Written by Raymond Salas
After returning from a weekend getaway with my family, I felt a deep satisfaction in my soul. The weekend trip was a remedy that I didn’t even know that I needed until I took it.
As I reflected back on my satisfying weekend, I realized that there were many key elements involved in this soul satisfaction experience.
Spend time with nature.
I love living in my city, but there is definitely a powerful connection that I feel whenever I step away from “civilization” and spend time with nature. During my trip, I saw seals, deer, pelicans, ducks, and other assorted creatures. At night, the sky was blanketed with stars and other celestial bodies. I could hear the ocean waves crashing on the shore as I drifted off to sleep each night. I was truly basking in the beauty and splendor of the Mother Earth. I find that spending time in nature helps to keep me grounded and reminds me that the Earth is a living, breathing, and vibrant organism. However, I also know that I don’t need to take a weekend trip to remember this. Going to park, taking a walk outside, and participating in other outdoor activities will also help strengthen my relationship with the Earth.
Go with the flow (a different one).
One of the greatest benefits from this trip for me was the changing up of my routine, or as I like to call it “the shaking up of my inner ‘snow scene’.” This gave me the perfect opportunity to experience my life from a different perspective. It’s like being able to step out of a close relationship and view it as an observer. In addition, I had the chance to experience my family in a different context, a different light than our normal, regular interactions. I had no itinerary, agenda or anything that I had to do. I truly just sat back and did whatever felt good to me. I felt like I was following:
After returning from a weekend getaway with my family, I felt a deep satisfaction in my soul. The weekend trip was a remedy that I didn’t even know that I needed until I took it.
As I reflected back on my satisfying weekend, I realized that there were many key elements involved in this soul satisfaction experience.
Spend time with nature.
I love living in my city, but there is definitely a powerful connection that I feel whenever I step away from “civilization” and spend time with nature. During my trip, I saw seals, deer, pelicans, ducks, and other assorted creatures. At night, the sky was blanketed with stars and other celestial bodies. I could hear the ocean waves crashing on the shore as I drifted off to sleep each night. I was truly basking in the beauty and splendor of the Mother Earth. I find that spending time in nature helps to keep me grounded and reminds me that the Earth is a living, breathing, and vibrant organism. However, I also know that I don’t need to take a weekend trip to remember this. Going to park, taking a walk outside, and participating in other outdoor activities will also help strengthen my relationship with the Earth.
Go with the flow (a different one).
One of the greatest benefits from this trip for me was the changing up of my routine, or as I like to call it “the shaking up of my inner ‘snow scene’.” This gave me the perfect opportunity to experience my life from a different perspective. It’s like being able to step out of a close relationship and view it as an observer. In addition, I had the chance to experience my family in a different context, a different light than our normal, regular interactions. I had no itinerary, agenda or anything that I had to do. I truly just sat back and did whatever felt good to me. I felt like I was following:
“Savor more; fix less. Laugh more; cry less. Anticipate positively more; anticipate negatively less. Nothing is more important than that you feel good. Just practice that and watch what happens.”
- Abraham-Hicks
Silence the Technology Monster.
When I went away for the weekend, I didn’t have access to email, my website, or television (even though I am not big TV watcher). Furthermore, there was no cell phone reception in the remote area where I was staying, so I had to survive without a cell phone (gasp!). So, what happened? Did my world come crashing down? How did I survive this ordeal? Actually, it was truly wonderful. I felt complete freedom from the Technology Monsters that I had created in my life. However, I was also reminded that these are practices that I can incorporate into my daily life right now: take more breaks from the computer, watch less television, turn of the cell phone.
Dwell in eternity.
Imagine for a moment being free from the need for sleep in a world where there were no clocks and no night, only daylight and the sun. What would life be like? Time literally would not exist because we could not measure it. We would literally have no concept of it. As I wrote in Yoga In A Book, we could only choose to “be here now: the only place and time.” When I am spending time with nature, going with its flow, silencing the technology monster, and releasing all of my attachment to time, it feels like eternity to me, like I am dwelling in it. And, this awareness is available to me anytime, any day, and anywhere whenever I relax, breathe, and choose to only be here now (the only place and time).
Experience miracles.
A Course In Miracles defines a miracle as a change or shift in perception. After a few days of experiencing eternity like this, I returned to “civilization” and the world that I had left a few days earlier. It was kind of surreal at first. Everything felt really different to me: more vivid, more alive, and bursting with energy. My perception had indeed shifted (hey, shift happens!). A miracle had taken place within me and life truly feels like a series of miracles now. As Albert Einstein says, “There are two ways to live your life - one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.” I choose the latter.
It’s a wonderful life!
The beautiful thing about this change in my perception is that it was all very simple really. I am grateful for the weekend getaway that helped shift my awareness back to the miracles in front of me right now. I feel like George Bailey at the end of “It’s A Wonderful Life.” I really do have a wonderful life, the One Life that is available to all of us by making a shift in our awareness, a little weekend getaway in your mind that will bring you miracles and truly satisfy your soul.