Retreat for Beingness

I'm in great need of a retreat - a quiet day alone to think, write, read, and work in the garden and the house. It's been a stressful week, with robbery, and lots of emotions and fights. I'm going to take this day one step at a time, and pause often to remember to just BE.

1. Read "The Power of Less"

2. Creative Visualization

3. Simplifying my shelves

4. Home sensations

1. Read "The Power of Less":

I recently bought this little book by Leo Babauta, who hosts the Zen Habits blog. I bought it because simplifying is a favorite topic of mine, one I long for and keep trying to perfect.

I'm still reading Chapter Three: Choosing the Essential, and Simplifying. As he says, you have to choose the essential before you simplify, and he has a series of questions to ask yourself to decide what is essential.

The second part of the chapter is "How to Apply the Questions". He suggests taking time to think of the big picture, and hone in on what's important. I already do that every morning, with limited success. My problem is not that I'm doing meaningless things, but that that I have limited energy and too many essential projects! 

Some tips:

• Choose fewer essential goals each week. 
• Prioritize the goals and tasks with the greatest long-term impact.
• Eliminate the non-essentials in one area of my life at a time.
• Set a date to review each area of my life to continue the editing process.

2. Creative Visualization:

Every month, during this waxing moon time before the full moon, I use visualization to help me to see the next steps. Because of my visual and auditory sensitivity, this is the best process for knowing what I'm feeling. 

Visualization is a scientifically proven technique for performance improvement, based on the idea that "seeing is believing". It also helps with relaxation and self-confidence. It works because brain neurons interpret imagery as equivalent to reality.

Visualization creates new neural pathways, just like a memory or a learned behavior.

Creative visualization is a technique that uses my imagination to create change. I often use it to help bring my goals into fruition. Today I'm discerning how I want to BE with the people in my life. I want to picture the best way of acting, especially in the repeated tense situations that arise.

1. First, set an intention: Say, "Today I call on the Spirit of Love to bring me clarity and open my eyes to a better way of Being in times of stress - what is it I am yearning for?"
2. Center and relax each part of my body: With each breath, allow my awareness to deepen and become softer. No stress. No rush. I walk or float in an imaginary void. Open a connection to Spirit. Feel a soft warmth begin to grow and spread through me, until I am radiating quiet energy.
3. Create a clear, detailed picture in my mind, as though the objective has been reached. Paint a vivid mental image of exactly how I want to act and be in stressful times - softer, calmer, more flexible, open to the humor of the situation - and put as much positive energy into this picture as possible. 
4. Lastly, affirm that this is what I want with a short positive phrase in the present tense. "I am able and willing to be a calmer and happier person."
5. Give thanks and return: Saying thanks out loud is how I acknowledge the reality of the gift of my vision.
   

That's the way visualization works for me - it often gives me a message or insight that makes my next step clear. The thought-image is like a signal-flare that guides the physical thing or deed to manifest in my life (or it's just a good way to keep my intentions in my mind). I will carry the vision of the completed goal with me, and focus on it often during the day, in a gentle manner.

3. Simplifying our shelves:

One of my essential tasks today, that I've put off way too long, is to pull everything off the laundry room shelves, simplify, and re-organize. One of my top priorities is to put lighter weight boxes on top, and get things into clear storage bins if possible. Because these shelves are so deep, I hope to get some risers in the back, so I can see what's up there.

4. Home sensations:

September overflows with textures, colors, and scents; I'll find ways to fill my home with them, and give attention to rich details. Some ideas:

• An end-of-summer nature tray. 

• Sage and rosemary hanging to dry.
• Bake bread and make soup.
• Shop for one beautiful, new kitchen item: A tablecloth, bowl, new candles, or a plant.
• Collect acorns in a glass jar with grandsons.
• Add sparkle lights for the fort under the kitchen table.