Episode 70 - Solo: Planning a Day Alone with God

SHOW NOTES

Have you ever thought about getting away and having a personal retreat, a way to disconnect from the world and reconnect with God? Today’s podcast is all about that, with practical tips to help you begin this amazing journey.

Sit back and enjoy, this is a great conversation that all of us need to listen to!

MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST

KEY STEPS TO PLANNING YOUR SOLO DAY

Plan your solo day:

1. Choose the date and calendar it. Clear it with your spouse, your friends, your community, your team, your manager, your boss. Being intentional about your Solo Day is the first and necessary step.

Work through a few logistics:

1. Find a place to have a day to be alone. Think through where you could go in your city, in your town, in the region in which you live, and make sure it is just an hour drive away from home. Too much travel time can cause some exhaustion and stress.
2. Figure out how you're going to handle technology. Set your phone to automatically respond that you are not available that day, and then turn it off.

The day before your solo day:

1. Gather what you will need - food, drink, clothes. A journal, Bible, pen, art supplies, something to exercise in. Get ready for the day!
2. Make it a goal to sleep well the night before you go away: So that you're not exhausted on your time off.

Take a moment before you do your solo day and work through these questions.

1. What do you envision for your own retreat?
2. What do you want in your day or time away?  
3. What obstacles seem to stand in the way of your solo time?  

SUGGESTED SCHEDULE FOR YOUR SOLO DAY

8:00 am:  Leave for the one-hour drive to you chosen location.

9:00 am:  Arrive at destination, get settled in and engage in 30 minutes of absolute quiet and stillness. Psalm 46: To be still and know God.

9:30 am: Take your journal and write down the title The State of My Soul. Then write down five descriptor words that would describe your soul - five adjectives.

10:00 am: Lectio Divina, the slow, slow, slow reading of Scripture - a single passage that you would read three or four times.  

10:30 am: Take a break.

10:45 am: Spiritual reading - take a book or article and read slowly for an hour, underlying what you're reading. Do that for 45 minutes or an hour, but make sure it is a spiritual book.  

11:45 am: 30 minutes in intentional prayer. Not just speaking but also listening to God.

12:15 pm: 45 min - 1 hour Lunch Break - slowly and deliberately in a quiet place. If you're doing this retreat with your team or with your friend or with your spouse, then this would be a time you could check in and say, How's the morning been? What's been stirring in you so far this morning?

After lunch: The great spiritual discipline of Napio Divina - taking a rest, taking a nap. And give yourself permission to rest.

2:15 pm: Engage your body with physical exercise.  And this is the beautiful thing about a retreat like this: that it's holistic, that you're trying to appeal to your body, mind and soul.  

3:15 pm: An hour of creative art, creative expression. Write,  journal, read poetry, listen to some beautiful music, paint, etc.

End the day: Daily Examin - Ask yourself two questions: what's been beautiful in my day and what's been brutal in my day?

4:30 pm: Departure time. Go back home, get ready to re-engage with your children, with your spouse,  

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