🔭 The Present Perspective Newsletter

🫂 Learning to go from overwhelm to OK

When we return to ourselves through mindfulness and meditation, we rediscover a quiet OKness that was there all along. From this place, life feels less like something to fix and more like something we can meet with steadiness, clarity and ease.

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” — Carl Rogers

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Dear Reader

By far the most common human experience today is some variation of feeling overwhelmed. We see this time and time again as people come to our courses and retreats.

This can show up as a sense of struggle, feeling trapped, groundhog day, unrelenting pressure or, at its more extreme, feelings of hopelessness, despair or burnout.

Unfortunately, many of the so-called fixes available are not actually fixes. They might ease the symptoms or provide a moment of distraction but they rarely address the root causes. Often they offer relief for a short while, only for us to find ourselves back in the grip of overwhelming mental and emotional states.

The reason these fixes don’t work is that they assume there is something fundamentally wrong with us that needs to be repaired. This is understandable, but it is also entirely inaccurate.

Almost all the pressure we feel is symptomatic of our relationship with ourselves, our world and the people around us, combined with the sense that something needs to be sorted out. This creates a trap where we relate to much of life as a problem but lack the means to solve it. On top of this, the messages we receive from culture, media and sometimes even our social circles tend to emphasise problems, many of which are completely outside our control.

It is all so exhausting. No wonder we feel overwhelmed.

From lived experience, as well as the research, we know something profound happens when we practise mindfulness and meditation. A gentle reorientation takes place where we begin to experience ourselves in an unproblematic way. The concerns and worries that once plagued us, the sense of threat and pressure, are seen to be either fleeting or entirely manageable. We find ourselves back in the driver’s seat with a renewed sense of direction, empowerment, preparedness, resilience and a pervasive OKness.

We rediscover our capacity to simply be. We understand why we are called human beings and not human doings. We don’t need to do more. We don’t need to fix ourselves or others. We don’t need to escape or distract ourselves. We realise, often quite deeply, that we already have everything we need to be OK. It is inherent in us.

It can feel like an illusion dissolving, like waking up. It is real. It happens all the time. And it is one of the most powerful ways to find freedom from overwhelm.

So I encourage you to trust this natural capacity to simply be, the one you were born with, and to nurture yourself through your mindfulness and meditation practice. In doing so, you can dive more deeply into your natural orientation of OKness.

​➕ From Worrier to Warrior — Mindfulness Plus Workshop​

We all have a warrior within us, a courageous, grounded and resilient part that rises to meet life’s challenges with clarity and strength. But when fear and anxiety take hold, that inner warrior can feel buried beneath a wave of overthinking and doubt, leaving us feeling more like a worrier than a warrior.

In this empowering and transformative workshop, you’ll discover how to reconnect with your inner warrior, not by ignoring fear, but by learning to understand it. Grounded in the latest neuroscience, we’ll explore how emotions like fear and anxiety are natural biological responses meant to protect us. When understood and worked with, they can become powerful allies rather than overwhelming enemies.

You’ll learn how to shift your relationship with fear from one of resistance to one of respect, allowing it to point you toward growth, courage and authenticity. Through mindfulness techniques, guided meditation and practical strategies, you’ll begin the process of turning fear into fuel and anxiety into awareness.

Date: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
​Time: 6.30pm – 7.30pm AEDT
​Price: $20 standard ticket. $35 VIP ticket (includes recording)
​Facilitator: Nat Mallia
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​Awakening to Self-Compassion – Half Day Retreat Scotland Island, Pittwater, Sydney — Saturday
29 November. ​

Join Mindfulness Works Certified Mindfulness Coach Angie Wood for this half-day retreat designed to help you slow down, find inner ease, and cultivate genuine self-compassion. Set amidst the natural beauty of Scotland Island, this serene experience invites you to reconnect, renew, and rest—body, mind and heart. Importantly, a quiet and peaceful location for meditation practice.

You’ll explore gentle meditation practices, walking mindfulness and simple self-compassion techniques to carry calm into your everyday life. Skills to keep you grounded and present through the busy Christmas season.

