I think I have heard from at least three people this week on the topic of retreats. People are feeling called. But they want to “go”. There is something pushing from the outside, asking us all to GO within. Longing for a location is holding people back.
The water is my chosen retreat location. When I have the umph to travel, I go to rivers, lakes or oceans. A shower will do the trick in a pinch. Sometimes, with the apparatus involved in my daily life, there are days without a shower. If you are working with a gratitude list, remember to value that you can take a bath or shower. Some of us cannot. It is a luxury. Sponge baths do nothing for my soul (or my hair).
Everyone has somewhere or something that assists in the connection to Spirit. But improvising is much better than neglecting the call.
I can improvise with yard work, because being in nature works for me too. I can also travel to local water features. We have a lot of beaches, and even McCollum Park has the beautiful sounds and sights of the creek, just minutes from home.
Beyond finding a location is intention… and follow through. This may be more difficult than getting beyond the wish to retreat. It must become a priority.
Although it makes me feel busy, and chemotherapy is already a full time occupation, I signed up for a couple of “events” online that create the container for “retreat”. One came through Starfeather’s Meetup groups (searchable with her first name on the Meetup site). It is a weekly group with closed participants, and holds me in a space of eight weeks of intention.
Another is an eleven day event through Amber Kuileimailani, in her Woman Unleashed programming. It holds me to daily introspection, intention, and soul searching. This one is called Soul Success Initiations. I think I paid $22 for it. Money, or lack there of, does not need to define your retreat either.
The two messages are working well together! Fused. Merged. All elements of retreat.
The hardest part of the inner journey is quieting the outer world. When we cannot escape our roommates, we have to figure out how to create the elements of escape WITH them, or at least while embracing their presence.
A daily walk, or an hour behind a closed door, or just an early morning time of focus can work. Amber’s program is at 6am Pacific time; no one is up (and it is recorded for people who need alternate timing). With Starfeather’s group, we also meet on zoom, but I take my computer behind closed doors.
Retreat. The universe is asking for it. Your soul is calling. Find a way.
micheleplumbstowell.org 