ever since my sabbatical, a couple years ago, when i spent 11 days in silence, i’ve tried to take a quarterly 3 – 4 day silent retreat. it’s one of the only spiritual disciplines i’ve found great success with, and it does wonders for my soul. it feels like a detox and recallibration. i’ve learned to set the bar low, so i can succeed. if i have a profound experience of god, fantastic. but my only real expectation is that i completely shut up. i sleep, read, pray, and sit silently. i stay somewhere where i can take care of my own food, so i don’t have to make small talk with anyone at a restaurant or store.
i was supposed to start one of these retreats on sunday night of this past weekend, and go through wednesday. but my grandma’s funeral cut a day off that plan. so last night (i’m actually writing this prior to leaving, as i don’t get online or blog during my retreat), i started a couple nights at a friend’s trailer near the ocean. i don’t expect to step outside, so the location is inconsequential, really. the time is a bit shorter than i would prefer; but i’m still pretty stoked about it.
Man. I have been wanting to do this for a long time. I hope I can sometime soon. do you bring anything in particular to read?
anytime you would like a retreat in the desert, just let me know. we’ve got a lot of silence here.
hope all is well, my friend.
I’ve been been wanting to do this for a while…maybe like just an overnight thing at a park in a tent to start. I have one question…how do you convince the wife? Mine doesn’t go to well for it…she sees it as “not wanting her or our daughter.”
steven — i’m not sure what to tell you, really. my wife is extremely supportive of this for me, because she has seen the impact it has on my emotional and spiritual health. i should say, i’m very intentional about supporting her in a similar practice, which helps.