Retreats are important to us. They give us the time to contemplate our pathway, reconsider our process for life and upgrade our personal brand. There are three key components of a good retreat.

1. THE NEVER ENDING STORY

There are four questions in every human heart.

• Where am I going? (WEST)
• Why am I here?  (NORTH)
• Who am I? (SOUTH)
• Where did I come from? (EAST)

Throughout our life we will contemplate those four questions over and over and over again. Sometimes the answers are satisfactory for years, but then they unravel which will require some first aid. Sometimes the answers aren’t ever satisfied and this is called spirituality and it’s why people resent spirituality, it’s a never ending story in which teachers make finite promises to infinite questions. The Never Ending Story.

Evolving your life is a never ending story and so the answers to these for questions must be changing, expanding, evolving daily, even if we don’t recognise the shift, it’s happening. So, one key in a retreat is to make sure the habits we have and the direction we’re travelling are in synch. This is important to do often.

2. THE HELICOPTER VIEW OF YOURSELF

This is nature’s helicopter view of you. It simply asks “how’s things for you right now?” This is probably one of the most important diagrams you’ll ever need to understand in self leadership. Firstly because it demonstrates self leadership as a total human, rather than fragmented one. It demonstrates why we’re motivates sometimes and inspired at others. and some have resilience and others give up.

• Firstly, and most significantly the overall score is as important as the individual scores. High individual scores with low overall scores demonstrates a burnout mentality because deep inside, all areas are important to us, even if they do not have equal value or priority.
• Secondly, it stops the “work-life balance model” – a derivative of “positive thinking” which is destroying more relationships, family love, success, inspiration and love in the world than any other model I have seen. Endorsing incompetence in self leadership at work then coming home to balance it, makes the family pay. It’s just not functional in 2017 and really, never has been.
• Finally, this Nature’s helicopter view demonstrates an amazing insight in that what we define as satisfaction is a continually evolving and changing point on the horizon. Therefore, from a personal point of view, this model explains the frustration most people feel with achievement and presents an alternative two level approach to goal achievement by asking “can a person be fully satisfied “AND” be highly motivated to achieve what they haven’t got. It sounds incongruous but nature demonstrates a possible approach.

3. IT’S HARD TO DO GOOD IF YOU DON’T FEEL GOOD.

I remember relieving myself in my nappy as a child and it felt good. It no longer does. I remember feeling good eating with a knife and fork and encouraging my children to do likewise until I went to Nepal and India where I found eating with my hands a much more nourishing and interactive experience with food. Simply, what feels good isn’t always sustainable or reliable and yet, with great determination, we most often define ourselves by what feels good.

What we find in nature is that there are seven levels to everything and by understanding this natural building block, we can also understand our motivations and inspirations in a most simple way and yet, in a process that stands up to the most rigid academic investigation. In doing so, we transcend most human psychology and pop psychology that is sold as self help and modern wellbeing.

Which words to you hear most from others at work:

I’ve or We’ve: – Got to, Have to, Should do, Ought to, Need to, Want to, Desire to, Choose to, Love to ….

Which words do you hear most in your self coaching mindset: –

I’ve (I’d) or You’ve (You’d) : – Got to, Have to, Should do, Ought to, Need to, Want to, Desire to, Choose to, Love to ….

This reveals nearly everything you’d need to know to understand the happiness, mental and physical health, relationship and success a person will be experiencing. Most importantly there is no right or wrong, there are just side effects of every word that we are often not conscious or mindful about.

So, this is an opportunity in itself to look at where you are operating, where those around you are operating and either update or at the least, prepare for the consequences.

If you’d love to create a retreat for your business, a group of friends or simply work one on one with me, please contact me below and we’ll start a dialogue. I love doing retreats in Nepal, Bali and Ocean Resorts in inspiring places, like Bondi beach.