Carrying Retreat Home With You
In the Stress and the Spirituality of Uncertainty retreat, we explored the importance of solitude and ritual—tools that help us live inside uncertainty without unraveling.
Here’s one ritual I love: cleaning up after company.
When guests leave, I find myself replaying conversations as I wash dishes, fold bedding, and reset the house. It’s a warm way of savoring the visit even as it ends—recalling conversations and love as I move slowly through tasks I might usually kick out quickly.
After a retreat, I do something similar. I sit with my team and ask: How did it go? We celebrate connections (between and within participants), note what could have gone better, and then tweak every detail—from typos to activities to timing—to make the next gathering even richer. This “tidying up” keeps me connected to participants. I linger on moments of insight and imagine the ripple effects in their lives . . . IF they let the retreat keep working in them.
I hope participants do the same. Retreats and workshops don’t have to be blips in time—events you show up to and then immediately leave behind as you return to the “regular programming” of your life. They can be inflection points (see what I did there??). They can be fuel for lasting change.
So here’s my invitation: sustain and savor in gratitude!
Give yourself solitude to digest. Revisit your notes. Carry the energy forward in small but intentional ways. Let this investment accrue spiritual interest!
It doesn’t have to take hours. Try “spaced” practices:
In 24 hours: reread your journal.
In 48 hours: fit in one new practice you chose for yourself.
In one week: check in—are you weaving it into your daily rhythms? How can you keep returning to these practices? Maybe return to nature, start a small creative project, or pause when you feel yourself on the cusp of turmoil—or insight.
Big transformation comes from small, steady integration. Let the retreat day be not just a memory, but a turning point toward new possibilities.