The Practice of Using December for Retreat, Reflection & Letting Go

December can be a cold and dark month for many people, a time of lowered energy while still being very busy. For that reason, I find that’s an amazing time for:

·                                 Retreat: Take a little time out of my busy year for a little quiet solitude and turn inward, creating space for silence, contemplation, and mindfulness.

·                                 Reflection: This quiet time is a time to reflect on how the year has gone, and how I’d like to move into the New Year. We don’t often give ourselves enough time for reflection, as we’re always busy with activities.

·                                 Letting go: What have we become burdened with over the past year? Over the past decade? This time of turning inward is also a great time to let go of burdens, resentments, etc.

It’s a season for retreat and reflection, for me. Let’s talk about how that can look.

Creating Space for Retreat

Imagine that you were to sign up for a retreat this month … you put aside your daily life, all your busy work, all your projects and errands, and emails and messages … and you travel to another place. In this place, you remove yourself from the busy world and find space for quiet. For reflection. For contemplation, setting intentions, and reviewing how things have gone. For gratitude and appreciation for life. You might meditate, relax, read, or journal. You might take a walk in nature, or find solitude. You might just mindfully enjoy the space. You can do all of this without traveling, right where you are. It takes intention and taking action to create the space.

1                         Intention: You simply have to create the intention to create space for retreat. It’s as simple as saying, “I am going to create some space for reflection, mindfulness, gratitude, intention and letting go this month.” It’s the same as when you create the intention to sign up for a retreat, but instead of paying someone else to create the space for you … you do it yourself. Set the intention, even write it down.

2                          Create the space: This takes a little more work, but it’s absolutely doable. When can you create space for a retreat? Can you carve out 30-60 minutes a day? A couple hours? Can you take every Saturday off for this month? Or a full three days this weekend, or a full five days? It’s a matter of blocking off the time in your calendar, and then getting things done so that you can have that space — clearing out urgent messages and tasks, rescheduling appointments, and talking to people in your life so that you can have this space. It might mean renegotiating deadlines or project timelines. If you were going to travel to a retreat, you’d do all of this — this will just cost you less.

Now, you can actually go to a different place during your retreat — take a walk in a park or forest, or rent a hotel room in your city. Or you can do it at home if you can resist distractions. But the key thing is not to get caught up in your usual tasks and routines. Retreat from life, so that you can contemplate and reflect. Find solitude. Practice gratitude and mindfulness. Use a paper notebook and practice journaling.

Using This Time for Reflection

So you have a little space — maybe 30-60 minutes a day, maybe a day or two a week, maybe more. This space can be considered sacred. It’s devotional time, where you can devote yourself completely to:

·                                 Reflecting on your past year — how has it gone? What went well? What did you struggle with? What can you learn from all of that?

·                                 Reflecting on what you’re grateful for, and what you’d like to appreciate more of in your life.

·                                 Reflecting on what you might be holding onto — grudges, frustrations, resentments, emotional baggage, attachment — that you can let go of (more in the next section).

·                                 Contemplating what’s most meaningful to you in your life.

·                                 Contemplating what kind of meaningful work or purpose you’d like to pursue, or how to better pursue that.

·                                 Contemplating what you’d like to put your focus on.

·                                 Being mindful of each moment, and allowing yourself to appreciate the moment in silence.

You don’t have to do all of these, but you can consider which feels right to you. The idea is to use this sacred time for reflection, gratitude, mindfulness, contemplation, and solitude. Let this time in solitude be replenishing. Let it heal you. Let it be a beautiful time in your life.