In this episode Val Halloway shares about the transforming power of personal retreats to help her recover from difficult life events. She shares what she learned about Practicing the Presence of God, the Soul Theory, and Reiki.
In the introduction Val shares about three personal retreats she has taken: the first was 15 years ago at a retreat center close to home where she spent the night at a Catholic retreat center reserved for quiet, prayer, and listening, the second was a year ago in Sedona Arizona where each day she met individually with compassionate caring women devoted to spiritual healing, and the third was just a few months ago with a small group of women at a retreat center in the Catskill mountains.
She realizes that not everyone has the time or resources to get away - one can feel refreshed with quiet time at home, a big mug of coffee and a Hallmark movie. Others cherish watching their children perform in a play or athletic event or helping them move to a new apartment. Val loves those things too, but knows that getting away from her familiar environment and meeting new people renews her energy and it gives her strength.
Share shares a quote from Albert Einstein: ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’ – Her retreats were about discovering a different way of thinking.
After her husband of 25 years passed away from leukemia, she realized that "today is all we have." She awoke to the reality there is so very little she has control over. She felt herself spiraling down, and allowed herself to get away from everything at home and ponder her new life at a Catholic Retreat Center a few hours from home. She read the book, Practicing the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence. The story she remembers most was about how Brother Lawrence lifted an uncomfortable situation to God, and God promised to take care of Brother Lawrence's reputation.
She shares that April 2022- to April 2023 was a year of full of losses: a job, her 30 year-old son, 93 year-old father and a 10-year marriage.She searched the internet for "A retreat to get back on my feet” and found the Sedona Soul Adventure. After an interview with program representatives to determine her goals, she chose a 3-Day program where she would meet individually with two practitioners each day.
A life coach helped her set the following intentions:
-I am living fully and trusting – as my life unfolds as it should.
-I am accepting of and healing from all the loss I have experienced this past year.
-I am allowing myself to grieve the loss of my son, knowing it was his time to go.
-I am taking the necessary steps to rid my body of emotions and physical pain.
-I am feeling balance with my desired success and being nurturing to myself and my family.
One practitioner at the retreat shared about the Soul Theory. This practitioner believes souls choose to be born into a human life in order to grow and change. The soul chooses the challenges it will have. The soul chooses this to evolve and overcome trauma and find spiritual peace and joy, even though the tragedies. The retreat helped Val see the tragedies of her life in a new way.
The third retreat was organized by two Reiki practitioners to give their clients a place to heal in the presence of other caring women. Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes energy healing. The retreat was a gathering of eight women at a yoga retreat center in the Catskill mountains. This time gave Val confidence to get writing on the scripts for caregiver tea time!
Val's special message is this:
Have you ever wondered what your soul came here to accomplish? If you feel something is holding you back from your soul finding joy and peace, the love and support you need is out there.
Val still has times of quiet and tears almost every day. To her, this just makes peace and joy in life all the more wonderful and an amazing adventure.
This is Val Halloway and today I am going to take you on a journey back in time to three overnight Personal Retreats I’ve taken.
My first one was about 15 years ago and it was at a retreat center near from home, where I packed my bag and went to spend the night by myself in a place set aside for quiet and prayer and listening.
The second was year ago. It was a wonderful 3-Day retreat in Sedona Arizona and probably the biggest gift I’ve ever given myself. Each day I met with 2 compassionate caring women devoted to spiritual healing.
And then the third retreat was just a few months ago. It was a fantastic 3-days with a small group of women in the Catskills Mountains organized by two thoughtful and gifted reiki practitioners.
In this episode I’ll share about the transforming power these retreats. I learned about practicing the presence of God, the Soul Theory, and Reiki
Now I know not everyone has the time or resources to get away - One dear friend feels refreshed with quiet time at home, a big mug of coffee and a Hallmark movie.
Another friend is in a time of her life where watching her children perform in a play or athletic event or helping them move to a new apartment is what she cherishes.
I love those things too, but I know myself and getting away from my familiar environment and meeting new people renews my energy and it gives me strength.
Albert Einstein says ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’ – Discovering a different way of thinking is what my retreats were all about.
A turning point came in my life with the realization that today is all we have. Fifteen years ago my husband of 25 years passed away from recurrent leukemia. He was 52 and had lived a full life and I felt grateful he no longer suffered.
With his passing, I awoke to the reality there is so very little I have control over and to think otherwise is just kidding myself. At that moment, my life had changed forever and there was too much to think about. I was spiraling down when I remembered one of my EBT skills (I shared about EBT in Episode 1 of Season 1) .
When spiraling down, it’s like a tornado and the most important thing you can do is try to pull yourself out of it. I did that by finding a place I could go for a couple of days, to get away from everything at home and ponder my new life. I found a Catholic Retreat Center a few hours from home that had overnight rooms for the purpose of retreat and a person on staff who could give guidance.
