I am coming off a very busy stretch and have decided to give myself a retreat to re-group, re-energize and re-commit. I have a little winding down time today with the Thanksgiving holiday get together with family and then for the next 4 days I will be in retreat. I’m not going anywhere, I am creating it at home. This intrigued a client of mine who wanted to know more about how I was structuring it.

The biggest challenge for a worker bee like myself, besides staying out of my office, is to not over structure the retreat and leave plenty of room to follow natural urges. What I am most conscious of as I approach this time is the need to clarify my overall intention, ask for help from spirit and create just enough structure to contain the experience and take me out of my ordinary routines.

I have to admit, I’m still designing. Here is what I have decided on so far. I will do a prayer ceremony with my husband this evening to name my intention and invite in spiritual help and guidance.
I have named the focus of each day in the form of an inquiry. Day one is What Is?, day two is What Matters?, day three is What’s Possible? and day four is What is the Commitment? I will start each day with a ritual – it might be the same and it might vary. Most of retreat time will take place in a special room in our home that we use for journaling and reading and I am giving myself full permission to leave the house – there is a labyrinth in town I just might visit. I also plan to talk with my coach Friday morning and again at the end of the retreat.

As for what to DO while in retreat? Hmm – I will be grappling with that  – I like to "do" and the challenge will be about slowing down and simply listening. I have lots of coaching toys to play with, lots of great books available, I even cleaned up my art studio in case I feel an urge to make art. The doing needs to serve the "being"

I’ll let you know how it goes and would love to hear about your retreat experiences.

Happy thanksgiving to you all!