Weekly Reflections

An Oasis is a good place to pause and reflect. Each of my weeks provides ample inspiration in terms of topics; from coaching sessions, conversations with family and friends, my own reading, or one of the many podcasts I absorb when on the move. A topic will resonate with me early in the week and I get great pleasure from the iterative process of drafting, revising, polishing, and finalising each essay. Then comes the selection of a suitable photo, usually a product of yet another creative hobby of mine. I invite you take a little time out, to create your own six-minute oasis, find a comfortable chair, and read. You will hopefully find some inspiration from or a degree of identification in these Weekly Reflections. If you do, feel free to subscribe to this section. You will then receive future installments directly by email. Also, feel free to share the link among your circle of friends and associates. Finally, feedback and comments are always most welcome. EnJOY!

Mental Fitness

Wounds And Healing

By turning toward the soul, the heart, and the Self, and attuning to our inner intelligence and guidance, we can discover and commit to our unique path of transformation and healing, deepening our experience of intimacy, connection, creativity, and vibrancy. Having crossed the threshold from `no´ to `yes´ to a fully-lived life (the state of `courage´ in David Hawkins’ map of consciousness) we grow and expand through the higher frequencies of courage, neutrality, willingness, acceptance, reason, love, and joy, towards peace and enlightenment.

Leadership

Contempt Prior To Investigation

When confronted by challenging situations, we sometimes retreat into our comfort zones by means of reflex rather than reflection. In such cases, the protagonist is not aware of the process until it has taken place, whether we have scooped the child for the train tacks, ahead of the oncoming train, or removed our fingertips from the hot plate before substantial damage has occurred. Furthermore, many people have reported experiencing, in such situations, levels of strength and determination way beyond the normal.

Community

Belonging

Being `apart from´ or `a part of´ is the choice we face each and every day, threatening to tear us apart.
This may come as a surprise to some, especially since we have all probably felt a strong yearning to belong throughout the different stages of our lives. What, then, would propel us to seemingly rebel against our deepest desires and decide to live `apart from´? The answer may lie in the survival strategies and associated patterns of behaviour which were adopted during the formative years of childhood, developed to best deal with those early difficult challenges `among the crowd´ – in the family, at school, among peers, at work, and in society as a whole.

Mental Fitness

Now Here!

At some point over the years, one particular habit began to evolve. I use it to gather myself in a world full of drama and distractions and to consciously connect with ultimate reality, the Source. It has become part of my daily routine, practiced usually during my morning walk along the great river…..

Mental Fitness

Rest

There was a time in my life when I was proud of the fact that I slept, on average, less than five hours per day. These were the years marked by my conviction that mountains could indeed be moved, if only the correct attitude and sufficient amounts of will power were applied. As an ambitious, competent executive in a hurry to make it to the top of the pile in international management, I had little tolerance for notions such as rest, enjoying the moment, or `being´ rather than `doing´. I could do all of that later…..

Mental Fitness

Discipline And Authority

When we were children, we were `disciplined´ – by our parents, our teachers and the priests of our church. This usually involved some form of physical, emotional or spiritual punishment. Punishment sometimes spilled over into abuse, continuing a cycle of suffering which has been passed on from generation to generation since the initial stirrings of humanity.

Leadership

The Diabolical

A recent experience has had a lasting impression on me. The East Bank of the Rhein has been my home now for almost two full years. The closest bridges in the vicinity are the North Bridge in Bonn, over 10 km upstream and the South Bridge in Cologne, roughly the same distance downstream. These distances are a blessing, resulting in an oasis of river meadows which are relatively free of noise pollution. There is a pedestrian ferry about twenty minutes’ walk downstream from home. I had taken it once and had gone further downstream to explore the forest of the Surther Bend, which turned out to be verdant and tranquil. On this latest occasion, I crossed the river with the explicit intention of taking a closer look at the bank directly opposite where I live, the bank I have been keenly observing on a daily basis since I first moved here.

Mental Fitness

Every Breath A New Beginning

I live on one of the great European rivers. It is, indeed, a blessing to live within five minutes’ walk of the flowing torrent, one of the main arteries of our beautiful continent.

Mental Fitness

Truth And Compassion

While attending a silent (vipassana), week-long meditation retreat many years ago, my upper back and shoulders filled with so much pain on day two that I decided to ask for a short meeting with the facilitator. My intention was to inform him that, due to the excruciating pain, I was going to drop out early and go home…

Mental Fitness

Ego

When working with people who have decided to make major changes in their lives in the context of giving up behaviors which, though clearly detrimental to themselves and those they love, they seem to have great difficulty in leaving behind on a permanent basis, the phenomenon of the ego invariably arises. These people often find themselves baffled by their own destructive behaviors which, unlike many other areas of their lives, seem immune to the direction of their often very substantial willpower.

Community

Trapped

As long as we are constantly hijacked by our Saboteurs, fear rules our lives and the lives of those around us. This takes place sometimes very obviously, sometimes more subtly. Fear’s toolbox contains a very powerful device that, if not addressed and relinquished, will ensure that the old order will forever rule the day. This device is denial. For many years I stewed in the juice of denial. Sara Bareilles describes the dynamic eloquently in her sublime song “Orpheus“:
Missing the world
The one you knew
The one where everything made sense because you
didn’t know the truth…..

Indeed, many of us didn’t know the truth for long stretches of our lives. Denial has an important role to play in our survival…

Leadership

Mind The Gap!

My general observations lead me to conclude that we are either in autopilot and react in line with the coping mechanisms and survival strategies we developed before our fourth birthday (approximately) or, having developed sufficient awareness, mindfulness, and mental fitness, we learn to pause before responding to whatever stimuli cross our paths in a conscious, loving manner – beneficial to the healing, growth, and joy of all concerned. The term “autopilot” may be considered charitable. Some would call it “sleepwalking through life” (Dr Allen Berger) or even refer to a “Zombie” existence. And of course, this is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon…

PQ Mental Fitness

Balance

So, it was really telling when, in a recent yoga lesson, we went though balance exercises which included the Vrikshasana (The Tree Pose, where standing on one foot we bring the other to the inside of our upper thigh), that the terror of childhood – as a felt state – returned. My heart began to race; I began to sweat and couldn’t maintain my balance for longer that twenty seconds. Of even more interest was the fact that my breathing froze. Despite all the insights and, indeed, practice in so many other modalities and situations, here we had the default patterns re-asserting themselves immediately, and with a vengeance…

Weekly Reflections

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