Recent legislation and changes to environmental laws over the past few years in the United States have prompted me to write about the relationship of self-care and caring for our planet. In the early 1990s I wrote a biweekly column for a local newspaper in a Montana town. It was my first foray into journalism, […]
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Resources for Volunteer Retreating
This is the eleventh post in my blog series about recharging and resetting your life, what I call retreating. The email I received from the estate manager at Braemar House in Scotland was an invitation to help plant trees. I had started my career in forestry but eventually ended up a writer. Within ten years […]
Retreating With a Health Issue or Disability
This is the tenth post in my blog series about recharging and resetting your life, what I call retreating. Disclaimer: I am not a health professional. The information provided here comes from my own interactions with fellow travel-retreaters with disabilities or medical conditions that required special attention. If this is you, seek your doctor’s advice, […]
Travel Retreating with a Middle-Aged Runaway
I hope you had a peaceful and joy-filled holiday season and found some time for self-care. After diverting my posts in the past few weeks to talk more about self-care, we return to the topic of retreating. Enjoy this interview of Heidi Eliason, self-described Middle-aged Runaway and retreater extraordinaire. In 2006, when she was 45, […]
New Year Revelations
The New Year is upon us, as well as a new decade, so have you written down your New Year Resolutions yet? If not, good for you—don’t do it! New Year Resolutions can be overwhelming, especially if they involve stretch goals or big changes. Generally, we are not a species that welcomes change, and when […]
Christmas Sangha
I’ve been practicing yoga weekly for 12 years with a group of seven people. We call this our sangha, which is a Sanskrit word for “assembly” or “community.” The people in our yoga sangha have endured many challenges: the death of parents, friends, and a spouse; serious injuries and illnesses; and struggles with family and […]
How to Manage 4 Common Holiday Stressors
It’s no secret that the holiday season can be more stressful than enjoyable for many people. The rise in popularity of Blue Christmas Gatherings are proof enough. These special gatherings are offered by Christian houses of worship as well as community and social organizations, and provide the chance for people to acknowledge and honor their […]
Self-care: It’s Not for Wimps
For several weeks I’ve been blogging about retreating, which I define as taking a break from your daily grind to do a little self-care. I’ve offered tips on how to retreat affordably, how to create your own home-based retreat, and expectations for going away on retreat. I’ve also touched on the benefits of retreating, but […]
Prepare Yourself Physically for a Retreat
This is the ninth post in my blog series about recharging and resetting your life, what I call retreating. I’ve done all sorts of retreating: yoga, walking pilgrimages, volunteering, meditation, personal growth, travel-retreating, and writing retreats. Most of them I embarked on either not knowing what I was in for or thinking I got this. […]
Prepare Yourself Emotionally for a Retreat
This is the eighth post in my blog series about recharging and resetting your life, what I call retreating. I had suffered from deep depression before, but that was back home—an ocean and a continent away. It wasn’t unusual for people to suffer emotional turmoil at this retreat, especially when dozens of us strangers had […]