I’ve retreated from my shamanic retreat. What a lovely few days it was. Lovely is a bit of an understatement, but I’m at a loss for words to describe it. It goes something like this:

People: ‘So how was it?’

Me: ‘Good, yeah, really good.’ [Change subject]

The problem is, it’s quite hard to describe something I haven’t quite made sense of myself yet. I’m still processing, and may be for some time, so I’m not going to go into any details, but if you feel any kind of draw towards this sort of work I’d recommend exploring it. I’m glad I did.

The journey

Ins and outs of the retreat aside, one thing I found fascinating is how we all got there (and I mean this in the physical sense rather than the spiritual sense). A week before the retreat an email was sent out listing the details of people who’d like to lift share. The invitation was to reach out if you needed a lift or could offer one. This was a novel experience for me as (friends and family aside) I’ve never lift shared before. As luck would have it my journey took me past a town where two people needed a lift, so (with a small amount of trepidation), I emailed and coordinated.

It’s quite strange picking up someone you’ve never met (unless you’re a taxi driver). My first stop was a Sainsbury’s car park which I’d suggested because it was just off the main road. I deposited myself on a bench, text my liftee (not a word, but I’ll make it one for this post) to inform her of my arrival and my attire, while I pondered whether a pink carnation pinned to my lapel (if I had either) might have been appropriate. As it turns out, neither was. She found me without a problem, and with greetings exchanged and luggage loaded we set off to collect the next liftee (still not a word, but it may become one). I collected this lady from her house, and having already picked up once it felt a bit old hat by now, and we greeted each other easily. Conversation was free flowing in the car as we got to know each other on the hour-long journey to the retreat, nestled beyond the glorious Shropshire hills in the stunning natural beauty of mid-Wales.

By the time we arrived I felt relaxed and less nervous about the whole weekend in general. I guess there really are no altruistic good deeds, as I got just as much out of this as I gave. On the way home from the retreat another lady hopped in with us as she was heading in the same direction. I took them all back to liftee (definitely a word now) number two’s house and she gave them a lift to the train station so that I could be home in time for tea. How lovely (there’s that word again).

But it WAS lovely. And it was an amazing eye opener for me for two reasons: first, it amazed me how many people trusted that the lifts would work out (and they did!). As a recovering planner/micro-manager, the idea of leaving this kind of thing to chance still causes my belly to throw a bubble of nervous laughter up and out of my mouth, but it worked! A true testament to trusting the Universe. Second, I am not from a world where lift sharing is the done thing outside your own social or friendship circle, and the ease of it made me wonder why not, particularly as I live in a rural area with poor transport links (I mean, they have these things called buses, but generally speaking these days you’re lucky if a bus turns up at all, never mind them all turning up at once). I guess it’s because we tend to do things as we’ve always done them, which reminded me of this quote;

The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.

Albert Einstein

My newfound willingness to lift-share aside, I think my experiences on this retreat will change my thinking, and I’m excited to see how things unfold.

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Have you done anything differently lately? Was it a good experience? Is there anything you’d like to do differently? If you have any wild ideas to change the world drop them in the comments too, I love a bit of wide-eyed, world-changing inspiration.