Keeping my mind healthy and resilient is partly why I run. Today it was the Kerikeri Half Marathon with my friend Mike and I pushed myself a bit, probably to make up for a slow Auckland Marathon three weeks ago. It’s a largely downhill run so a chance to put the foot down. Enjoyed.

I’ve been pretty busy lately – Workshops, Samoa, Wisdom Retreat, catching up on all the emails, appointments long-planned. A few things have fallen away – couple of missed appointments that got mixed up but people seem to understand. I hope so!

We learned quite a bit from our session on the Wisdom Retreat. We exercised for movement and strength. These were exercises that all abilities could cope with and develop as strength and fitness grew. We stretched. We breathed properly. We learned about the right food. We meditated. We were refreshed.

All these things we know and all these things we often ignore or don’t have time for.

Ask the question: if I don’t have time for keeping my body resilient, what do I have time for? Yes, I’ve taken the laptop to Kerikeri so I could load this up and load some photos. Really! No work. Well not much. And I ran, rested, took photographs and refreshed today.

What seemed almost overwhelming yesterday is in perspective.

I’m going to meditate tonight. No I haven’t turned into a mystical yogi, but I will close my eyes, breathe with my abdomen rising and be present for myself.

I know those that came on the Retreat got all this and more and I consider myself very fortunate to have been present during the sessions too.

Resilience. A powerful component of wise leadership.

Stephen