I am chattering to myself about the upcoming summer. True, it is six months away. And true, I honor living in the moment.

But I’m thinking about which summer camp might be right for the two Chattering sons, AND I’m wondering how the heck I’ll be able to pull off my own week-long silent retreat in the country again. Hmmmm. Winter weather seems to encourage internal chatter, and I find myself looking forward to returning to an utterly vast, empty, relaxed summery state again. It’s funny, but partaking in a spiritual retreat is a little like being dead. (Sounds like a real laugh riot, right?) No, but actually, it is. You can savor your presence and your absence simultaneously in the most wonderful way. You can see what the world looks like with you. And without you.

“Mommy, you look pink-er,” the youngest Chattering said when I was reunited with him after my week in a hut.

When, I laughed and squeezed his hand at this, he tried to correct himself. “No, I mean cleaner. No, I mean better, I guess!”

A spiritual retreat will give you something so much deeper than a face lift. (But good luck trying to convince the producers of “Extreme Makeover”).

In the meantime, tranquility is indeed available to us all day long. We don’t need to chase it. When I sit in the mornings, I can mentally conjure up the wind in the grass, the windchimes in the garden, the sun on my skin. I can conjure them up, and then let them go.

Deep winter is a good time to contemplate goals you have set, workshops you might take, and retreats available at so many spiritual retreat centers. The catalogs for many such places are issued in March. In the meantime, you might glance at this article on spiritual retreats and get on some mailing lists.

Also, send me thoughts you might have on this subject, or stories of your own retreat experiences. And oh, guess what: Beliefnet.com will be including this blog on a spiritual wellness newsletter called GLOW (which launches next week), and Chattering Mind’s circulation might get really big!