“Well, you’re right. It’s you.”
Not the most comforting start, I grant you. But stay with me.
“We pay so much attention, don’t we, to things that we can do to make ourselves feel better, to add to our well-being.” Borrow money we don’t have to buy things we don’t need to fill a hole inside us that deepens soon after each purchase.
Look, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of simple things you can do which connect you to something deeper: a walk in the woods or getting your hands in the vegetable garden dirt can have a powerful effect on your wellness.
“But how much attention do you actually pay to what you are doing to take your wellness away?”
How do you stress yourself out? What stories do you tell yourself to feed your unhappiness?
The lens you look through
“We experience the world through, like, a lens. And the world that we get really depends upon the quality of the lens that we’re looking through.”
If I’m looking out through “a mind full of problems or worries or stresses or heartaches,” then the woods, the light, the whole magic and glory of creation, simply isn’t there for me. “I can’t see all of this. This isn’t available to me.”
Nobody else did that. Nobody stole the view. The lens just needed a clean.
You’ve got a choice
“Now, you’ve got a choice. You can live in this world full of magic or beauty,” or you can keep looking at it through the smudges. Same world. Very different experience.
Why our retreats are a bit different
“The Now Project retreats are quite different.” You get 18 hours of workshops, classes and yoga, plus “a beautiful Chinese medical system called Qigong,” breathwork, meditations and sound baths. And the sound baths, honestly, “are absolutely off the scale.”
“All of that will leave you feeling a lot lighter and, you know, better prepared to deal with the world.”
We’ve been running retreats for nearly 17 years now, hundreds of them, and “helped thousands of people just like you to clear their minds of all that mental clutter, clean the lens, and become alive to a happier, healthier, more fulfilling way of living.” We’re getting rather good at it, I’m told.
Come and clean the lens with us
If your lens could do with a wipe, our weekend retreats in Burwell are a lovely place to do it. “We’d love you to join us. So, book now and, well, it’d be great to meet you.”
Adrian
In short
If you think someone is ruining your life, look at the lens first. The world you see depends on the mind you see it through. A head full of problems, worries and heartache hides the magic that is already here. Pay as much attention to what drains your wellbeing as to what adds to it, clean the lens, and you get a choice about which world you live in.
Questions people ask
Am I really the one ruining my life?
It’s not about blame or bad luck. The point is that the mind you look through shapes what you see. Problems, worries and stress can blot out the beauty right in front of you, so the real work starts with noticing that lens.
Why pay attention to what takes wellness away?
Meditation, a walk in the woods and other good habits help. But if you ignore the habits that drain you, you keep undoing the good work. Both sides matter.
What is the “lens” Adrian talks about?
The quality of mind you experience the world through. Look through clutter and heartache and you miss the magic. Clearer mind, clearer world, and you have a choice about which one you live in.
How do Now Project retreats help?
They give you time and space to clear mental clutter and clean the lens, with workshops, yoga, Qigong, breathwork, meditations and sound baths, so you leave lighter and better prepared for everyday life. See our weekend retreats in Burwell.