As I was packing over the weekend for our upcoming Portugal retreat that we will be leaving for this week, it was all about the stuff. The paper, art supplies, speakers, cables, electrical adaptors, and SNACKS! As everyone who will gather prepares for the journey, the stuff matters. And there is something else that matters more.
These retreats aren’t just vacations and a time to escape the daily grind. It can be hard to step away from life, invest resources, and be willing to travel abroad and unplug to take a pause and reflect.
It’s exciting to meet new people and go to beautiful places. It’s also, for everyone, a big step outside of the comfort zone of everyday life.
We’ll be doing breathwork and notice there is work in that word. We choose to do this work to be open to gaining insights about old patterns that need to change and seeing where shifts are needed to align for the next chapters of life.
It can bring up frustration, anger, sadness, grief, and other emotions. And that is precisely what the time together, unplugged, is for: to hold space for ourselves and each other as we process and make our way through the peaks and valleys of our lives.
I believe we can change the world. Yes, you and I, together, have that kind of power. We can change how we care for one another.
Holding space means having the presence to see you and your struggles and pain, not trying to fix it at that moment or distract you, but just being with you so you know you are not alone as you ride the waves through those hard places.
We can do it at a retreat together in a group, in the grocery store line, as fellow drivers on our neighborhood streets, and when I see your bowed head in a moment of pain.
My deepest gratitude to all who have held space for me. Today, let’s each vow to be there for each other to do the same.