Retreat- (noun) a place of refuge, seclusion, or privacy:

So I keep having this recurring fantasy– I’m in a small cottage at the top of a mountain in a very wooded area.  There’s no one around for miles; just trees, birds, fresh air and cool breezes.  The refrigerator is stocked with lots of fruit and vegetables and other healthy foods and there’s an endless supply of coffee.  There’s no around but my dog, Trixie.  No TV, no phone, NO INTERNET.  Just my journal and the books I’m currently reading at the moment.  The Circle By Laura Day, Loving What Is By Byron Katie, Buddha’s Brain By Rick Hanson.

This wanting to step away from daily life, comes up every couple of years for me.  But it’s more than just a wanting–it’s a deep craving.  A craving that I know is important to answer.  The last time I had it was when I was still working at my marketing job.  I needed desperately to tune into myself and get away from all the outer noise so that I could tune in to the still, small, voice inside.  I wanted to get away to a place where I could move so slowly that I felt myself come to a stop. I had been craving that sort of thing for years and in 2009 I was finally able to take such a trip.  It was glorious and it changed my life.

Now that I am working from home and setting my own schedule, it has a different feeling.  This time it’s about consciously choosing to expand my inner life.  To go inside, to really retreat.  An inner retreat if you will.

I want to go on a retreat with myself by myself to myself.

I want to meet myself where I am, to explore the emotional terrain of where it is I want to go with my life.  I want to know what resistance is there and I want to find out what parts of me that resistance is protecting.  I want to meet the raw, under developed parts of myself, the parts that are stuck in dysfunctional childhood patterns.  I want to get even closer to my impulses and instincts, my rhythms, and my deep needs.  But most of all I want to find out what can make the journey to my chosen destination even better than the destination itself.

In the past, I would have just kept talking about how much I wanted and needed to do something like this but I would allowed my lack of resources to discourage me from making it happen.

Because I’m putting everything I have financially into the creation of a coaching product and the launch of my new website, there are $0 available for something like this, so I’m not sure how I it’s going to work.  What I am sure about is that this retreat will do me a world of good and it will improve my life and my work.  I am trusting that putting out the intention, asking for help, and being open to whatever form that help may take will be enough to make this a reality.  Also I’m giving thanks for the perfect scenario showing up and letting go.

Maybe you know someone who has a house or cabin that is drivable distance to NYC that they’re not using during the week ( I’m just looking for 4- 5 weekdays) and would like to barter for a month’s worth of life or career coaching.  Maybe you know a place that fits these criteria that is dirt cheap.

Maybe you have a place that you would like to lend me and we could barter???

So dear readers, I’d love to hear from you.  If you have suggestions regarding my retreat please post them here.  If you have a story about one of your own getaways to a deeper place in yourself, you can also post it here.  I’ll have you know that a trip like this would have been my version of hell just four years ago.  At that time all I wanted to do was escape from myself.  Boy how things have changed.