It’s been a while since I blogged. Life got busy – after an eating binge in Toronto, we jetted off to Tuscon, Arizona for a delightful retreat with Alumni from a course I had taken at London Business School – Creativity and Personal Mastery. The retreat was like food for the soul. How can it not be when you are in the company of people on the journey to find themselves? When that is the case, people relate in a very different way – the daily struggles of life are the means to go beyond them. It is akin to using thorns to remove thorns.

I have attended retreats since 2007, almost two decades in another four years. That’s a long time. And it is fascinating to watch the changes in me as I have grown and changed. I am no longer the person who took the course in 2007. It’s like you submerse yourself in colors’ for so long that soon they get integrated into your body – and the concepts of CPM are like a second skin. It is like asking a fish what is water. It’s like asking a writer to spell out words. I will admit it is kind of hard to go back to basics or talk about exercises when your life is living and breathing the exercises. You are aware of mental chatter as opposed to aware that you are doing an exercise. This is a subtle difference but has a significant impact on how I live my life.

And like all profound things in life – if you are in a particular zone, you vibrate at a different frequency. And that, in turn, attracts the kind of people in the same frequency, and others are figuratively tuned out. Or, even if you meet them, it is not the same resonance. It is not only people – even the space you are in, things you do start to resonate in a similar fashion. After CPM, I began my Vipassana practice in earnest, reading books from authors like Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie and others.

Many people ask me what changes I have seen since I took the course. It is hard to describe what happened, but I can tell how it impacts my life now. It is easier for me to change the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon of my mind. Things happen, but they do not stop me from living my life. It has become easier to observe them than be them, which is such a huge relief. And there is more joy in my life, naturally. At times, I struggle to take things seriously, especially at work. I rarely forget the real picture and get so absorbed in work that it takes over my world.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I am way off from being enlightened, but I have managed to crack the walls of my prison instead of looking for a better prison (If I may quote a line from my book – Break Free). And for that, I am grateful – to all the teachers who have acted as the vessel through which I have received these teachings. I am looking forward to sharing the teachings with others.

What are you ready to share with others?