The most important relationship in life is the one you hold with yourself. When this self-relationship is grounded in acceptance and kindness, it radiates outward, positively shaping how you engage with others and the world.

Through guided mindfulness practices, this half-day retreat invites you to:

• Embrace who you are and genuinely enjoy your relationship with yourself each day!
• Build resilience against self-criticism or negative self-perception, developing self-acceptance and compassion.
• Bring the confidence, gentleness and ease of self-love into your work, family life and wider relationships.
• Experience enhanced peace of mind, clearer focus and reduced anxiety as natural outcomes of these practices.

Date: Saturday, 29 November, 2025
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Time: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
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Tickets: $79 (includes refreshments and light lunch, PLUS resources listed below)
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Public Ferry Add-on: $15 return from Church Point
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🧘‍♀️ Mini Mindfulness Exercise: The Three Metre World

1. Arrive in Your Space​
Sit or stand comfortably. Let your body settle without trying to change how you feel. Notice the simple fact that you’re here.

2. Shrink the World to Three Metres​
Imagine that, for a moment, your whole world is just the space within three metres of your body. Nothing outside that radius needs your attention. Let this smaller world feel manageable.

3. Sense What’s Supporting You​
Feel the weight of your body being held by the chair, the floor or the ground. Let yourself register that something is carrying you. There is nothing to fix here.

4. Breathe Into the Edges​
Gently notice your breathing. Not deep breaths, not slow breaths— just the natural rhythm. Let the breath move to the edges of this three-metre world, softening whatever feels tight or pressured.

5. Open Back Out​
When you’re ready, let the world expand again. Keep the sense of steadiness with you, as if that grounded three-metre space is still quietly supporting you from within.

Why this helps:
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This practice helps because overwhelm often comes from our attention being pulled in too many directions at once.
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By temporarily shrinking the world to a manageable space, the nervous system stops scanning for threats and settles.
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Feeling the support beneath you reminds the body that it’s safe, and sensing the natural breath reconnects you to something steady and reliable.
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As the world expands again, you carry a quieter, more centred awareness with you, not by escaping anything, but by meeting it from a grounded place.

🏡 Coming Home to Yourself — 7-Day Silent Meditation Retreat, Healesville, VIC:
11 – 17 February, 2026​

Step into a world of calm, depth and self-love. Experience an environment of safety, silence, beauty and natural ease.

Now is the time to truly come home to yourself.
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​“A fantastic retreat to reconnect with self led by two very skilled facilitators.” — Lisa Shortridge​
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Experience a precious and profound opportunity to embrace yourself fully and unconditionally.
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Located in the serene setting of Maitripa Retreat Centre, Healesville, this retreat provides an exceptional chance for self-love, self-forgiveness and self-acceptance.

​Book your place now with a $500 deposit.​

Teachers: Karl Baker and Stephen Archer
​Location: Maitripa Retreat Centre, Healesville, Vic
​Dates: Wednesday, 11 Feb – Tuesday, 17 Feb, 2026.
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💗 Awakening to Self-Love — 6-Day Silent Meditation Retreat, Bowral, NSW:
7 – 12 March, 2026​

The essence of your self-love is woven into the fabric of the universe.

It is integral to you. It just requires the right environment to emerge.
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​“It was like a balm for the soul.” — Carmel Brock

The Essence of Self-Love, Silent Meditation Retreat provides that environment.
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​Book your place now with a $500 deposit.​
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Teachers: Karl Baker and Stephen Archer
​Location: Hartzer Park Retreat Centre, Bowral, NSW
​Dates: Saturday, 7 Mar – Thursday, 12 Mar 2026
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🏢 Workplace Mindfulness Training

Nationwide in-person or online mindfulness training for workplaces.
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– Build team mental and emotional resilience.
– Improve mental fitness.
– Practical strategies for reducing burnout.
– Enhance team communication and connection.

​Get a customised program and free quote.
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🤔 Mindful Check-In. Vote to See Results

Noticing how we tend to respond when things feel overwhelming gives us choice. It turns a habitual pattern into something we can meet with awareness rather than react from automatically.
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Recognising our tendencies without judgement is often the first step toward moving through overwhelm with more steadiness and clarity.

📝 Mindful Meme of The Week

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