Petite Retreats at Home

One of the rewards of our work lives is getting away to refresh and renew ourselves.
Planning vacations and the experience of being somewhere we have wanted to visit is important to most of us. What we seem to want to get away from is the job stress, the roles we fill, and the duties of our normal daily lives.
While traveling and visiting other places is stimulating and exciting, there is also something to be said for enjoying ourselves in the homes we have created.
When thinking about the things we like to do at home, a creative hobby, a hot bath, a project to enhance our environment, or just quiet time to read and cook, we can realize these can be as enjoyable as getting away from it all.
Staying home for a few hours or taking a day alone to rest, create, play, can be a home retreat.
Instead of feeling we need to go to a spa in Hawaii, why not create an at-home spa day in your upstairs tub?
Instead of squeezing in a little time to read before you fall asleep at night, why not consciously design a day where you indulge in all the books and magazines you have piled next to your bed?
Instead of imagining the day when you can make the time to finish building the bookshelves in the basement, make a day to do nothing but complete that project. And enjoy the process!
By scheduling many of the things we say we want to experience in our lives and preparing our homes so we can do them, we have, in effect, claimed our very own, self-designed at-home retreat: a Petite Retreat!
By re-framing our home as a place we don’t need to get away from, but as a place to retreat to, we have created an environment that is probably what we envisioned when we chose to live in a particular house. We wanted a retreat from the crazy world outside our door, and often we end up wanting to flee it for a rest!
We wanted a place to feel secure, safe, nourished, and then after a while we can’t imagine having that available to us even in our own homes.
The clutter, the to-do lists, the chores, the phones and noises of family and friends, and media, invade our space and make it less than comfortable.
The intention of creating an at-home retreat is a good place to start.
What would you do if you had a day magically gifted to you to use however you wanted? The rest of the family leaves you alone and you are free to explore a ‘flavor’ for your special day.
Would you gather material for an art project or just work away at something you have wanted to complete?
Maybe you would choose to stretch your body, pull out the old yoga video or dance to a favorite CD.
You might make it a spa day, a day of reading or watching movies or getting some de-cluttering accomplished.
But you do it in the spirit of a Petite Retreat, which is a day or a few hours at home, alone, with an intention to experience something specific. You are prepared so you don’t need to leave home, you turn off the phones and TV and other media and you sink into the ‘flavor’ of your day.
The benefits are great: Seeing your home again as a nurturing nest, accomplishing something you have been wanting to accomplish even if it is as decadent as taking a long nap after reading a novel, as well as spending quiet time in a normally busy, maybe even frantic, environment.
You can emerge renewed in body, mind and spirit and as refreshed as if you had gotten away from it all. You did…at home!

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