This holiday, instead of looking for the newest machine, people are finding the gift of a vacation from all machines. Instead of shopping for something bigger or better, people are giving themselves and love ones time away in pursuit of simple peace. This holiday can be the perfect opportunity to open the gift of making a personal retreat.
Yes you can disconnect from holidays as usual and give a present of value that is truly yearned for. A few days of get away time can be life changing when immersed in the essence of what the holidays are really about. Quietude, gratitude, freedom are present and much more. Putting down our schedule and gadgets allows us to pick ourselves up. There is care free time for reflection and just being. Holidays of silent retreat can be appreciating the small things, the sun rise, a long pot of tea or slow cup of coffee. The fire in the fireplace burns away the old for something new, something different. There are inner resources to discover. A personal retreat inspires creativity. New beginnings happen when the heart can relax, breathe, and smile again. Worn nerves are rehabilitated. Passions large and small are reawakened. What better gift than opening our passion for life?
The package people are slipping into a good friend's email is the reservation to unplug in a silent retreat. This holiday season there is another calling. Spirit and soul deserve a hearing. There is plenty to do on back roads in nature and within ourselves. The perfect get away is a visit to the beauty of stillness and being present with all our senses. A silent retreat opens a panorama of many gifts, the many gifts of the moment.
Getting away from our daily story is getting away from the struggles, the worries and desires which are driving our days and often lack of sleep at night. If the driver changes so does the journey! In the restfulness of retreat the daily list of "to do" is put aside. Meanwhile the retreat quiet is like a candle lit bath of peace slowly sinking into muscles and bone. Outer silence helps to find an inner presence of stillness, healing. There is a goldenness of life being remembered. Silence feeds both body and mind. In the meditative atmosphere of retreat, anxiousness gives way to self acceptance and patience. Busy thought softens. Underneath our mental rush is our lightness of being. Mindfulness is slowing down to discover our abundant heart.
Unplugging from the busy life includes unplugging from the judgments and feelings working hard to manage every thing and every one. A few days of simple peace can restore much trust and understanding. Instead of demands pulling on our attention, a vastness is found within. Boundless inner space gives new perspective. There is new capacity for forgiveness as self worth is affirmed. Heartfulness meditation lowers the walls of separateness to a unity words cannot really describe.
Holiday time is all about celebrating. This year can be a life celebration. A retreat is a daily gathering of small joys. Wonder, lightness, humor, and appreciation are filling our basket. Warm accommodations, good food, beautiful nature are all parts of the retreat. Life without hurry is remembered, nurtured, and embraced. The holidays are approaching. What choices are we making? More silence, less inner and outer noise, more simple moments of giving and receiving and the Holidays are filled with the true spirit of love and beauty.
For a retreat near you, Google "silent retreats" or you are welcome to join us at Silent Stay Retreat Home and Hermitage near Napa, California and Assisi, Italy.