HNY + The Benefits of Retreats
I assume you've been in holiday mode the past week or so, perhaps spending time with family and friends, traveling, or in some way bouncing between other end-of-year opportunities and limitation.
The completion of another year always leaves me with mixed feelings; on the one hand, excitement for the unfolding of a new chapter called 2024, and on the other, a deep desire to slow everything down so I can sort out how I really feel about 2023.
But the holiday time--mine anyway--rarely gives me a chance to do that, so I slide out of the old year and into the new rather sideways, looking left and right, and wondering bemusedly at this annual feeling of unpreparedness. What my spirit longs for is the space and time to reflect, in effect, to retreat from the outer world and focus on my inner experiences.
A retreat is not a rejection of ordinary life, but it is a turning away from the day to day in order to turn toward a different kind of awareness, one in which attention is given to the retreat's intention.
Retreats offer a chance to step out of a normal routine and into a novel one. A retreat is temporary and focused, its purpose to develop, nourish, deepen and/or enrich one's chosen intention, which could focus on yoga, meditation or prayer, personal well being/health, or a creative pursuit like painting or writing.
Retreats provide opportunities for renewal, deeper insights, the honing of valuable skills, as well as rest and rejuvenation. Taken alone or in the company of others of like mind, inner work is given outer space and time. Being in nature, engaging in mindful movement, leaning in to a pre-planned structure of activities and meals, we get to drop the habits that help us cope day to day and allow some new aspect of ourselves to emerge. Wisdom, clarity, confidence, and contentment are common side effects.
Over the years I've taken retreats focused on meditation, painting, and writing. Each experience has deepened the roots of each focus and made my ordinary routines more interesting and dynamic. And many of the people I've met on retreat have remained lifelong friends.
Retreats tend to take place in secluded environments that are different from one's daily surrounding and usually include caring, respectful guidance related to one's chosen focus. While retreats themselves are temporary, from a few days to a week or more, the benefits are long term. Attention to our intentions leads to amplification and expansion. What we focus on grows, strengthens, and blooms.
What are your intentions for 2024? Is one related to writing? Is it specific or general? Do you intend to complete a first or second draft of a particular manuscript, or do you simply intend to carve out more time to write each day, week, or month?
A year is a container of time in which we can choose to make things. The time will pass regardless, but giving attention to our creative intentions does affect the quality of that passing. Life force--vitality-- moves through us morning to night. Do you want some of your vitality to be expressed as creative work? If so, how will you direct your attention this year to support this desire?
A big part of my creative energy and attention went into building a house in 2023. In 2024, I want to inhabit that house so it becomes a creative home. In addition to working with clients and guiding writers toward fulfilling their creative dreams, I intend to put more attention on my own creative writing too. Monthly Saturday Retreats, weekly Writing Together Sessions, and a multi-day live retreat will support this intention.
We're so blessed to be on this planet with time to create with each other, so let's choose make some good things in 2024. Together, alone, on retreat, or in our day to day routines, let's focus attention on our deepest intentions this year.
