April | 2018 | The Machine House

mcalester invite

Yes! I am coming to McAlester to do a custom Mini Retreat. How did this come about? Well, after I posted about the first W+P Mini Retreat my mom contacted me and asked how we could get one there. I had to think about it. And honestly I had to do a couple so I could get my bearings. After a couple retreats I was able to think through how best to take this on the road. Working with my mom as the hostess and a few others as key sounding boards, we were able to come up with a timeframe that worked, a schedule and price point that would also best fit the women of McAlester. It is different then what you would experience at my house but I have chosen the high points and made sure the WELL + PLENTY mentality and lifestyle still is expressed with care.

What you will get if you come to the McAlester Retreat: The retreat is being held at the hostess’ home. It is a plot of beautiful land just south of McAlester. The healthy and tasty meals and Enneagram workshop will be held in the house and out on the deck. Yoga will be down at their barn with the barn doors open for a nice breeze. It will truly be a getaway without having to go very far. There will be a small gift at the beginning and a reminder gift at the end. The reminder gift is something that you can wear or take with you to help remind of you of the experience you had at the retreat. I pray every retreat for a shift in each woman’s life. Maybe they see God differently, or maybe they see themselves differently but either way I pray for a shift and the gift is to remind you of that.

How can YOU host a Mini Retreat? This is still new ground for me but if I was to give a step by step at this point it would look a little like this. I would come to the place where you want to host the retreat. Together we would map out where the events of the retreat would happen. Food, yoga, workshops. If you have room for people to stay we can consider an overnight retreat for you. Then we would discuss food and gifts and come up with a price point that would work for you and the attendees you have in mind. Next would come advertisement. We can always use social media or we can come up with a personal invite that can be sent via email or snail mail. After we have a number set for those that signed up its just the final touches and food. Things that would help is a small team of people, guys and/or girls that would come right before the event to help set up and a small team that could come after the retreat is over to help with dishes and tear down. This is something I’ve done on my own and with help, I prefer the help for sure but it can be done with just a couple people. All in all its a time to do a little resting, relaxing and soul searching. Its to draw attention to our need for a deeper relationship with God and with ourselves. Its a time to learn how to manage our lives in a less self-disrespecting way and to extend more grace.

Read more about where WELL + PLENTY came from here.

Or Email me here with any questions. mlea.cole@gmail.com

I didn’t realize how long it had been since I blogged… oops! February was a hot minute ago. Well you haven’t missed much. Everything just has been sorta normal and somewhat uneventful… I’ll fill in anything you’ve missed in a bit, but for now we need to talk about the second WELL + PLENTY Mini Retreat Revive!!!

I knew after the first retreat there were a few things I wanted to do differently, well, actually I knew I wanted a different feeling and I was going to try a few things to see if they worked. THEY DID!! After the first retreat I got the feeling everyone was a bit overwhelmed by their lives instead of at ease and hopeful. I think the hope came after a little processing but it wasn’t there when they left my house. They were more stunned. The retreats are meant to be relaxing but also introspective and soul searching to a point. I knew this was the direction I wanted to take it but first time around I didn’t leave enough… space. Enough room for the rest and relaxation. It did scare me a little, I thought I had made something worse instead of better which killed me the first few days, but once the feedback started to come I realized it did what I had prayed it would do just without the space. If that makes sense.

So for this retreat I knew I wanted to give all the space I could while still going deep and doing the soul work. To create that space I left Friday night fairly light. We had dinner and opened gifts. Did an ice breaker and a workshop that showed some deeper issues but made it clear we weren’t dealing or processing them that night but rather we would return to them the next day. I could sense the relief… Then we went into meditation and yoga and ended with coconut cream pies and laughter. Friday was amazing! The ice breaker was new, we didn’t do anything like that last time, it was one of the attendees suggestions and it made a big difference. It was a simple game that in the end show each woman how she was connected to every other person there. Which is a principle of WELL + PLENTY… You are not alone!! The obvious separation between introverts and extroverts was made very apparent here but even the quiet ones pitched in a little. What I heard from one attendee was, “I didn’t want to do it, but I’m so glad I did.” Yep, the ability to quit literally connect to each person made a difference, and the laughter that came from it made a difference as well to the overall lightness of the retreat.

The workshop was new as well. At the first retreat I took the attendees through a pretty deep meditation about discovering there is a wall between you and your soul, your authentic self. And this wall was made up of stones that needed to be named and dealt with if you were ever going to step into your true calling, to find fulfillment and contentment. This exercise was extreme. It was moving and emotional and was incredible but the depth was early in the retreat and while the women were willing, I think it drew them into themselves too quickly, the rest of the retreat was somewhat solo. Doing a light exercise to create a visual for that meditation served to be less emotional but just as revealing. We created a life map. Getting everything we do, have done, or plan on doing down on paper. Then we searched or red flags or stones! Marked them and then left them to be dealt with later. Its something they can look at and monitor where they are at and the progress they have made. Awareness is a superpower, isolation and putting your head in the sand is destruction.

We stayed up till 11:30 ish just talking and laughing and connecting. About 6 people ended up staying the night which was perfect because no one had to share a bed with someone they just met, ideal. The next morning we woke and all had sleepy faces and no makeup. More vulnerable in that moment then the whole night before. But we loved it. Breakfast was beautiful and tasty. After breakfast we crowded around the dining table and began our journey inward with the Enneagram. A personality examination that sheds light on shadows as well as the positives. This gives reason to some of the red flags from the night before. It also gives some tools, your personality isn’t just who you are it is a tool that you can sharpen and use to mend old wrongs and avoid new ones. It gives you respect for yourself and for God, that He created you the way He did. So where the conversation IS heavy, filled with lots of tears, there is so much encouragement and hope by the end of it. Its totally worth it. The women had “AH HA” moments and its a beautiful thing to watch… I had an “AH HA” moment, even the second time around. I think I will every time.

After the Enneagram, I handed out their reminder gifts that serve as something they will see everyday that reminds them of what this weekend meant to them. The progress they made and the encouragement to continue on the path they now know they are on, with purpose and motivation. They also received their print kits. We skipped yoga because the talk went a little long. While I put lunch together the women were given a small break to read, rest, talk or look through all their gifts. This was unexpected, not planned but a wonderful break after the hard work they did during the Enneagram talk.

We ended on a high with a wonderful lunch and more lighthearted talk. It was the feeling I wanted, at least for me. I could see hope, I could see determination. I could see the personal revival that happened and I could see the shift. All I ever prayed for and God brought it to these women, I feel extremely blessed to be a part of it. I was on a high, extremely tired but so excited.

Later that evening I met back up with a few attendees and we went the Edmond Life.Church Campus together and then headed out for dinner. We recounted the highs of the weekend and just got to know each other even more. By the end of the night all I could do if fall into bed smiling. I got to catch my husband up on the whole thing, speaking about a mile a minute and then I crashed. I think I slept for three days after that, still had to keep my kids alive but I rested so much.

It was a wonderful weekend, if the rest of the retreats were just like that one I’d be over the moon. If you are interested in attending a retreat but you have questions please email me. God wants this experience for you and if it can happen with me I’d be honored.

To those who attended: Thank you, thank you for trusting me, for being brave enough to show up. For opening your fragile hearts to the women around you and diving deep to the root of who you are. For continuing, or for some, starting the process of pulling the authentic you to the surface. You all blessed me, encouraged me and aided in my own healing. Thank you, I love each and every one of you!

God Bless!