Staflow - inspired growth

Courageous dreaming

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts, we make the world.

- BUDDHA

Success and Failure

Reading JK Rowlings Harvard speech at the weekend really got me thinking about what it means to accomplish something in life.

Someone once told me that how you spend your time says alot about what you really value than anything you might say is important to you. I began to realise that if i really value my loved ones, then I needed to act accordingly.It caused me to change how I spend my time. I am learning to say no to alot of tempting work offers.

If you are swimming in the ocean and someone offers you a great big bag of gold - a golden opportunity - if you take that bag and hold onto it, you will drown. Are you going to hold on to something that will keep you from what most nourishes your soul? Either you let go now or you become a slave to it.

Our intentions behind our actions, not the action itself, that determines whether it leads to joy or suffering. If the intention behind the work we do is to seek recognition and power " hey look at me, I'm special, I'm important, I'm worthy of your love and respect" - then we are setting ourselves apart from others as a way of trying to feel connected to them. Setting yourself apart from others as a way of trying to feel connected to them. Is this not self defeating? Yet this is the norm in our culture.

Investing our self worth in the outcome of what we do is a very high-stakes game. It's not just winning or losing; it's being a winner or loser. Just look at The Apprentice; winners are loved, losers are lonely and cut off - so the pressures mount.

There is another way or another intention for doing the work: " I love and i feel loved. I do this work as an expression of love and service. I'm loved for who I am, not for what i do or for what i have". Now there is much less anxiety and paradoxically the quality of work may be higher.

" Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water"

Zen Proverb

Trust yourself more than ever before...

What you are is much greater than anything or anyone else you have ever yearned for.....Your face is unlike anyone else's, your soul is unlike anyone else's, you are sufficient unto yourself.

                                                                                                              PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA

Forgiveness: Making Heartfelt Amendments

Self awareness is incomplete if it is not lived as action. Sometimes when you think about how much you have been expecting of others, preaching to them... consider how difficult it is for you to do what you wanted them to do.

Health Through Inner Body Cleansing

Hi everyone. I am writing this blog from Innsbruck in Austria as i detoxify my grateful body at the well known Lanserhof spa. I am one of the lucky ones who get's to eat some food! The healing detox cuisine i am prescribed is quite paltry, but incredibly for someone who enjoys fine dining, I am not hungry at all.  We have been taught to eat quietly and by chewing mindfully every morsel into a pulp. What a difference this makes. I feel lighter in just a few days.  The whole philosophy here is based on the Mayr method of cleansing our intestines if we are to prevent illness. If it get´s too tough then one needs to give the matronly waitress a puppie dog look and she will give you some more helpings of soup! The fresh mountain air and the interesting range of treatments in itself makes this a wonderfully relaxing respite. Thank god the blubbery and the uber-cool Euro toffs are beyond bling, as they shuffle around in robes and slippers! Most of us escape to the central nucleus of the spa where there are a team of expert doctors to help you with your ailments - a hyperchondriacs paradise. My most intriguing experience was a strange but powerful session of ' energetic healing' by the delightful and well reputed, Dr Roland Heber. I can only describe it as a deep therapeutic method working with the heart and the concept of self love, cocooned in a shamanic style ritual. On a sceptical day, this might be a little off the wall, but i felt a shift in my consciousness and a comforting strong light which left me feeling uplifted. So for me, it was not hocus pocus and instinctively I know this was the real reason for my journey. I had met a spiritual master who knew what had to be done.

This simple method of cleansing can fundamentally improve your health if you can stomach the basic food here. I certainly feel rejuvenated and full of vitality... go on be brave and try it! I wish you good health and happiness.

So then until philosophy

Holds together land and sea,

Life continues well enough

Through hunger and through love

Schiller

Leadership Lessons

All of us need role models, especially those of us who run our own businesses. When I first started my business i struggled to find a person whose style i could learn from and perhaps emulate. However, this year i discovered a leadership role model that i really admire.  Someone who i find inspirational in her values and highly motivational. That someone died some 40 years ago - she forged her way into leadership inspite of a emotionally suffocating and humiliating marriage. Her name? Eleanor Roosevelt.

What I found so inspirational about Eleanor was that she somehow found within herself the strength to overcome whatever obstacles life put in her way. During her years as First Lady, 1933-1945, Eleanor Roosevelt was the country's strongest champion of civil rights, women's rights, and compassion for

America

's depression-era poor. She chaired the United Nations committee that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. No other First Lady in my opinion has made such a positive impact on

America

and the world.

Who are your role models?

Read on for some wonderful insights from Eleanor Roosevelt....

Ashcroft Business School gives Corporate Head, Spiritual Heart a glowing review

Senior lecturer, Dr Jonathan Smith of Ashcroft International Business School, Anglia Ruskin University reviews the book in Personnel Today.

Read more...

Albert Einstein once said, "We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles but no personality. It cannot lead; it can only serve."

Leadership, Faith & Diversity

Leadership, Faith and Diversity

Thursday 12 Oct 6pm-8pm

Leadership requires vision, courage and determination. It also leads to power and influence. What role does faith play in leadership? Which leaders will survive and succeed in the 21st century?

You are warmly invited to join us at a unique event in a unique location, which will bring together a select group of leaders and people of faith.

Hosted by St Ethelburga's Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in assocation with Dr Atul Shah and Diverse Ethics, speakers include Lynne Sedgmore, Chief Executive of the Centre for Excellence in Leadership and Shilpa Unalkat, author of 'Corporate Head, Spiritual Heart'.

The seminar will take place in the Tent. The first forty-five minutes will be devoted to the speakers, followed by a discussion in which it is hoped everyone will contribute. The event is by invitation and will provide visitors with an opportunity to network among like-minded people, as well as to experience an atmospheric and highly unusual venue, an oasis of hope in the heart of the City.

I do hope you will join us! Please RSVP

Justine Huxley

St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation & Peace

020 7496 1610

07989 545 958

www.stethelburgas.org

www.thebusinessoffaith.org

78 Bishopsgate

London EC2N 4AG

Celebration of Books 10th November

Come and join me and fellow authors for a wonderful evening showcasing and clebrating new book titles. The event will be on Friday 10th November between 6-8 pm at Hub Working Centre, 5 Wormwood Street, London EC2M 1RQ.

The event is free, but by invitation, so please register your name at info @ bookmidwife.com.