on the balcony 2009
It is the final day of this chapter of my Vision Quest Retreat and time to take stock of the experience. My agenda while here was 1) follow my instincts, 2) work on the curriculum for the upcoming Vision Quest Retreats being launched in the next year, 3) finish writing the story of how I came to be living my Vision for the book, 4) be in the moment, enjoy, chill, and record it all on this blog, twitter, and in my private travel journal.
So how did I do? Re:
1) Following my instincts-Did pretty well w/ this. This mainly came up when I had to decide what to do with my time. I often had to make the hard decision, do I go with the gang or take some quiet time to rest, read or work. I am pretty sure I made all the right moves around this because I have no regrets about my choices.
2) Working on the curriculum for the upcoming Vision Quest Retreats-I payed close attention to the elements on my own personal Vision Quest Retreat that are helping me to get quiet & clarify and gain inspiration for my own Vision. I wrote a three-day curriculum based on my experience and findings. There was also a shift in my perspective regarding my role as a retreat leader. I want to add more adventure to the agenda than I had previously envisioned i.e. snorkeling/scuba diving, hiking, nature encounters etc.
3) Finish writing the story of how I came to be living my Vision for the book-still no movement on this except in my mind and minimal at that but, something tells me this will be okay
4) Being in the moment, enjoying & chilling- Enjoying & Chilling? I think I have an advanced degree in this at this point in my life…no need for more practice. Regarding staying in the moment? I was surprised to observe that even here on a Caribbean island retreat at a fabulous villa I can be in a rush to get to the next adventure, thing or accomplishment. After this realization I decided I had more slowing down to do and practiced this more. I payed attention to the results and what I concluded to this point is that it may not be possible to be fully present at all times. What does it mean to be fully present? I was thinking it was like focusing on the moment intensely, but how can you focus on everything in one moment at once? There is too much in each moment to attend to it all equally! The new challenge I discovered was that do to the fact that I like to write and record it all I was sometimes composing my writing while in the moment to be written later. I am concerned that I am not truly in the present if I am busy writing about the present in my head. Am I living the moment or creating it?
5) Recording it all on blog, twitter, & private travel journal-Did really well with this or as good as one could expect while simultaneously living it all. As always it is a challenge to capture it all. I decided not to paint on this trip as I usually do to focus on my writing instead. I would love another week and be able to paint and write. I was able to take a lot of photographs and that helped my need for visual recording.
All in all I can describe this week of my retreat at Presidio Del Mar as divine. I will not soon forget the beauty, passion and adventure I experienced and I look forward to my role as a guide when I lead my own Vision Quest Retreats. I imagine that it will be an awesome experience to help others on their Vision Quests.
I am signing off now to sit at my little writing table in the window of the Hawk’s Nest (my room at the Presidio) and be in this moment. It is an overcast day and difficult to not cry looking out to sea and listening to Andrea Bocelli sing, “Con te partiro”
(first posted 7.5.09)