I packed my bag and brought my Bible and the book I mentioned in Episode 2 of this season called Celebration of Discipline. The person on staff was calm and friendly and she showed me to my warm and inviting room.
She suggested I read the book, Practicing the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence and left a copy for me. She offered to meet with me to pray and discuss what I discovered if that would be helpful. That little book was exactly what I needed at the time.
As I think back, the story I remember most from the book was about how Brother Lawrence felt when people from the village were complaining about something he had done. God revealed to him that it was not Brother Lawrence’s job to defend his actions and try to change their minds. Once he lifted the situation to God he had done what he could and it was best to move on. God would take care of his reputation.
It was time for me to move on from things I had no control over and couldn’t change. Taking time away helped me return home in a better frame of mind and a new outlook going forward.
The year of April 2022- to April 2023 was probably the most stress filled year of my life! I started and quit a new job, my 30 year old son and my 93 year old father passed away, and a 10 year marriage that was a blessing for a time, had ended.
As my counselor recently told me, I’d been dealt a tough hand of cards. It was tough! I’m grateful for the amazing support from family and friends during that year, But I needed to move forward on my own.
I lay in bed one night and wondered, “ where do I go from here? How do I heal this tremendous grief?” Then the words came to my mind, “I need A retreat to get back on my feet”. I searched those exact words on the internet and Sedona Soul Adventure came up. I’d been to Sedona before and knew it to be an unusually beautiful and special place.
The truth is that I wanted my son to spend time there to heal and get refreshed after his bone marrow transplant. It wasn’t what he wanted though, and I couldn’t make it happen without him. But I wanted it for myself so I said ‘Yes! and made the call.
I had to make arrangements for my own lodging and meals, but the Sedona Soul Adventure staff provided guidance and interviewed me so they had a sense of what I needed most from my experience. I chose a 3-Day program and they set up a schedule for me I would meet individually with two practitioners each day.
Before the retreat started, I had a video appointment with a life coach to set soul intentions. Mine included the following:
-I am living fully and trusting – as my life unfolds as it should.
-I am accepting of and healing from all the loss I have experienced this past year.
-I am allowing myself to grieve the loss of my son, knowing it was his time to go.
-I am taking the necessary steps to rid my body of emotions and physical pain.
and
-I am feeling balance with my desired success and being nurturing to myself and my family.
I felt safe and loved through all the sessions and would do it all again.
So much happened that I can’t begin to share about it all, but I do want to tell you about one of the practitioner’s theories about our Soul. She believes souls choose to be born into a human life in order to grow and change. The soul chooses the challenges it will have. At the conscious human level we would never ever choose these traumas, but the soul chooses this to evolve to overcome the trauma and find spiritual peace and joy, even though the tragedies.
It is hard for me to understand this theory, but she believes my soul chose my life, as did my son and my husband’s souls choose theirs. The retreat helped me see the tragedies of my life in a new way. It helped me see the importance of taking time to overcome and clear the grief and all that is blocking love in my life.
I had helpful follow-up sessions with my coach. My soul IS finding peace and joy in a new way that I did not have before, and I am grateful!
Now on to my most recent retreat – It was organized by two Reiki practitioners to give their clients a place to heal troubled hearts in the presence of other caring women.
Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes energy healing. It is a spiritual practice that focuses on the life force energy flowing through us. Reiki practitioners assist in clearing blockages to restore balance by placing their hand on or near a person, but it can also be done from a distance.
One of the suggestions from my Sedona Soul Retreat was to find a Reiki practitioner back home for me to continue to receive healing energy. I found Amy, a warm and inspiring Reiki master and guided meditation leader.
As I said earlier, retreats are not for everyone, but this gathering together of eight like-minded souls at a yoga retreat center in the Catskill mountains was wonderful! We had daily yoga sessions, hiked mountain trails, ate clean food, shared our stories, took the time to breathe and clear our energy. This time gave me confidence to get writing on my scripts for caregiver tea time! And here we are!
Wow! This Concludes my first 11 podcasts and I have just 5 to go to complete the 4 seasons of Caregiver tea time that I envisioned at the start!
A Year ago I could never have imagined doing what I’m doing and creating what I’ve created. I could not have done it without taking the time to step back and reflect and receive encouragement from others and trust my life is unfolding as it should. I trust yours is too!
My special message is this:
Have you ever wondered what your soul came here to accomplish? If you feel something is holding you back from your soul finding joy and peace, the love and support you need is out there. I know this to be true. I also know that life is not one big party of peace and joy, although it sure is fun once it gets started!
I still have times of quiet and tears almost every day. This just makes the peace and joy all the more wonderful. What an amazing soul adventure!
Cheers to that!