A spiritual retreat is a great opportunity for us to move away from our daily lives so that we can focus more on ourselves as well as our connection to our spirituality regardless of what is the current situation of our life right now.
It is not essential that you must be a guru, dedicated to a certain faith tradition, or an expert in religious or spiritual practice to take part. However, there is one thing that you need to do, you should be willing to focus your thoughts so that you can get through the path that is most rewarding and most appropriate for you.
The following are five incredible benefits that a spiritual retreat can do for you once you’ve participated in it.
Establish a Stronger Connection to Yourself
Sometimes it’s very hard to spend time for ourselves due to the hustle and bustle of our daily lives. Whether it’s for relaxation, prayer, meditation, exercise, or any other thing.
However, when you attend a retreat, you are committing yourself a day, several days, or several weeks to be in an environment away from home so you can focus more on your spiritual being, your thoughts, and anything else about yourself. Although it’s hard to admit it seems that technology has made us weak in the knees.
With spiritual retreat, it provides us an excuse to stay away from our gadgets and resist the temptation of using the internet. In this way, you can be more present and effectively focus and take in what you are currently experiencing.
Prioritize Inner Peace
If you feel stressed at home, work, or anywhere else in your life, then having a spiritual retreat is the perfect way to learn from other people who can guide you towards achieving the one thing that you want which is peace.
Throughout the retreat, you will find yourself exposed to teachings that are designed to help you in making sense of your thoughts and align them towards a peaceful and positive direction.
This gives you the opportunity to put these teachings into practice, whether through meditation, prayer, or in other ways. By doing so, you can have inner peace in your life even after the spiritual retreat is over.
Associate Yourself with Kindred Spirits
Spiritual retreats provide you with guidelines and support so that you can overcome your inner conflicts. These lessons will come from practitioners, experienced instructors as well as fellow attendees, who have the same intention as you.
The fact is, associating yourself with other people who are on the same path as you are one of the most invaluable resources. You’ll get the chance to express your new ideas, discover the journey of other people, expose your own experience, and most of all, you can share constructive feedback.
You’ll also get the chance to ask sharp questions and get answers which you cannot find in any book or any other sources. Overall, it gives you a sense of unity since all of you are working together to create a peaceful and connected life together.
Additionally, it gives you the opportunity to develop relationships that could last a lifetime.
Enjoy And Have Some Fun
Whether you are having a hard time getting into your meditative stage, feeling nervous about your expectations, or not getting used to sharing your feelings, you are not alone!
People who host and participate in spiritual retreats come from different locations, and backgrounds, and have a variety of life experiences. Although some of them might be well-experienced spiritual practitioners, for sure there are others who are first timers.
Likewise, you can always be sure that these people who are willing to guide you throughout your journey have their own baggage, as well.
Keep in mind that when it comes to self-improvement, each of us travels a unique path, yet it is crucial that we must give ourselves some time for relaxation and allow ourselves to simply enjoy the journey.
Make Yourself a Better Teacher to Others
When the spiritual retreat is finally over and done with, then it’s time for you to return to your normal life. However, how can you make the teachings you’ve learned from the retreat remain with you?
You could try establishing specific resolutions for yourself. For instance, you could commit yourself to show more gratitude. A simple way is to say “thank you” more often. As much as possible, you should try to offer at least three heartfelt compliments to other people each day. Or you could create and keep a gratitude journal.
Aside from helping you in putting your knowledge into action, these tasks can also make people notice that you have made progress toward your spiritual journey. As a result, it could open a door to a more meaningful and deeper conversation with the people that are close to you.
Don’t forget to allow you to share the wisdom that you have learned and practiced while you are at the retreat. Try participating in a retreat so you can be the candle that provides the light of peace to others.
What Road Should You Follow?
Ultimately, you must decide what road you must follow. It is important to know that in most spiritual retreats, you are not required to follow any specific sanctimonious or religious doctrines, regardless of if the focus is the teachings associated with these traditions.
Whatever your faith tradition is, you can still choose to follow or unfollow it. But still, you can take advantage of the practice of prayer, meditation, and contemplation, regardless of how you would choose to do so.
No matter what format or type of spiritual retreat you choose, it is certain that this can help you develop inner peace and self-awareness, enforce lifelong associations, and celebrate your life and the lives of the people around you for the better.
Why Join a Spiritual Retreat?
You might be as rich as a king, yet you feel sad because you don’t have any friends. Or you might be as poor as dirt yet feel happy because you are surrounded by the people who love you.
Richard Layard, a well-known British economist performed research on human happiness and revealed that the most important factor for achieving happiness is to have close relationships with others. And what could be more important other than having a close relationship with God?
In fact, the saints, who were extremely happy, can testify to this reality. The Carmelite nuns of Compiegne, the Claretian Martyrs of Barbastro, and St. Maximilian Kolbe, all sang hymns of joy during their journey toward martyrdom.
For humans, these are sad moments, yet, these saints, who are devoted to God, are ready to face sufferings with joy in their hearts. Ultimately, it was their relationship with God that provide them with joy and strength.
However, friendship takes some time to develop and requires some conversations to strengthen it. Couples who were able to stay together for a long time will likely tell you how important it is to get away for a long weekend so that they can spend some time alone talking. This is just the same with our relationship with God.
That is why the Church highly recommends that people should attend annual retreats. Retreats allow us to spend time with God, away from our everyday activities. Retreats allow us to consider our priorities in life and make practical and solid resolutions for improvement.
At Angelus Music, we can help you in making your spiritual retreat more meaningful and unforgettable. We have spiritual music that is just perfect for your spiritual retreat. For more details, just visit us at AngelusMusic.com.
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