Staying Present

Dear Friends,

Our Theme for November 2024 is simplicity itself!

This is a good example of the Theme. I was planning to write that we have only one spot left for our Online ISM Retreat in April 2025 before the Waiting List opens and that it could be yours – and then at 18:18 moment that spot was taken! Still, our history shows that some from the Waiting List do make it to the Retreats, so you still have a chance to join us!

The bookings for the Residential ISM Retreat in October are also going well. We have been visiting our new venue and will share details very soon!

On the Theme. There is an aphorism saying that for those who truly know, life is never repetitive for each new moment is… new. 🙂 I am far from that stage, but I am striving to stay present as much as I can. Sometimes it comes in a dramatic disguise. For example, the other day after a long drive home two … let’s say bipeds on a scooter crossed my trajectory and it was a near “miss”. Immediately images of what might have happened started to go through my imagination, but I decided to say thanks for having been spared the worse and try to be maximally vigilant.

What I plan for this month is to practice staying present and awake in situations which beckon me to fall asleep. First are the long techie tasks, the second is the turbo diet I will be on. In the first case the reason sucks all the energy, in the second it is just not sharp enough. But I hope that, having practiced with “weights”, so to speak, come Christmas I will be naturally very present and enjoy the festive times! 🙂

Enjoy Lady Elizabeth’s lovely sharing! I for one would very much love to be able to apply smoothly the technique she shares!

With all my love,
(BH)
Milen

~~~

Dear Friends,

Happy month! Happy November! Already!:-)

I am currently in a very chilly Slovakia where the temperature is plummeting by the day – and it is almost dark by 4,30pm! Such a contrast from the almost balmy days of early October in Varna! In a few days I join the annual migration of the “swallows”, as we call them down South, as I make my way home to Cape Town and warmer climes 😀

This is the time of year before I leave Europe when I tend to tie up all loose ends and meet accounting and audit deadlines before I find myself amongst summer year end festivities. In the Southern Hemisphere the environment proceeds to become less and less conducive to laser-like focus, a lot like August in the Northern Hemisphere. This week is my “stay focused” week.

So it is no surprise that our theme for this month is “Staying present”! For me to tackle what I need to in the few days I am here, it is imperative that I stay present at all times!
The last thing I want to be doing right now is future tripping! Which means, of course, I will be challenged! And challenged I currently am!

In the early hours of this morning I was awakened by a buzzing sound. Not recognising it I went back to sleep. Off and on thereafter I was aware a few times more of this buzzing sound but by now it was simply part of the background. Then mid-morning as I was quietly working, I heard this sound again and went in search of what it could be. And lo and behold it turned out to be my second phone that I only use for banking calls. I had completely forgotten that my South African WhatsApp profile is also on that phone!

I vaguely recognised the voice on the other end. No surprise as it turned out the last time I heard this voice was 1995! The year I took my leap of faith and left my corporate job of 16 years!

“Hello, Elizabeth, I’ve been trying to track you down for days and have called a gazillion people trying to find you! I’m organising a Gilbeys’ family reunion, and you have to be here! You are the only female director the liquor industry has ever had, and you are integral to this reunion!”

Call back the past!

Now if that was not enough to distract me from staying present, having said I would await the invitation, just as we were hanging up I asked:-

“By the way when is this reunion!”

“Mid-February”, he replied.

Way in the future, yes? No need to distract myself now.

But then….Oh geesh! Mid-February I have plans to head for Bali and having booked the accommodation some time back, I had left my final decision open-ended as I only need to make a final decision by mid-January! First things first.

In the ensuing hours my mind has wanted to jump all over the place. Memories of that past life keep wanting to flood in, good memories about the close relationships we built, politics notwithstanding. The opportunities to recap are hugely compelling. And future tripping is lurking at every corner…

“The point is that everything the apprentice tries to put into practice must relate to the present moment. This is especially important with respect to recapitulation, for otherwise the apprentice will become disheartened by the difficulty of this practice. The same principle holds good for all the practices and techniques. For example, you cannot practise not-doing by having a conversation with another person in your head. And yet, how often is this not the case? People will spend hours thinking of what they should have said, but didn’t. Alternatively, they work themselves up into a stew about what they are going to say, except that when the moment arrives, they somehow never say what they had planned to say. Either the occasion to blurt out what they have rehearsed never arises or, if it does, their courage fails them in the moment. Likewise, in trying to analyse a dream, or in interpreting an omen, it is vital to work from the basis that it must have relevance to what is happening in your life right now. This is especially true of prophetic dreams, for what is taking place right now is the foundation for tomorrow. The power always lies in the moment, and therefore we should always start working from where we happen to be at the time.”

Email after email from our auditors today is keeping me alert and ever mindful that I have a present mission to complete and getting sidetracked with non-life-threatening plans right now is counterproductive. I have limited time to accomplish what I need to.

However, this seemingly out of the blue invitation must have some relevance to what I am experiencing now, yes? I am ever on the alert to expect the unexpected. So the technique I am applying now, which is something I apply when up against what feels like a distraction, I use my mind to tackle the piractical things like emails, spreadsheets, cooking and shopping etc, whilst all the time letting my heart soar free. I am letting my feelings flow so that I can include the unknown in what otherwise could be a dull day! Lol!

Have fun with our theme this month, my friends – and stay ever present as the long nights and days unfold for you.

With all my love and warmth,
(Big hugs)
Elizabeth