PAUL RAFTERY

Introduction My late mother would speak about “living life on life’s terms”. She has in her late 80’s when she discussed this over lunch with My wife and I, and 48 hours later, she was dead. Mum’s life was normal, but rich in what matters – she was content with her life and until 85 or so there was little that she really had had to worry about. She had been brought up with deep faith but was not sectarian. She believed that “Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage: it can be delightful'” (George Bernard Shaw).   Her code meant front up and deal with it. Keep life simple and keep moving. The Problem Today so many of us know we need to deal with things but we don’t have the skills – we expect someone else will solve our problems and set us back on the path to the happiness we deserve.   After attending Buddhist based meditation for a few years and having heard Buddhist and non-Buddhist speakers I had long ago accepted that happiness had to come from

What mindfulness is is subject to some debate. The Mayo Clinic offers the following explanation: Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress. Spending too much time planning, problem-solving, daydreaming, or thinking negative or random thoughts can be draining. It can also make you more likely to experience stress, anxiety and symptoms of depression. Practicing mindfulness exercises can help you direct your attention away from this kind of thinking and engage with the world around you. [1] I think of it as a step in the meditation process whilst other consider it to be a form of meditation. I think we can all agree it that does is calm the mind and when our mind is calm allow us to be patient and then see the wo

For me empathy is the ability to see the world the way other sees it and understand that.   As my Buddhist meditation teachers say real love is to sense the joy in others and the feel happy that they are joyful. This leads to their inner peace and harmony. Empathy let’s us think others have reasons for being in a hurry, such as cutting us off in traffic. It can be simply talking to someone or giving to a worthy cause without asking too many questions. It really means we are listening to what is occurring around us and not just concerned about ourselves. Several years ago I was in Spanish speaking Bogota, Colombia, and I had had a meeting run an hour over time, it was dark, and I was feeling very lost – I got a call as I exited the lift – the white car on the corner is waiting for you. It was an Uber before we had Uber in Australia. Someone speaking English opened the door and said – Hi Paul, I am taking you to your hotel. We arrived and being Uber it had been paid. This

Rather than preparing a toy list each day we are asked to look at what we have a record gratefulness or it. I am very lucky that Carmenza came into and decided to stay in my life.   We have food in the fridge and a roof over our heads. Carmenza often reminds me we are fortunate to have had parents who put us first.   We often talk about how fortunate we are. Many of us are driven by things outside ourselves – the new home, car and holiday. I do remember several new homes and quickly wanting one a little bigger, closer to transport or with xxx. That holiday never lived up to the rosy expectations and the car quickly was the wrong choice. I wanted the next thing – that will make me happy. I do remember my parents worked hard and were happy with what they had. A friend of mine recently lost his wife who had been his life partner for more than 45 years. Whilst her death was not unexpected his email focused on how lucky he had been that she had come into his life and had

One of the great challenges as an employer is hiring the right people. The great risk in hiring the best person for the job is they won’t stay – they outgrow it, get pinched or move in a new direction. About nine months ago, Carmenza and I met a young man, who had come to Australia with his wife so she could undertake postgraduate studies at UTS in Sydney. I read his resume and I was impressed. He was Colombian, but has spent a year of high school in Australia. He had studied engineering in Florida and had an MBA from Spain. Not surprisingly he spoke fluent English and Spanish. He had been a successful businessman. We were delighted when he accepted our offer to come and join Projects RH. I was immediately impressed by how calm he was and that he appreciated that small things and eye for detail or what was important. He had wonderful listening skills and could analyse between the lines and the numbers. His patience did not stop him making recommendations which would for

Recently I learned that Mandarin is the second most widely spoken language in Australia. It made me reflect on how much our world has changed and I would argue for the better. Both Singapore and Australia are truly lands of immigrants. Singapore has just changed so dramatically since I first went there with my father in the early 1970s. Undisputedly, Australia is a land of immigrants and I am happy to accept that the aborigines of Australia came about 40,000 years ago. My forebears came only in 1843 just prior to the potato famine in Ireland. Carmenza came to study English lesson seven years ago. As I look into my diary I see my accountant in Singapore was born in Bangladesh and educated in England, my lawyer in Australia was born in Hong Kong and educated locally our bookkeeper was born in Ireland our business partners both in Singapore and in Australia come from many lands. My first appointment this morning was with a Francophone banker born in North Africa who has spent

2019 has been marked by significant anti-government protests on all continents. Some are driven by the establishment whilst others are driven by left-wing agitators. We have seen vivid pictures from Algeria, Bolivia, Britain, Catalonia, Chile, Colombia Ecuador France, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan and the sorry list continues. We have also seen the protests in Melbourne and last week in Sydney, the massacre in Christchurch, suicide bombings, school killings in the US…. In many of these there is not a right and wrong answer but simply intolerance that someone can have a different view - almost to the degree that if you don’t support me you’re against me and this gives me the right to be violent against you. This has been the logic of many of the animal rights groups around the world. In Australia we have seen “The Extinction Rebellion” movement attempt massive civil disruptions blocking roads and having been dealt with swiftly and with no quarter give