Why I hate the word "retreat", my newest reboot invention for offline meditation, and field music from Gambia
Why I hate the word "retreat"
Last weekend I took a retreat which I've done quarterly for the past three years now. I hate the word "retreat" because it connotates stepping back in defeat. Retreats are a power move. A time to check in and realign.
If you need popular examples, people ranging from Bill Gates to Hemingway, to Moses all took regular retreats that informed the direction of their lives and messages.
On my retreats, I do three things:
1) Give my nervous system a day to completely reset, ideally connecting with nature
On the first day, I feel the by-product of frenetic city energy start to shake out of me. It took me years to realize how spongy my body is and that I needed to have a process of wringing it back to equilibrium.
2) Check-in how I’ve spent my time and adjust where I may want to make shifts
Life is what you do daily. I take a look at my calendar to see what those days have looked like. On my time away, I take stock, weed what’s not necessary, and make space for the new.
3) Enter into silence, soften, and ask the universe big questions
This is the most important and where I have the least tactical advice. What I can say is that it takes practice, patience, and trust. I get clear answers that are often counter-logical. Whenever I trust and follow I’m rewarded - and when I’ve tried to tap back with analysis, the results were mixed at best.
😎 Any questions feel free to ask. This is my testing ground for concepts I may want to elaborate on.
Field music from Gambia
I love this album from Susso, AKA Huw Bennet. It’s the result of field recordings he took himself in Gambia while learning the balafon, mixed in with his live instrumentation, and then produced with beats that put me in an immediate state of joyful flow.
In an alternate universe, I’m an ethnomusicologist making and mixing original field recordings like Susso. In this universe, hat tip to Huw Bennet.
Pre-launching my newest reboot invention for meditation
The past few months I’ve worked on a reboot invention taking the candle clock from the year AD 520 and turning it into a modern object for meditating offline. I try to meditate daily and I noticed after I would use apps for interval timing, I would fall back into the patterns and addiction of using my phone.
Objects hold power, and I wanted to make a tech-free object only used for meditation.
The result is what looks like a Tibetan sound bowl with feet, and a candle holder built-in. The candle has etchings that mark 5-minute intervals, and the pin falls to into the bowl as the candle melts to mark the passing of time. It mixes in the concept of focusing on a candle for meditation, called trataka, and allows you to close your eyes as well knowing the chime sound will mark when you’re done. No alarm clock or phone needed.
During the process, I learned about 3d Printing, metal mixtures, resonance, manufacturing of brass and copper, how different instruments are made, candle compositions and melting times, and a whole slew of other things.
I worked on several versions and got a prototype made here locally in Colombia and shot a video showing the idea.
I’m curious what you all think of it. I’m not sure if it will go into production yet - I always accept that as part of the process. I made this prelaunch page as a way to vet the idea and see if I will turn it into a Kickstarter project. If you’re interested enter your email to get an early bird slot. I’ll be running ads to the page in the next few weeks to see what the interest may be.
https://prelaunch.com/projects/timeless-timeless-meditate-offline-1