Thailand adventures and lessons learned from buddhism

On Monday I returned from a long overdue holiday break. Taking regular leave is really important to me. Just like working from home- but a longer, complete break away from having to face the music. Previously I’d taken a holiday every six months but it’s been over a year since I took leave this time and it was showing. People were even starting to say how drained I was looking.

So I booked a trip to Thailand, one of my favourite holiday destinations (the third time I’ve been) and packed away my laptop and blackberry. At home that is!

I laid back and enjoyed a few cocktails, went swimming, did some shopping, visited Phuket Zoo and saw Phi Phi Island.

I love doing all this but after a few days I started to get a bit restless (because I am used to being on the go all the time!) so I went and bought a book.

It wasn’t until I was stuck in Bangkok airport for a number of hours that I thought perhaps the book I bought could really relate to what I was promoting at work.

The book I bought (and you may indeed snigger) is called “How to become a Buddha in 5 weeks” by Guilio Cesare Giacobbe. Now it does sound like one of those crappy dummies guides or like a 101 on how to do religion but I found it really interesting because it is about human behaviour. It’s not so much a religion but more about psychology.

Here are two things I wanted to share with you from the book today:

1) So what is a Buddha?

A Buddha is someone who has attained serenity and maintains it in every situation.

Every human being can in fact achieve buddha-ness, that is, the ability to always be serene, whatever happens.

But is it really possible?
Yes, of course.
Because, incredible as it may seem,

Our serenity does not depend on situations but on our reaction to them.

The same situation produces different reactions in different people.

I really liked this because it kinda talks a lot about what I try and say to my senior leaders.

Yes, I understand it’s frustrating when XX happens but you have the ability to choose how it impacts upon you in the way in which you respond.

Mental note: If I want to be peaceful and serene like a Buddha I need to practice choosing my reaction rather than letting it overcome me.

This can be a difficult one to do, but it just takes persistence and practice. Something I know I’ll be working on.

2) Laughter is still the best medicine

Humour is another characteristic that is acquired, or gets stronger, when you become a buddha. The hilarity of Tibetan monks, the humour of Zen monks, is famous. It derives from their condition of relaxation and serenity, which allows them not only to see the funny side of life and laugh about it, but also to create hilarity as a positive mental state.

You’ve heard this before too- smiles are infectious etc. When you are having a Debbie downer of a day though sometimes it only takes a quick talk with a friend, some make-up, a walk in the fresh air or even a drive with the latest “Remix Heaven” CD in your car while singing at the top of your voice (if you see me doing this feel free to wave) in order to lift your mood.

I think that when you have elevated yourself, if only a little- you are then able to see things a little bit more clearly and work out a plan of what you need to do.

This post might seem a little off topic but its surprising how often I am asked by clients how they are supposed to deal with the situation they are faced with. I’m not going to be turning all of them straight over to Buddhism- but it does support a few notions I’ve talked about in the past few months.

There is little point in throwing your hands up in the air and saying that you can’t control anything- because you can always control how you respond.

On that, its “Go Home on Time” Day in Australia- check out the details here.