HOW I TAKE A RETREAT - DAY ONE

No one said going on a retreat is easy, even though the point once you get there is to let go and ease your mind from all its stresses and voices. So after getting all the other aspects of my life cleaned and put away, washed and folded, bought and bagged, gathered and dispersed, I turned my attention to the one aspect I want to focus on for the next five days, which is writing. 

Now, one cannot concentrate on any creative endeavor 24/7, so I have a few worthy distractions when I'm not sitting at the computer or walking the Refresher Course for inspiration.  I like to lay it out - literally.  On the entry room table (i.e., dining, art, desk) at Prairie Pond Woods I have set about all the things I desire to engage in, as well as the cameras, field guides and binoculars ready to grab at a moment's notice for the big surprise awaiting outside. 


 



(As I wrote this post...a loud thump came from the patio door...I grabbed the well-placed camera and caught a juvenile titmouse that had crashed into the glass...after an hour or so it must have flown off...happy ending)

 

  There's my morning meditative reading (this month, The Artist's Rule), my 2012 and 2013 calendars for a little business and pleasure planning, a few poetry books and another book I may or may not read this go-around entitled, On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs by James V. Schall.  Also laid out is a 10-year Phenology Journal I keep (woefully neglected this spring and summer) and lastly, a few files of family genealogy, in case I really need a brain change. 

So, all the chores are done, and if there are more, they can wait.  The plan is to take morning and evening walks (with camera and notepad in hand), do some reading and journaling afterward, then write.  The goal is to continue to work on a compilation of nature poems, essays and prose, accompanied by photos, that I hope to turn into a book.



I invite you along on this 5-day journey with me online or in reality, and encourage you to take a mini-retreat of your own this week.  Maybe just a half-hour everyday to do something you love; something BY YOURSELF that feeds your soul. I would love to read your comments, as well as hear about your own experiences with taking a retreat.  It won't be easy, but as the saying goes, not everybody does the hard, but significant, things in life.