing to look.

Curious people realize reality is far more complex than we can possibly know and that deeper understanding is both valuable and necessary. Curiosity requires three key qualities:

• Humility: With openness, willingness, and child-like wonder we prioritize truth above just about everything else—including comfort, ego, and being right. We’re open to seeing things as they really are and being corrected by reality.

• Awareness: We are conscious of our lives as they unfold moment-by-moment in the here-and-now.

• Courage: We exercise faith in the idea that knowing the truth of things will ultimately make our lives better, even if it hurts, frightens us, or messes up our little world.

CAKO retreats are an opportunity for participants to practice curiosity by looking deeply inward.

Acceptance is a peaceful embrace of the reality of ourselves, others, and life as it is. It means conforming our lives to what we learn through practicing curiosity and receiving what comes without complaint, resistance, or the need for things to be different. Acceptance calls for quiet strength rooted in patience and humility and shows up in three key ways:

• Openness: We face the reality of ourselves and others without resistance, denial or judgment. We acknowledge our imperfections and release our biases.

• Flexibility: We let go of control, rigid roles, and fixed expectations. We adapt to what is, rather than clinging to what we think should be.

• Receptivity: We meet life with an open heart, welcoming both joy and pain. We receive emotions fully—even grief, sadness, and loss—so we can process them and let them heal.

Acceptance keeps us open to new possibilities and to making the best of our circumstances, no matter how difficult. Instead of seeking escape, we ask: What is this here to teach me?

Acceptance doesn’t mean approval of harm or injustice—it means responding from peace, not reactivity. From that place, action becomes selfless and clear.

CAKO retreats are an opportunity for participants to practice acceptance by peacefully embracing the reality of themselves, others, and life with humility and patience.

Kindness is the choice to promote well-being for ourselves, others, and the world around us through our thoughts, feelings, and actions. At its heart, kindness is a recognition of worth. When we honor another’s value, we affirm our own.

Kindness can extend to people, situations, animals, nature—even objects. It is expressed through:

• Selflessness: With courage and faith that we are okay, we can be free of fear about what will happen to us. Ultimately, kindness is a universal and unqualified feeling of goodness toward everyone and everything always. Kindness is a choice—we choose to extend positive thoughts and feelings of all kinds to people and situations.

• Appreciation of others: We see people clearly and recognizing their value. We recognize others have an inner life that we may not fully know and look past surface judgments to the deeper humanity in others and in ourselves. This openness cultivates empathy, compassion, and the ability to live the Golden Rule.

• Giving: We nourish others through a generous outward flow of lovingkindness. While giving may come naturally, it often requires intention and choice—especially when it’s not easy.

CAKO retreats offer participants a chance to practice kindness by letting go of judgment, recognizing the greatness in others, and generously offering their presence and support.

Oneness is the awareness that all people are bound together in far more ways than we are separate and that we are bound to nature as well. Our human DNA as well as our needs, desires, and emotions are virtually identical; we all are literally made from the same elements of the earth. Thus, our value doesn’t come from either fitting in or being unique, but simply from being.

We all exist within a single, though infinitely complex, system of relationships. What I do affects those around me, and their actions affect others, rippling outward across the world. Oneness invites a perspective shift from “us versus them” to “we.”

Oneness promotes three attitudes:

• Inclusion: We accept that, although each person is unique, all are part of the same human family and deserve dignity, respect and equal participation in social structures. We believe that diversity is strength.

• Equity: We believe that fairness and justice are the right of every individual whoever they may be and wherever they may live. The wellbeing of one is the responsibility of all.

• Generosity: Rather than being in competition with each other and needing to protect our “stuff” we trust the abundance that comes from the synergy of the vast system of humanity and nature. As part of this system, we are not afraid to receive and give freely.

CAKO retreats are an opportunity for participants to practice oneness by seeing, hearing and learning from each other and by continuing the community formed on the retreat after they return home.