Reflections On My Quarterly Retreat

As promised, I finished my two week “At Home” Second Quarter Retreat and want to share what I learned.

Despite my best laid plans, life still interfered. I intentionally tried to get all the loose ends that seem to dangle endlessly wrapped up and put away, yet there still were some danglers, like a detour home from grocery shopping to meet the garage repairman, or an old friend calling and needing to talk about her about a family issue she was having. And I still had to make one more run to Trader Joe’s to get sour dough bread, the closest memory to California’s sour dough bread I can find, and a breakfast treat.

No big events, no disasters, just interruptions to the flow I had planned. I accepted and took care of items that popped up rather than whining about them. Thus, I finished the three danglers, then moved on happily with a smile.

I beditated every morning and evening, finishing the last half of a 30-day meditation challenge, and did a second morning meditation every day reminding myself of one of my favorite Mantra’s, Slow-Flow-Let it go.

For lunch and dinner, I added some new dishes. Treats I’ve been wanting to try but never seemed to have the time to make, and cooking under pressure isn’t fun or relaxing.

Having pre-shopped for the retreat, I had the ingredients I needed. I’ve often purchased Poke Bowls at Wegmans which make a great meal or two on the run. But I wanted to try making my own. This was part of my plan, so I had a vegetable bin full of fresh veggies ready to chop and place in my bowl. I found some new dressing recipes with ginger, soy sauce, honey and lemon and whipped up some luscious chicken and shrimp Poke bowls.

And because I wasn’t running here and there fulfilling interruptions and obligations, I discovered having time to prep and try new recipes rekindled my love of cooking.

Near the end of week one, my paints were still dry as they sat ready, patiently calling me every time I walked past the room. This painting I had begun in February from Tamara Laporte’s Willowing website, called the Magical Fairy Godmother was challenging as painting faces can be difficult for me. I finally sat down one morning right after breakfast and fiddled around with the face and while drying, I worked on her lovely purple and blue coat and the indigo and purple background. I lost track of time, immersed in the painting, the creative process, and didn’t worry about not getting it done perfect. The paint flowed along with the time and when I went to clean my brushes while the painting dried a bit, I noticed it was lunchtime. Now, that’s getting in the flow! What a pleasure.

I finished reading a book and began another and I worked on my writing class and the next book I plan to publish. Some mornings I drifted from 5:00 am to almost 8:00 am, still in my PJ’s, enjoying coffee, breakfast, meditating, journaling, daydreaming and soon realized I should probably get changed because lunch was not far away.

The second week flowed without thinking about flowing and filled with quiet, flowing from one thing to another. No stress, no worries, no have-to’s, just peace and quiet, drifting through the days and ended when a friend of mine and I treated ourselves to a fancy dinner out.

So, what did I learn?

Meditation before getting out of bed is a true luxury as are the dark quiet sacred mornings sipping coffee, writing my Morning Pages, all without the pressure of “Hurry up, you have to be…somewhere.” No interruptions, nowhere I had to go and nothing I had to do. A true gift to myself.

I didn’t have to work at slowing down, because I started my retreat with the Mantra, Slow-Flow-Let it Go.” After a day or two of repeating my Mantra, my body naturally followed.

I learned I enjoy my own company, drifting to painting, taking a walk, no agenda, no have to’s, no musts, and I was inspired by my joy at cooking and painting again which had been lost during my Caregiving years.

I felt a contentment, happy in my own skin, even found myself often smiling for no reason at all. And this week I am enjoying the rain, the loose ends piling up on my desk, ready to make the rest of this Second Quarter a success and jotting down some notes to get ready for the upcoming Quarter Three: July, August, September. Keep flowing and if you need any ideas on how to set up your Quarterly Plans, drop me an email and I’ll be happy to help with some ideas.