Michelle and I caught up with a Buddhist Monk and Nun after attending their Pure Happiness workshop. It was a follow-up to the 3-day retreat I attended the weekend before (see below). It is amazing the calming effect they have on you just by being in their presence. Both busy people as Buddhist teachers and leaders for the Melbourne, Sydney, and Darwin Temples, yet soooo present when you speak with them. So much of their teachings are BIG and I often found them tricky to grasp and reconcile with my current life choices. It is great to be stretched though and have what you accept as true, challenged. I cannot say being challenged is always a comfortable experience, however, yet I know it helps make me more flexible in my thinking and accepting of others' different views on the world.

When did you last put yourself in an environment that stretched your thinking?



Here are the top three things that have made a difference in my week.
They might also be useful for you, or not.

1) A fantastic thing I did...

3 Day Silent Meditation Retreat

WOW! Talk about out of my comfort zone. I signed up for this retreat after a long discussion about meditation with a hiking buddy a few months ago. Not one to do things by halves, I decided to dive in and do a 3-day event on meditation with the added bonus of complete silence. It was held at a Buddhist temple in Monbulk, which was a stunning location for a silent retreat. There were many, many take-homes from the 3 days, however, the biggest for me was taking the time and creating the space for SILENCE. The silence around me and silence in me. Their next silent retreat in June is HERE.

2) A great movie I saw...

The Nobody

Talk about a week of contrasts. This movie is high-action and reminded me of a good old-fashioned Bruce Willis Die Hard action movie. Definitely worth a watch. Yep, there is plenty of violence however it is what I call “not evil violence”, just great fight scenes, car chases and a good old shoot 'em up. Michelle also loved it, so it is a great all-rounder for a date night.

3) A great fun talk I did at...

Regal Sleep Solution

This week Regal Sleep Solutions held an education session for health care practitioners and asked me to be a guest speaker. The topic I chose was “reducing noise to get stuff done.” Yep, the inspiration came from my retreat, but the action steps were all super practical. One of them was Get IN or Get OUT. That is, be IN with whatever you are doing at the time. So often we have a foot in each camp, e.g., one in work and one in family simultaneously. We are not really present and fully focused on whatever task we are doing at the time. If you would like me to do this talk to your team or organization let me know.

P.s. The quote of the week is...

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” Buddha

I would love your feedback on what had an impact on you and the lesson in it, the moral of the story, or the learning you would share.

Have a ripper finish to your week.