(Center yourself in a quiet place. Light a candle or ring a bell to signal the beginning of your mini-retreat.)

Invocation

Come, Spirit of memory
and open me to the bounties
of my own experiences.

Read and Reflect

(Read these short quotes aloud. Choose one or more of them to copy into your journal. Reflect upon and write about how you can apply it to your own experiences.)

"You are the sum of everything you've ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot — it's all there."
— Maya Angelou in an interview from the April 2011 edition of O, The Oprah Magazine

"Take care and watch yourselves closely, so as to neither forget the things your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children."
— Deuteronomy 4:9

"A wonderful gift that human beings possess is the ability to feast on memories from the past."
— Macrina Wiederkehr in A Tree Full of Angels

"Such good things happen to people who learn to remember."
— Emily Dickinson quoted in Gold in Your Memories by Macrina Wiederkehr

Practice

(Work with your memories today.)

"Recall a treasured memory. . . . Sip on it mentally and emotionally, like a glass of good red wine. Write the memory down. Place it under your pillow or in your pocket. Touch it often with tenderness.
— Joyce Rupp in Prayers to Sophia

"Look all around you. Look well! Invite the 'poet in residence' in your soul to accompany you through this day. There's a whole world of memories out there waiting to be made. Live well, my friend. Remember well. Make new memories. And abide!"
— Macrina Wiederkehr, Gold in Your Memories

Closing Prayer

Help me, O Holy One, to harvest my finest memories so they will lift my spirits and bring joy to my heart. Be with me today as I make new memories.

(Blow out the candle or ring a bell to signal the end of your mini-retreat.)