1-Hour Retreat: Winter

Everything you need for 60 minutes of magic!

That’s me about to start my Winter 1-Hour Retreat. I’m sitting in our trailer on the driveway with a favorite Valentine’s Day mug and a hot cuppa tea. I have a selection of poems nearby.

Dust of Snow
By Robert Frost

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

What you don’t know is that I also have a splitting headache, but that won’t deter me because I am excited for a moment of reading, writing, and reflection in its purest form—just for me without worrying about an audience.

In the past, I’ve had great intentions of taking myself on multi-day reading and writing retreats in lovely locations, but I find they never happen due to time scarcity and financial constraints. When I read about Pocket Retreats by Kortney Garrison and Solo Retreats by Charlotte Donlon, I was thrilled to make this practice a part of my life’s routine and rhythm with a few tweaks to make it my own.

I’ve decided to do a 1-Hour Retreat every month in 2025. I can easily spare an hour and I’ll do them at my home so the cost is zero! (Unless I need to purchase a book for the retreat which is necessary for living well so my magical book finance logic applies and the cost is still zero!)

I’m a theme girl so the readings for each retreat will swirl around one emotion, concept, or season. This month it’s WINTER.

And I’m offering it to you with step-by-step instructions! Scroll down for links to printable resources and readings mentioned for this retreat. I hope you take yourself on a 1-Hour Retreat, too!

Resources and Links for Printing

• Winter Retreat Directions PDF (just like the page you see above).

• Mixed Emotions Deck. This is an illustrated deck of cards with all the emotions. It’s so helpful when I want to know how I’m feeling beyond happy, sad, or mad. I love sorting through the deck and making two piles. One for how I’m feeling right now and another for how I want to feel at the end of my 1-Hour Retreat.

• Alternatively, and much cheaper, you can Google and print an emotions wheel. I purchased a sticker that I attached to the inside cover of my retreat journal when I don’t want to carry around the Mixed Emotions cards (which are still my first choice).

• Readings:

  • “Snow Day” by Billy Collins

  • “Dust of Snow” by Robert Frost

  • “White-Eyes” by Mary Oliver

  • Light Rains Sometimes Fall by Lev Parikian: A British Year Through Japan’s 72 Seasons. This book is organized by weeks in the year. I chose the week of February 9-13, but you can turn to any date depending upon when you do your retreat. This book is a gem and I turn to it over and over again. I also suggest the author’s Substack. He lives in England and is a conductor who is also obsessed with birds!

    

Retreat Tips

• Like all creative endeavors, you gotta make 1-Hour Retreats your own. Maybe it’s a 30-Minute Retreat? Maybe there is no writing at all, but sketching or knitting, gardening, or cooking. Do what suits you, fabulous you!

• My plan is to have one journal for a year’s worth of retreats, but it’s up to you. Write in whatever you like. Don’t be too precious and try to make it pretty and perfect. Selecting journals is a personal choice, but my favorites are these two:

  Fringe Journal: Studio Classic Paperback Spiral Journal, PROVENCE 6" w x 9.5" h, 160 pages, Memento Collection (140PA002FSC)

Campus Spiral Notebook: KOKUYO Spiral Lined Notebook, 5 Pack 10'' x 7'' Pastel Journal B5 Campus Soft Ring Notebooks with Dot 7 mm Ruled, 40 Sheets, 1 Subject Notebook, Note Taking for School. Japan Import (SU-S111AT)

If you’d like a visual of the retreat structure that works for me, here ya go!

Please put any questions in the comments. Let me know your tweaks as these are a work in progress for me, too! I hope you find a place, time, and mental space for your very own 1-Hour Winter Retreat. Enjoy.

If you’d like to have a conversation about 1-Hour Retreats, I’ll be hanging out in the chat. Come on over! If you like, I’m happy to share what I wrote in my freewrite this month or answer any questions. Happy writing.

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The third annual Poetry Pie Writing Challenge is coming soon! Details in the March 21st Substack. I can’t wait to write haiku with you—anyone can do it. It’s a great way to put your toe in the poetry pond!

The March Women’s Mini Retreat and the April Once-in-a-While Book Club are both sold out. Email (LorrieTom@LorrieT.com) if you’d like to be put on the waiting lists for future offerings.

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