Yesterday was the fourth and final day of the Rupert Spira retreat.

Looking back, there was one aspect of the retreat that surprised me:

During the four days, I found myself chatting with people I’d never met before (the first surprise) and actually ENJOYING IT! (the second surprise).

Thing is, I've never been a natural mingler.

At my last work conference, I rushed to the toilet during breaks to play chess on my phone.

On the first day of Michael Neill’s Genius Catalyst Certification (which happened to be in London), I scurried away at the lunch break to one of my favourite pubs for a solo steak and ale pie.

But at The Spiralizer’s retreat, things felt different.

Over breakfast one morning I swapped notes with a Norwegian chap who coaches on burnout. A chap who, coincidentally, has also trained with Michael Neill.

Over smoked salmon and scrambled eggs at breakfast the next day I chatted to a British guy about his experiences with Eckhart Tolle.

After lunch on Saturday, I stuck around to play “guess the Myers-Briggs type” with a guy and girl from Sweden.

And one evening, over a mindful glass of Merlot at the bar, I spoke with a couple of super friendly Scandi guys about social media gurus, the old Indian gurus and the grandmaster of gurus, Magnus Carlsen.

Interestingly, I came into the weekend with big plans to keep myself to myself and catch up on some writing outside the sessions. 

And while I did spend some time writing, it was less than I intended.

For instance, I didn't write an email yesterday because I was so immersed in a conversation.

Which made me see that casting myself as the guy who sneaks off from events is almost its own self-fulfilling prophecy. 

I’m really NOT that guy, even thought I've been playing that role.

As it happens, Rupert spoke to this on Day 3 of the retreat.

He used an example of a policeman called Thomas.

He talked about how, each morning, Thomas puts on his uniform, his policeman’s voice, his serious face and adopts the thoughts of “Thomas the Policeman” as he walks to the station then plays the policeman role for a few hours.

When he arrives homes he takes off his uniform, his serious face, his policeman’s voice and his policeman’s thoughts. And then he’s just Thomas again.

i.e. playing the policeman role is something Thomas does, not who he is.

It dawned on me that I’ve put on my “Tom the lone wolf” uniform and kept it on for a decade or two.

So it was fun to see that uniform dissolve a bit over the weekend. 

Anyway, that's probably enough about The Spiralizer for the time being. 

If my emails over the last few days have got you wondering what this Rupert Spira stuff is all about, here's one of my favourite videos from The Spiralizer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yVJWNg84Vw