My Favourite Retreat

[Dan Goodwin]

Where do you go to get away from the stresses of daily life? Where do you escape to, to gather your breath and feel calm, to be renewed?

Maybe it's a place within your home, maybe a place in your mind, maybe somewhere out in the middle of nature?

Share your favourite retreats here with us...

[Jules]

I just got back from my yearly retreat- this was a spiritual retreat with other women- I am still processing the experience- it was truely impowering amd awesome and usually takes a while to filter through my thought processes.

When I go for brief escapes these are my favorite places (especially this time of year)- I call them my 'Soul Spots' because in these places I get in touch with all that is really important
I posted these before in Florabelles- but I am putting them here as well-

This first one is very peaceful and serene- often with ducks, swans, geese and turtles in the water- I sit here for hours at a time.

This place holds its colored leaves the longest- it is a sheltered valley area and I can come here in the late fall and find color after all else is brown.

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Those soul spots of yours are fabulous.Jules!

[Lin Neiswender]

I take a cup of coffee or my camera out to the glider on the back porch and wait for the insects, butterflies, or lizards, even birds to appear and soothe my soul. I just look on and enjoy or snap some pictures. We have magnificent oak trees and I like looking up through the tracery of their branches and watching the clouds.

Another retreat is my study and the world contained in my computer, including CCS! I lose track of time there quite easily, but oh my aching neck! We need screens on the ceiling controlled by your mind so we can lie in bed and surf...

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

A glider in your own back yard ... very kewl. I have a customer who has one, and that's where I sit on my breaks, watching all the visitors to his bird feeders ... squirrels and chipmunks as well as the quail, doves, jays and smaller birds ... truly refreshing :)

[Lin Neiswender]

The truly cool days are when I take a sweet roll out there and enjoy my breakfast outdoors! Pure bliss! Like a picnic but no ants...

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

I haven't been getting out in nature as much as I would like to. My current favorite retreat is my "high chair" in the livingroom where I create. I head there first thing in the morning with my coffee and several times during the day, sometimes just to sit and ponder, but usually I pick something up and work on it for a bit, between doing daily routines.

[jane]

for me it has to be my garden.. but of course that's mainly only in spring summer and autumn... too cold and damp in the winter! So.. am looking for a cosy spot in the house where i can cuddle up in the winter and restore my soul.... probably whilst cuddling one of my cats...

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Jane, let us know when you've got your spot picked out ... (and show us a pic :)

[Hannah]

Jules, your pictures are like paintings, which I always say about certain photographs and it's a pretty funny thing to say about photos of nature, when you think about it. I said that about the Grand Canyon! It looks like the photographs! Um, isn't it the other way around? But that's what art is about, showing us what we're missing ordinarily. Or does it (the beauty, the harmony shown by the composition) only really exist after we create it -- in our minds, first? Is art really about creation, or just perception?

Made me realize I will definitely go to this park nearby when the leaves turn. I used to go every day, when I didn't have much to do, and I was taking marathon walks -- like, three to six hours!! It was fun but it really didn't make me more productive so I stopped.

Also, the subject prodded me to make another attempt at finding the suggestions the Metropolitan Transit Authority has for scenic places you can visit in a day trip outside the city, and I found them! They are pretty affordable. I will have to plan one a month, that seems reasonable.

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

Hannah, that would be a really ideal way to balance out the effects of hustle and bustle with a little calm and serene ... are you going to do one in October? I'll bet the trees will be just gorgeous :)

[Dan Goodwin]

Yes scenic day trips sound a great idea. Will you let us know where you plan to go, and take plenty of photos when you're there?

[Doreen]

There are a few places I go to for renewal. This place near me on the water is a retreat center. Sometimes, I just stop by, walk the labyrinth or around the grounds. It's close by to the beach, a great place off season. Anywhere in nature, where it is quiet. Nature is such a great restorer for me. I feel I can unload and allow mother nature to recylce the excess energy that I have, allowing me to go within deeper than anywhere else.
I can renew myself behind the camera lens as well. Especially taking photos of nature where I "focus" in on the details of a flower or an insect... such beauty. I go into a state of awe and when I get to that point, yes, I am renewed, refreshed and ready to go again.