Celebrate You...beginning of your Celebrate You Mini Journaling Retreat. Congratulations for doing what it takes to show up for some time dedicated to your own self-care, self-expression

1 Writing for Wellness Kit ©2015, Lynda Monk, MSW, RSW, CPCC Part 3 of 3| Guided Celebrate You Mini Journaling Retreat Provided by http://CreativeWellnessWorks.com


Writing for Wellness Kit Part 3

Guided Celebrate You Mini Journaling Retreat

So far in this Writing for Wellness Kit, you have received the following:

Part 1 | Introduction & 10 Healing Benefits of Expressive Writing.

Part 2 | 20 Journaling for Health & Happiness Prompts

And now, here is Part 3, the Guided Celebrate You Mini Journaling Retreat!

Retreat Preparation A retreat is an advance.

1) I invite you to schedule a minimum of 30 minutes for your mini retreat. Decide on the time and location for your retreat, a time and place where you can enjoy some uninterrupted solitude and quiet. Perhaps, you want to put a sign on your office door “do not disturb: mini retreat in progress”, or tuck away to a quiet place in your home letting others know that you are taking a brief time for a mini retreat. Do what it takes to schedule and honour this creative time for clarity, self-care and renewal.

2) Know that when you declare retreat time for yourself, the universe wants to support this sacred time on your behalf! Scheduling this mini retreat will help you protect the time to make it happen.


3) You will need to download the following guided meditation and have it ready to play on your computer or some other device (iPod, etc.) –

CWCelebrateYOU MP3 (audio file)

Supplies you will need for your retreat:

• Journal (or notebook) • Favourite pen (please do not use a computer for this journaling retreat

– pen to paper is best for this particular experience, thanks) • A device with the Celebrate You MP3 available to play (please note this

is a guided meditation audio file) • Water (or cup of tea) – it is good to stay hydrated while your write • A candle (match or lighter) • A timer/or watch

http://creativewellnessworks.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CWCelebrateYou-MindBodyHeartSpirit.mp3


LET YOUR RETREAT BEGIN

Arrive to your retreat time and enjoy the following…

Welcome to the Guided Celebrate You Mini Journaling Retreat.

Begin your retreat time by lighting a candle, a ritual that marks the beginning of your Celebrate You Mini Journaling Retreat.

Congratulations for doing what it takes to show up for some time dedicated to your own self-care, self-expression and renewal. Acknowledge yourself for doing what it takes to carve out this time for yourself and your well-being.

Begin by setting an intention for your retreat time, by the end of the next ½ hour (or however long you have given yourself for this mini-retreat) – what do you hope has happened? How do you want to feel by the end of this mini retreat? What benefits do you want to experience?

“Attention ~ energizes. Intention ~ transforms.” Deepak Chopra

Set your retreat intentions now (you might even want to write it down).

Begin by drawing your attention to your breath. You don’t have to do anything special with it – just notice your breath, as it enters and leaves your body.

As you begin to relax and settle in to this time for yourself, simply notice, without judgment, any thoughts, feelings or sensations you are experiencing. Bring your mindful and open hearted presence to this retreat time. Thank you.

With your pen and journal/notebook nearby, begin with listening to the Celebrate You Guided Meditation MP3*. You don’t have to do anything special as you listen, simply allow yourself to be comfortable and sit back and enjoy this guided journey to honour your mind, body, heart and spirit.


(*This guided meditation is just under 7 minutes in length – it is from the collection of my Creative Wellness Guided Meditations*.)

I hope you enjoy it!

After listening to the Celebrate You Guided Meditation, please respond, in your own unique way, to the following reflective journaling prompts (respond to all of them, or pick those that have resonance for you/that you feel drawn to, or simply free write following the guided meditation and allow the writing to take you where it will – you are in choice with how you use this journaling retreat time, these prompts are intended to support you to go to the page)…

• What would you like to celebrate about yourself? • How can you celebrate this part of who you are? • How do you nourish your mind? • How do you nourish your body? • How do you nourish your heart? • How do you nourish your spirit? • How can you celebrate the whole of who you are? • What do you need more of at this time in your life? • What do you need less of at this time in your life? • What are you grateful for in this moment?

After writing for approximately 15 minutes or so, pause and read what you have written…

Then pick from one of the following 2 prompts:

What I notice about what I wrote is…

Or

What I feel about what I wrote is…

Respond to either of these prompts and write for another couple of minutes.

When you feel complete with your journaling/writing – set your pen down.


Once again bring your attention and awareness to your breath. Writing begins with the breath. Mindfulness begins with being in awareness and present with this one moment.

Acknowledge yourself for taking the time to relax, reflect, write and renew.

When you feel ready, quietly give thanks for this time and bring your mini journaling retreat to a close in any way that feels right to you. You might quietly say something like, “I am grateful for this time to write and reflect.” Think of this as a bow to your writing, a bow to your own self-expression and wise mind, open heart.

Blow out the candle you had burning during the retreat. This marks the end of this Guided Celebrate You Mini Journaling Retreat.

Thank you for moving your pen across paper, for noting your thoughts, feelings and wisdom down. As you write for wellness you create a ripple effect in the world, impacting not just your own well-being but rippling out and touching/impacting the well-being of others too. For each person who chooses to be more self-aware, more awake, more aligned with conscious living, in some way large or small creates a contribution to awakening and healing in the world.

Write from the heart, Lynda


More resources for your ongoing

Writing for Wellness Journey…

Creative Wellness Guided Meditations

*The Creative Wellness Guided Meditations are available as individual MP3’s or you can buy all 6 guided meditations and save – there is one for self-care, life balance, creating clarity and more! You can learn more about these meditations at - http://creativewellnessworks.com/books-and-products.

Guided meditations are powerful tools for well-being and when partnered with writing, they offer a way to relax before you write and can deepen your experience of writing for wellness, and help you create optimal health, clarity and feelings of inner peace.

Join my next 3 hour virtual Renew You Writing Retreat

This creative and nourishing writing retreat is accessed from the comfort of your own home. Write, reflect, relax & renew – alone and together in a circle with others! Learn more and register at: http://creativewellnessworks.com/renew-you-virtual-retreat/.


Connection…

I hope you enjoyed all of the elements of this complimentary Writing for Wellness Kit!

I would love to hear from you with any comments, questions or feedback you might have about this complimentary resource.

You can reach me at [email protected]

Here’s to the healing and transformational power of Writing for Wellness! I would be honoured to support you with developing and deepening your own writing to awaken, heal and transform practice.

Please visit http://CreativeWellnessWorks.com to find a Writing for Wellness coaching program, workshop, retreat or product that is right for you!

Write from the heart, Lynda

Documents

Celebrate You...beginning of your Celebrate You Mini Journaling Retreat. Congratulations for doing what it takes to show up for some time dedicated to your own self-care, self-expression