I’ve been on countless spiritual retreats in my life: days, weekends, weeks, and ten-day stretches during which I sat in meditation listened to spiritual teachings and took long walks without distraction (other than my mind). I almost always come home from a retreat with a sense of peace, deep well-being, overall calmness, and even joy.
Post-retreat, when I return home to my family, work, and the rest of modern life, everything picks up right where it left off (sometimes it even picks up on the drive home). The world I reenter hasn’t changed because I’ve changed. The dog still needs to go out. The bills still need to be paid. The children still need what they need; people still say and do things I think they shouldn’t say and do. Life, in all its forms, still happens.
