Saturday, March 20, 2010

Retreat or Advance?

First Day of Spring!

This weekend we are facilitating a spiritual retreat at the Reunion Lake House with 14 people.
Retreats are opportunities for people to come together to be renewed and inspired.
We may not think of the value of retreat in our lives, because we are so invested in advancing.
Perhaps there can be no authentic advance without some form of retreat and renewal.

What is the value of spiritual and inspirational retreat?
Some see it as a “vacation”, and in the truest sense we are called to vacate our old lives.
It is when we step away that we can gain perspective on our own inner vision.
We may miss the forest for the trees when we are immersed in our everyday lives.

Retreats offer the opportunity to commune or communicate with our selves.
When we lose sight of our inner joy, our higher purpose and the meaning in our lives, we need retreat.
Retreats give us the time and space to commune with Source, Essence, the Highest Good.
When we take the time to listen within, to connect with nature, we find inspiration.

Retreats with others may help us reconnect with others and the value of relating.
Relationships with others demonstrate where we are less than genuine, where we are judgmental.
When we have the space to gain perspective on our relationships, we see where we disconnect.
Relating authentically gives us the time to forgive and choose for love, respect and trust.

Retreats also give us the opportunity to review our past.
The value of gaining perspective on our lives is to heal the past with forgiveness and gratitude.
The value of review is the harvest the blessings, learning and gifts received.
The value of relooking at what was is to release the energy it still holds and be free to choose again.

Retreats allow us to pause, reflect and renew.
They present a space of nothingness in which we can really listen within.
They give us time to breathe, to catch up with ourselves and to reclaim the meaning of our lives.
Retreats are a gift of time and space in which we can rethink, recreate and remember what we value.

Sometimes we are moving ahead so fast and unconsciously that we forget to appreciate what we have.
Sometimes we are negligent in taking responsibility for the choices we make and the direction we go.
Sometimes we ignore the important aspects of life with our involvement in the movement itself.
Sometimes we take no time to appreciate the Creator within and simply manage the creations.

Taking time and energy away from what  is the usual and customary gives us clarity about what we want.
We have opportunities to recreate and reclaim what has heart and meaning.
We have the joy of celebrating our ability to have the life we really want.
We find energy and renewal in remembering Who We Are and our real purpose in Being.

Find ways to take retreat in your life.
A good night’s sleep is a way to begin.
Or take a sabbatical one day a week or even one hour a week to just be.
The value of meditation is that it offers a retreat for that period of time.

Love yourself with retreat and renewal!
Loving you and All as One,
Betty Lue