I just meditated for 45 minutes. This was the opening session for my upcoming mini self meditation retreat at home. The circumstances are perfect:
I have the next week off
My partner is away for two weeks
I was not able to find a proper retreat in my area at short notice so I decided to create a custom made “retreat” at home, which is comfortable, inexpensive, quiet and no one will disturb me. Since I will first spend the weekend at my mother’s home, the retreat will begin on Monday afternoon and go until Thursday evening. It’s not long, I know, but it will be enough of a challenge for me to do this. I am not the most disciplined person, especially when left alone. I am spontaneous and allow for one distraction after the other with all the interests I have. This is why over the weekend I will prepare myself for these days. I will write down a schedule and decide on a timeline, what I want to do and how. This will NOT be a purely meditation only silent retreat. It will entail meditation, writing/journaling, learning/studying/thinking, conscious and healthy eating, drinking enough water and perhaps some form of exercise or mindful walking. I have planned two meetings with friends I haven’t seen in a long time. I will communicate, but I want to still set a schedule for all these things. I will NOT do one thing when my schedule says it’s not the time for that. Just this time I want to adhere to that “rule”. There will be enough time for that “in between”. As I write this, I am already doubting myself (and laughing about it), but this is all part of the process. And my sharing this here is a way to test how serious I want to be about this. Transparency allows for vulnerability and challenges responsibility. In doing this little retreat, I see how much of a beginner I still am even though I have been meditating regularly for years.
I had already done something similar in 2018 and even though I called it a retreat, it was the exact opposite of what I want to do next week. I gave myself all the freedom within a range of “being alone” most of the time, and I tried my best to document it. I will, here too, try my best to document it, but the schedule is an important aspect.
In researching the net to find other people who have done this, I came across a few videos (here’s an example) and a blog called A life of Productivity where Chris Bailey offers a detailed schedule template. I might use this and readjust it.
There are many more thoughts and questions I already have regarding this endeavor, but for now I will leave it as is and return soon.
Now it is time to visit my mother.