Logging off and coming back home

To begin the new year, I have decided to simplify and return home, to myself. Winter, like nature, is a natural time to go inward and rest, review and revive our souls and, like many of us, I have certainly felt the need to go inward after a busy few months, alongside being a busy mum and the preparations leading up to Christmas. It's fair to say, some important roles of responsibility and a sudden large influx of work left me spent mentally and emotionally by December and I just had to stop.

A friend recently introduced the idea of her own private retreat in January and my soul was immediately drawn. Although a full retreat is not practical in my circumstances right now, I decided to incorporate some elements into my days through January. If you too feel a strong desire to unplug and return to a greater sense of peace, here are some things you might like to try:

Unplug from Facebook/ social media

I decided for the next few weeks, I would take time out from the influx of information from Facebook so today I announced that is exactly what I would do with a message wishing everyone a happy new year and an email address if people wanted to get in touch. Withdrawing from the constant updates and notifications gives me a chance to detach, to connect with myself and experience a slower and simpler life and a chance to bring my focus back to the present moment. The world will not stop spinning, life will continue without my participation in this digital world, and true friends and loved ones will still keep in touch. Instead of Facebook, I choose to log in to my own source of information, my intuition. Instead of updates, likes and comments, I choose what really matters to this heart of mine. Instead of networks, I choose to connect to nature. Instead of texts on a screen, I choose to connect to friends and loved ones face to face, heart to heart. Instead of being "in the know", I choose to simply be.

Meditation

I have made a promise to myself to meditate every day, to further this connection with my true nature, and to source. Being present is a the best gift I can give myself and those around me and it starts with my own practice. In counterbalance to the constant stream of information thrown at us on social media scattering our attention into a hundred places, I have decided to bring it back to the one Universal medium of my own unified consciousness.

Diet

In line with my own conscience, I have decided to take up the challenge of Veganuary where for one month I go from being predominantly vegetarian to vegan. In an experiment of heart felt desire to go the extra step and see, I want to eliminate some of the toxins both physical and energetic from the mass produced and the slaughter of animals from my body for this month and take in a rainbow of beautiful, organic fruits and vegetables to see how different it might actually make me feel both in mind, spirit and body.

Nature

I intend to go out into nature and take it all in - the air, the sun, the feeling of the ground, the sounds of rustling leaves and the strength of trees rooted to earth and connected to sky, the beauty of birds and wildlife as they go about their business, the colours that feed the soul and give back full hearted appreciation and love that comes with connecting to the web of life. Travelling, by whatever means, with no deadline, no fixed destination or agenda other than for its own pleasure, teach us so much as can nature of course. Like a walk through a labrynth, it becomes a mediation in itself, a journey to our own true nature.

So, I close this blog now with a wish that some of this helps you to come back home, where you can rest and simply be. Take your own personal retreat and take the suggestions you like here and discard the rest, be creative and follow your own inner guidance. Have a peaceful and joy filled new year.