Last week I spent 3 days doing nothing.
Well, it wasn't exactly nothing.
I spent 3 days asking myself, "what do I want to do now?"
Sometimes my answer was, "nothing."
And sometimes my answer was, "let's walk," or "let's eat."
So who was I asking?
I was asking the inner me.
My intuition.
My divine most inner voice.
This voice is always there for you and for me, but the noise of the world tends to dampen the volume on a daily basis. You can get disconnected from this inner wise-woman over time unless you mindfully choose to:
PAUSE --> ASK --> LISTEN --> TRUST --> ACT
Being on retreat helps you to embody the divine feminine by inviting you to take these 5 steps. Stepping into the divine feminine way is all about slowing down and giving yourself breathing space. You don't need to be on a 3 day retreat to do this, but it does feel incredible to give yourself permission to truly step away from life.
The amazing thing is that you can do this in an hour. I started taking solo-retreats 3 years ago and it has completely changed my relationship to my inner wise-woman.
But again, you can learn to do this in your day-to-day life by simply inviting a silence, a pause, a micro-retreat into your day. If you can be in nature, go for it.
Here are 5 ideas to help you get started:
1 - Take a sacred bath with no music, no book, no podcast. Just you.
2 - Take a walk in nature and enjoy everything you see, hear, smell and notice. Again, no distractions. Just walk.
3 - Sit outside in your favorite nature spot (or if it's cold, sit at the window) and just notice what you see and how you feel.
4 - Lay on the grass and stare at the sky. Remember how fun it was to just look at the clouds? It's still pretty magical.
5 - Commit to a Self-Care date each week by putting in on your calendar and defending that time fiercely.
These are just some of the practices I teach in my Divine Self-Care Circle Mastermind. Are you will to make a sacred promise to YOU and begin to slow down enough to hear your inner voice? REPLY here and let me know that you are saying YES to YOU.
A GIFT FOR YOU
Here's a poem I wrote as I sat by the water on my own Self-Care retreat. The words just flowed out as I sat and listened. ENJOY:
Sitting at the beach
Cold water at my feet
Yoga for the sun
blessing the water
offering it all to Divine.
This is such a blessing
Water is a blessing
the sound, the feel, the cool, the grounding.
the cleanse.
This is sacred land
This is sacred time
This is sacred
I AM sacred
I am Divine
I am the man down the way praying at the waters edge
I am the seals that came to offer Divine presence
I am the setting sun
I am the sand
I am the cool breeze
I am the warmth of a million years of sunlight.
I am the rough shell
I am the smooth stone
I am the child laughing on the playground
I am the man healing his body in sacred waters.
I am the towel underneath me
I am the mountains in the distance
I am the gravity pulling me to the magnetic earth core
I am the Divine light pouring into my crown
I am the driftwood
I am the bird
I am mystic
I am mother
I am bird song
I am daughter
I am ancient
I am newborn
I am joy
I am grief
I am celebration
I am silence
I am loved
I am guided
I am pen and paper
I am stickiness
I am flow
I am sky
I am earth
I am angel wings
I am lava rock
burning
I am listening to it all
I am distracted
I am I am I AM
I AM. And so are you.
Blessings on your journey.
~Elena