The Importance of Everyday Retreats

“You are the silence I turn to
when everything else
gets too loud.
You are my moon
in the middle of the day.”

-Pavana

What do you do to recharge, to get away, to come back to stability when life gets messy?

Do you have a special room in your house that you’ve decorated with calming colors and warm lighting?  Do you drive to the water and go for a swim?  Do you lose yourself in a great book while drinking tea?  Do you go to a yoga class?  Do you go to a sports bar and watch a football game?  Do you go out to brunch with your friends and laugh over omelets?  Do you close the door to your room and meditate or pray or write?

Whether it’s an activity or a physical location, we all need a place to go to return to ourselves.  This is our unique form of meditation, of connecting with the wider world through connecting with ourselves.  It should be non-negotiable event in our calendars if we are to maintain a sense of normalcy in our lives.

Of course, we don’t stay in our happy places forever – we just go there to take care of ourselves and recover.  During that time, we may come to interesting new conclusions about the parts of our daily grind that are essential and the parts that are disposable.  Over time, after many retreats to our happy place, we may learn how to refine our day-to-day lives, so that we don’t spend any more time than necessary on the non-essentials.

Because these retreats are so crucial (whether we realize it or not) in helping us discard the parts of our lives that aren’t useful, it is important to 1) identify for ourselves how we best unwind, and 2) to make time for it regularly.  So, if you have a hard time relaxing or are unsure of what you enjoy doing, make some time to find out what works for you – you will absolutely need it.

If you already have an established way (or ways) of retreating, then make time for it as often as possible.  If your preferred method is reading books, then make time every day to read, even if it’s just a few pages from a book or a single news article.  If your unwinding tool is cooking, then cook a new experimental recipe every few days.  If, on the other hand, you like to unwind by going on vacation (and taking a literal retreat), you probably can’t do that every day.  In that case, prioritize vacations in your life – make sure you budget for them and schedule them in advance, as if they held just as much importance as your job, family, or other obligations.

While some may think that taking time for yourself is frivolous or selfish, it is anything but those things.  In fact, it is absolutely critical to helping you garner the energy and vitality you need to effectively tackle every other part of your life, including your relationships.  So, the more you fill yourself up with the joy of your own retreats, the more of yourself you can give to your loved ones and every other part of your life.

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