A Weekend Guide to Restoration
I’m a firm believer in needing to take deliberate time to restore your spirit, strength, perspective and faith. It’s too easy to veer in different directions, which may not inherently be wrong or bad, but every now and then we need to look up and check in on the alignment of our core with our North star.
About twice a year, I deliberately take one or two days from my day job to kickstart a restoration weekend.
Here’s a guide that I follow:
- Set your intention. First and foremost, set the intention for your own personal restoration needs. Setting your intention the night before gets your mind prepared for how to start the next day. On this weekend, allow yourself to forget the to do list and focus just on your personal growth.
<Setting your intention is the first thing to do. The rest are in no particular order>
Yoga. Yoga is how I ‘power down’ to stop the racing brain, solidify my intention and practice presence. From experience, I know I cannot reflect, be inspired, or productive if my brain is not their first.
Reflection. If you don’t journal already, please start doing so. What you write doesn’t need to make any sense, just write what’s in your head. Restoration weekends are an ideal time to start a journaling habit or read from your journal to see how much you’ve grown. Reading my own journal was scary right away and I hesitated (for months) but it’s now something I look forward to!
Find something inspiring and motivating. Whether it be talks online, a movie, a coffee date, podcasts, or a conference, we all need something to pull us up to the next level and inspire us in any way possible. Inspiration breathes new life into our lungs and re-engages our spirit.
Find something Spiritual. I highly recommend a silent prayer retreat but if that doesn’t appeal to you, use some time this weekend to attend a group (or personal) Bible study and just study the message. There’s plenty of resources online and Liz Curtis Higgs is an easily understood place to start. This can meet both spiritual and inspirational requirements of the weekend!
Go through notes from previous events, conferences, and studies. If you’re like me, you attend a lot of events, each with their unique lessons. If you’re also like me, it’s usually in the middle of the day or week sandwiched in between meetings or your day job so while you take a lot of notes, you don’t take the time to let the lessons sink in. This is your weekend to do that! Commit to take action on the ideas that still resonate with you and let go of everything else. I personally have a notebook dedicated for just notes and ideas from events so it’s all in one place.
Do something you don’t normally allow yourself to do. Even if it’s 3 days of ice cream for dinner, a movie in the middle of the day, a road trip somewhere new or sleeping in, fill your soul with something you enjoy. Change up your routines and habits and be your own definition of spontaneous and adventurous.
Rest. Just rest.
Happy Restoration!