A long time ago I heard about the story of Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse who used to work as a palliative carer. After several years attending to her patients thoughts and feelings on their deathbed, she noticed a pattern and wrote the best selling book “Top 5 Regrets of the Dying”. The common themes that often surfaced were: 1.…
Firstly, it is essential to clarify that spirituality is not necessarily related to religion. Some people see spirituality as their connection with a supreme consciousness, the arts, divine intelligence, the environment, mother earth, the universe or Gaia. Others are agnostic and see science as their path to spirituality. A classic example is Sam Harris PhD, a neuroscientist and philosopher, who…
One of my key takeaways from Stephen Coveys 7 Habits book was this quote: If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster. I doubt Covey was referring to ones spiritual path but I feel the quote is totally applicable to our obsession (me included) with material…
Back in 2007, in my first large project in Australia, I was assigned to lead the business intelligence component of a complex multi-million project for a high profile client. It was a pioneer SAP implementation in Asia Pacific and we had SMEs joining us from our Canadian firm which had successfully implemented a similar solution previously. I was up for…
The Leadership Development industry is a multi-billion-dollar business, with thousands of models, theories, books, articles and research papers on the topic. I see leadership, first and foremost, as the ability to lead oneself first, and influence and lead others second. Leadership, in my view, must also have an altruistic component. The intention to serve the greater good of humanity, so…
As Seth Godin said … Not too far away from us, there are kids without enough to eat and without parents to care. A little further away, few hours by plane, are people unable to reach their goals because they live in a community that just doesnt have the infrastructure to support them. A bit further away are people being…
The cheetah is the fastest animal on earth and a great illustration of a favorite mantra: “Speed Up By Slowing Down.” If you are wondering what does the cheetah have to do with a Mindful-Agile Mindset. The answer is EVERYTHING. But let me get back to that later… Earlier this year I co-facilitated a workshop at 1st Conference, a non-orthodox conference…
“Beginners Mind can be defined as the ability to see things, people and events with fresh eyes. Letting go of previous experiences and judgement. Beginners mind is critical for problem solving and essential for an innovative mindset.” Since I posted an article about the 5 Traits of a Mindful-Agile Mindset Ive been asked for tips on how to cultivate a beginners mind.…
By: Nathalie Heynderickx and Zen Goh In my last 10 days silent retreat I asked Pra Manah, a senior Thai Buddhist monk who has been my mindfulness teacher for 12 years, how he would define mindfulness. His answer was simple: “It is a quality of a well-trained consciousness.” The English word mindfulness has its roots in the Sanskrit word “Smrti”…
Prah Mana, a Thai monk from the Buddhist Theravada tradition, has been my mindfulness teacher for 14 years. A couple of years ago, during a silent retreat, he shared this story: The Budha was begging for food in a village and met a Wild horse trainer. Wild Horse Trainer: Why don’t you work for your own food? The Budha: I work. What…
