This past weekend was my “Rest to Reset” retreat. It was absolutely amazing and I can’t even start without a shoutout to the amazing Mountain Top Lodge and to the beautiful souls who attended and arrived with their whole selves. It was a glorious time of connection after a wild time lacking almost all connection. We laughed, we cried, we blew bubbles.
As I was deciding what I wanted to share in our closing, I let my analytical brain have a moment and calculated that this inspiring time together was just .75% of a year. It was amazing to me see in the faces around me what a huge impact such a tiny percentage of time, less than 1%, could have.
That same percentage of a day is just 10.8 minutes and I can’t help wondering about the impact a well curated 11 minutes every day could have on our lives. Most days that’s about the amount of time my personal gratitude practice takes. Almost 800 days in I can attest to the power of .75% of a day spent deep in gratitude.
And in an hour that percentage is a mere 27 seconds – I timed it, and that’s about how long it takes me to take three good, steady breaths. What would the days look like if we could each take just half a minute to reset each hour, just three mindful breaths with the exhale lasting just a beat longer than the inhale?
A retreat is undoubtedly a wonderful thing. Getting away, the mountain air, the massages, the meals, the practices – all gave physical and mental space to find clarity. Days were carefully arranged to offer each attendee full support on their personal journey through rest to reset. That isn’t going to happen in our regular householder lives. Knowing that, my greatest hope is that all that we shared and experienced together continues to take up a tiny percentage of each day.
And I hope that however you find the space, you fully believe you are absolutely worth that 1% and spend it exactly the way you need to refill your cup.
Namaste,
Alison