Have you ever wondered whether the meetings in your organization are actually effective and if not, why that might be? Have you noticed how participants often fall back into fixed patterns and viewpoints? Even their tone of voice sometimes changes, becoming more role-based and instrumental. Inspiration often seems far away.
The setting doesn’t help either—we often find ourselves in dull meeting rooms, shut off from the wind, sun, and fresh air.
How different it is on holiday. Then we relax, are outdoors, are free, and have every opportunity to let our minds wander, daydream, or meditate. We recharge.
These are ideal conditions for putting things in order. Our subconscious gets the chance to make connections, play with new ideas, and even bring them to the surface. The gateway to our subconscious is wide open. This is a source far greater than our thinking mind.
The contrast between a holiday and everyday work life is simply huge.
But why don’t we occasionally bring that mental holiday freedom with us to work? Why don’t we plan enough creative and mental free space? We seem to think that we perform best when we try our hardest, work even harder, and hold extremely serious meetings, often under pressure. We hardly take any time to reflect properly or to have a good laugh at what we are doing.
Our minds are running overtime, and in doing so, we miss the opportunities we so desperately want to seize. It’s no coincidence that so many people suffer from burnout. This way of working simply isn’t effective.
From a societal perspective, we live in a time of imbalance. Much is in motion, systems collapse, and we try to prevent this by controlling even more than we already do and, for example, by formulating new rules and guidelines.
Controlling and rule-making are activities of the mind and are usually driven by fear. It’s unfortunate that control is actually one of the foundations of our large systems—systems that eventually fail one by one. Our way of living has become increasingly “head-centered” and thus further removed from the earth and natural processes. We seem to think we are independent of this.
Of course, many positive changes are also taking place, such as promoting relaxation techniques and physical activity at work, developing new ways of meeting, and experimenting with new forms of collaboration. The many wonderful initiatives aimed at innovation and a new future also show that much is moving in the right direction.
But this can be done more and more structurally—and that is necessary.
But this can be done more and more structurally—and that is necessary.
So why don’t we use the greatest and most inspiring force—namely the earth (our source of life)—and simply hold work meetings outdoors? Inspiration, relaxation, and openness of mind are right there for the taking, giving us natural access to our dreams, intuition, and creativity. It makes us “present.” The body relaxes. You just need to open yourself to it and listen. Nature doesn’t think in terms of problems and solutions; nature doesn’t control.
Nature simply “is” and lives. We can learn a lot from this. Questions you have, communication that isn’t working, misunderstandings, seriousness, pressure and “musts,” stress, excessive control and judgment, and overvaluing the thinking mind: all of this changes and loosens under the influence of nature. You may even find yourself trusting much more. The most important outcome may be realizing that, however important, rational thinking can only grasp a very small part of reality, and that we can open the gateway to our consciousness more fully.
We are quite certain that the effectiveness and quality of work, self-trust, trust in others, and enjoyment in what you do all increase. Try it: go outside, bring a colleague, a client, or another negotiation partner, and discover (and find!) the answers to your questions in the “holiday-relaxation” mindset.
Splendid Life provides training on consciousness, both in workshops and outdoors in nature, and organizes events to stimulate awareness, intuition, and creativity.
The earth and nature are essential sources in this. Want to know more?
Visit www.splendid-life.nl or email info@splendid-life.nl
