The Big Peace retreat

We've just completed our second Big Peace retreat www.bigpeaceretreat.co.uk - which we held at a beautiful hotel near Lewes in Sussex and it was wonderful. I love meeting you all and diving more deeply into the practices that will bring us peace.

It strikes me again how dynamic this process is (I thought the Big Peace would be about floating round in white clothes, with angels and birds tweeting in the background) But no! It's funny, human, brave and messy.

The Big Peace is about accepting all parts of our humaness - the dark and the light. One of the great things about a retreat like this is that we hear that other people also have an 'inner pessimist' - just as mean and ugly as ours - who beats us about the head with their stories of gloom and doom. And I love the 'aha' moments when we realise we have choice. That the inner pessimist is not real - we're making it all up and that if you can make up that vicious soundtrack, you can choose to make up a new, supportive, nurturing script for your life.

And ah! Bisto, it's so much more peaceful - and fun!

Here's an exercise we did on the retreat. Try these questions and create your own mini-retreat.

1. What is it you want to change?

 

 

2. What is the thinking behind your current behaviour?

 

 

3. What are the costs of that thinking?

 

 

4. What would your life be like without that thinking and behaviour?

 

 

 

5. What would you have to think differently to create new behaviour?

 

 

6. What actions can you take if you acted as if this new thinking was true?

 

 

7. Are you willing to let go of your old thinking and willing to embrace your new thinking?

 

 

8. Paint me a picture of what your life will be like with your new behaviours/thinking in place?

 

 

9. What do you commit to DO DIFFERENTLY to make this thinking a default setting in your life?

 

 

 

10. Paint me a picture of what your life will be like on one year from hence with this new thinking in place?

Let me know how you get on with these.
xxx

 

Comments

[Irena]

Hi Suzie,
I realized I had to accept myself as "beautiful as I am" first before getting fitter and getting into shape by treating myself with care - i.e. no smoking, eating well and exercising. Thank you for this revelation. It seems to be behind most things in my life.
Lovely,
BW
Irena