Is it time to retreat?

 Those Romans, masters of strategy, knew the value of retreating.

For sometimes, in the face of the enemy, the best thing to do is to withdraw. To pull back and to take stock of what is working and what is not, to gain a clearer picture about what is needed in order to adopt a more favourable position. 

The enemy, if that is what you want to call it,  can come in a variety of forms.  We can get focused on it being external, the competition, the other.  However sometimes the most challenging of all is that which is within us.   As written in the Bhagavad Gita, "the mind acts like an enemy for those who do not control it". Considering this, whether you have an organisational, leadership or personal challenge, is it time for you to retreat from…

… a fixed belief?

… a deep rooted opinion?

… a faulty assumption?

… a negative habitual pattern?

… energy-sapping thoughts?

… being a prisoner of your own mind?

… a soul destroying situation?
 

When we retreat, we take time to understand our world and ourselves a little bit better.  We take ourselves out of the day to day ways of reacting to develop and practise new ways of thinking, being and doing.  We offer the possibility of treating ourselves to the gift of fresh perspectives, new alternatives and a reconnection with ourselves and our objectives.

I encourage leaders and organisations to undertake strategic reviews and team development retreats for their own rejuvenation and development.  Likewise I am off to a meditation retreat this week, which will mean I will withdraw from posting next Monday. 

Happy retreating, whatever form it takes.

Source:

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Bhagavad Gita quote from a tweet by Christie Daley 17 Nov 2013 at 18.03